Coverstitch Binding in the Round

I have an amazing tutorial for you today.  Well, nearly amazing.  Not quite perfect, but I haven't seen another tutorial like this out there.

And, like many improvements, born out of necessity.

I forgot to bind the neckline of my sports bra before sewing the shoulder seams together.  It was a new pattern and I was having lots of issues with it, so I just forgot.

So this is what I did.

I stay-stitched a short line the width of the binding and made a clip.

The I went to the cover-stitch machine and started binding at the clip.  In the photo below, you can see that I am holding the section above the clip out of the way.

Continue binding all the way around.  Fold the start binding out of the way as you finish.

Here it is off the machine.  This is the less than amazing bit.  You can see that my start is not perfect.

Trim the ends of the binding.  Fold garment right sides together so that you can sew the ends of the binding together.  Using a hump jumper will help the ends stay aligned as you sew this together. Here is my bonus tip for the day.  I have a hump jumper, but you can also use the plastic case that sewing needles come in, as it is a good height for this (and usually on hand!)

This is what is looks like now.

Trim the ends, press open (well, I didn't actually press, but it conveys the action required) and stitch down (again using a hump jumper) .

From the wrong side.

And the right side.  You can see that it is not quite perfect because of my start, but this was my first time and I will get better :).

The completed neckline.

It is actually neater than when I bind before sewing the shoulder seams because it all lines up better.  I can see myself using this technique a lot in the future. especially on leotards and swimmers for my daughter.