Crazy Dish Mat (part 2)

Finished my second dish drying mat makeover project by binding the edges of the Crazy Dish Mat. I think it went OK. Still need to work on binding; but this one is better than the prior 2 attempts.

What I did differently:

1. took a bit more time in pressing and preparing the binding.

2. when doing the final stitching, used a zig zag rather than a straight stitch. This hides a lot of little errors!

3. sat more in line with the needle. This was suggested by a YouTube video. We have a tendency to sit centered on the machine which is to the right of the actual stitching. I moved my chair to the left a bit so that I had a better direct line of sight on the needle and presser foot. It seemed to help some.

4. used a multipurpose presser foot. Old Singer had only a satin foot and a buttonhole foot when I inherited her. The satin foot is not the best to sight on when trying to sew a straight line; the multipurpose foot is much better for this.

So, 4 variables. Who can say which made the most difference between this attempt at edge binding and previous attempts. What I do know is that this is the first where I did not cut off and discard my first go at binding the project and it looks better, somewhat, than previous attempts.

Next time, I probably need wider binding for these thick dish mats. The 2.5-inch jelly roll strips just don't quite make it. Not sure how I'll solve this problem as I really want the fabrics to match. Another variable! <sigh>

Practice. Practice. Practice. My next project may or may not include edge binding. But I will definitely do more edge binding projects, at least until I am happier with my results.

dks, 12 Oct 2025