We may be into the second week of January, but articles and blog posts about new year's resolutions are still popping up all over the web. This year at Quilter's Way, we'd like to take a little different approach. Instead of making a list of all of the UFOs we're going to complete before buying any more fabric and setting other unrealistic goals that we'll break by the end of this week, we're going to focus on skills and products that have improved our lives as quilters--"If I knew then what I know now."

Do you remember the first time you put binding on a quilt? I remember thinking that it was the most non-intuitive part of quilting and that I would never get it right. I religiously followed the instructions from Diana McClun and Laura Nownes' Quilts! Quilts!! Quilts!!! (still the "Quilting Bible" we recommend at Quilter's Way). I stared at their illustrations and mumbled "Huh?" for quite a while. Over the years, binding has become an easier process for me, but I still pull out that book from time-to-time to remind myself that I am doing it right.

About two years ago, I saw a picture of someone binding in a tutorial online, and it changed the way I completed the binding on my quilts. Where once it was a process I hated, using this new technique, my binding sped up exponentially. The revolutionary tool? Hair clips. While they weren't perfect, they held the many layers of the binding into place, so I wasn't forced to struggle with folding over the fabric and trying to keep it in place while stitching the binding to the quilt. I actually started to finish quilts!

Last year, Clover introduced a new product that is going to revolutionize binding AGAIN! These new Wonder Clip are just amazing! See what Fran from Clover had to say about the Wonder Clips at Quilt Market:

Wonder Clips were featured as a "Twelve Days of Savings" Item at Quilter's Way in December, and they have gotten rave reviews since then. I had to ask, though, are they really that wonderful? Will they really replace all those hair clips I've purchased for binding? I purchased a pack this week and brought them home to test on a UFO of my own.

For comparison, I started my little sample project by putting the old hair clips on the binding. This is a view of the back, where I would typically start the hand stitching. Next, I replaced the hair clips with Wonder Clips, to prepare for hand stitching:

The Wonder Clips have such a nice spring, and are definitely more appropriately sized for this job! Also, they don't snap out if the fabric is thicker than they would like. I am immediately impressed, and I now know that own an abundant supply of hair clips to loan out, because I will never be using them for binding my quilts again.

But, next I decided to be brave and try sewing the binding by machine, using the Wonder Clips, like Fran had described in the video. I have to admit that I was a bit skeptical, but I'll try anything once. I placed the Wonder Clips so that the clear flat edge was along the back side of the small quilt. Then I slid the piece into my machine.

They really did glide nicely along the machine, held the fabric layers in place, and even kept my troublesome corners in place. For someone like me that doesn't believe that I can put a binding on by machine and have it look nice, I was pleasantly surprised. Using the clips to as a guide for aligning the front and back edges of the binding really worked and now all I need is practice. I am not sure I would bind every quilt this way. I still like a hand-sewn blind stitch for my binding but I will use Wonder Clips whether I am binding by hand or machine.

As you will see below, my stitching is far from perfect, but for my first try, it's not terrible. Take a look at the front and back of the little quilt.

Verdict: Give your daughter back her hair clips -- switch to Wonder Clips by Clover. It really will revolutionize your binding.

Be sure to check in with us next week to find out about more things we would have done differently if we had known then what we know now. Have a great week!