Happy Endings: Finishing the Edges of Your Quilt
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Authors: Mimi Dietrich
Tags: #Crafts & Hobbies, #Quilts & Quilting
Happy Endings: Finishing the Edges of Your Quilt
© 1987, 2003 by Mimi Dietrich
First edition 1987
Revised edition 2003; reissued 2013
Martingale®
19021 120th Ave. NE, Ste. 102
Bothell, WA 98011-9511 USA
eBook Edition: 2013
No part of this product may be reproduced in any form, unless otherwise stated, in which case reproduction is limited to the use of the purchaser. The written instructions, photographs, designs, projects, and patterns are intended for the personal, noncommercial use of the retail purchaser and are under federal copyright laws; they are not to be reproduced by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, including informational storage or retrieval systems, for commercial use. Permission is granted to photocopy patterns for the personal use of the retail purchaser. Attention teachers: Martingale encourages you to use this book for teaching, subject to the restrictions stated above.
The information in this book is presented in good faith, but no warranty is given nor results guaranteed. Since Martingale has no control over choice of materials or procedures, the company assumes no responsibility for the use of this information.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.
eISBN 978-1-60468-381-3
Original Source ISBN 978-1-56477-500-9
Dedication
For my family
She remembered the phone call. She had just finished the quilt. I called then, she told me she was done, but there was an edge to her voice. She felt funny about it, couldn’t explain the feeling.
“You feel sad,” I said.
She remembered that. How did I know?
The fun in creating it, the joy in doing it, that was gone with the quilt finished. It was true. She did feel sad.
A friend once called her a process person. Quilters and writers use the same language. We both like holding the finished product in our hands, but the important thing is the process. We want to stay in it as long as we can and do it as well as we can.
Ending a quilt is a process. There’s a joy in the doing. So if it must end, let it be a happy ending.
A Writer’s Journal
—JOHN HAW
April 1987
Contents
Choosing a Happy Ending for Your Quilt
Finishing Edges without Binding
Finishing Edges with Special Techniques
A Happy Ending
More than 25 years ago, I received a phone call from a quilting teacher in the Baltimore area, proposing an idea for a book. That teacher was Mimi Dietrich, and her
Happy Endings
book, first published in 1987, has been one of our all-time bestselling titles.
Why is this so? All quiltmakers need to employ these basic steps to finish their quilts. A quilt that has been made with loving and painstaking stitches needs to have an equally special edge finish. And Mimi’s book has provided the perfect resource guide for choosing the appropriate binding or finishing technique.
Easy-to-follow, step-by-step directions by this master teacher make this an ideal book for beginners. But even seasoned quilters need to be reminded of the myriad options available for a special quilt finish.
From traditional double-fold binding to more unusual edge treatments, such as piping or rickrack, Mimi will inspire you to try any number of edge treatments. And she doesn’t stop there. Helpful hints for mitering border corners, layering and basting your quilt, adding hanging sleeves, making a finishing-touch label, and more are all part of
Happy Endings
.
Over the years, Mimi and I have shared many
Happy Endings
anecdotes, stories, and jokes. They have ranged from a funeral home named Happy Endings to titles of risqué romance novels. But my favorite happy ending is that after 25 years, quiltmakers still appreciate a basic book that functions as a complete guide to quilt finishing.
Nancy J. Martin
Founder of Martingale & Company
