Learn an alternative to a basic bound edge, for tops, dresses, and other garments. This double-binding seam finish starts as a standard binding encircling a neckline, then it joins together at the center-front seam in a doubled binding. The look is clean and elegant, and it’s easy to achieve.

Nancy Nix-Rice offers many techniques for working with these luxurious, stable knits, including this clever edge and seam finish in her article “Fabulous Ponte Knits” from Threads #207 (Feb./March 2020). Find out how to enhance your ponte knit garments with a double-binding seam treatment.

Prepare the garment and binding

Start by removing the seam allowances from the edges to be bound: the neckline and center-front seam. If your pattern doesn’t have a center-front seam, simply cut along the foldline. Cut the garment, and sew the shoulder seams.

Then measure from the center back, around the neckline, and down the front seam. Double this length to determine the amount of binding needed. For finished binding that is 1/2 inch wide, cut binding strips 2 inches wide and the length you determined, plus a couple of inches. Piece the strips, if needed, to obtain the required length.

Attach the binding

With right sides together, pin the binding to the front seam edges and neckline. Then sew with a 1/2-inch-wide seam allowance. Press the binding away from the garment and the seam allowances toward the binding.

Sew the center-front seam. Pin it, with right sides together, and sew from the neckline end to the hem. Stitch through only the binding layers along the seam allowance edges. Don’t catch the seam allowances in the stitching.

Complete the edge and seam finish

Press the seam allowances open so the binding covers the garment allowances on the interior. Continue pressing the binding around the neckline, wrapping it…