How I Trim My Quilts

A friend recently asked me to show her how I trim my quilts after quilting and before binding. I usually like the bindings on my quilts to be full (except on wall hangings), so this is how I do it.

This is what I use to cut the excess backing and batting. It's a portable cutting mat/ironing mat combo...

Here it is opened up...

This is the quilt as it comes off of my HQ16 midarm machine...

I use a long ruler and trim 1/2 inch from the quilt top. The extra 1/2 inch of batting and backing fabric will be sewn into the binding and help make it full...

Here's what the top looks like after all four sides are trimmed...

And a closeup shot of one of the corners where you can see the extra 1/2 inch...