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The Zip Bind System is a hand binding system that consists of several tools: three sizes of Zip Guns and Zip Clips, three sizes of Minute Miters, and a Zip Bind Tool. Together, these tools will actually make your binding experience easy and fun. More importantly, your bindings and mitered corners will turn out perfect and consistent every time!

Video for both the Zip Bind system and the Stitch in the Ditch system

VIDEO 1
VIDEO 2
VIDEO 3
VIDEO SHOWS LINDA SPEEDING
Stitch in the Ditch Video with Linda
hope to get a dvd from Martelli showing there products and how to use in detail - will let you know!

Review on the system is in the additional section called extended information  have a read at what is said here

• As far as I can see, the Zip Bind System is the first real breakthrough
• in quilt binding. It has changed the experience from time-consuming and
• tedious to quick and easy, with consistently perfect results.

These wonderful binding tools come in a nicely packaged set called the Zip Bind System, which contains everything you will ever need to conquer binding. Let me talk about each piece in turn. The Zip Clip tool replaces the irritating practice of pinning to hold your binding in place while you anchor it on one side using your sewing machine. Pinning is a venerable tradition, but there is no reason technology can’t improve upon it, and the Zip Clip tool does that by actually shooting cute little clips onto your binding and holding them firmly with tiny jaws that also clamp onto your fabric. It took me a while and some spousal support to figure out how to load and work the little gun that looks sort of like half a clothespin. However, once I got the hang of it, I had a great time. Trust me, held by those little jaws, your binding is going nowhere, and the clips leave no holes in your fabric. The problem of binding crawling around when held by pins is over. These boys come in three sizes to accommodate different size bindings, and the clips are completely reusable. Simply slip them off the quilt and replace them in the gun.

 

The directions that come with the Minute Miter are clear, and the multiple sizes allow for crisp, perfect miters in a wide range of binding widths, from very thin to wider for a baby quilt. By sliding the Minute Miter onto the corner you’re mitering, and folding the binding into it in a particular way, you set up a perfect mitered corner to sew. It’s like having a second set of hands to hold everything in the right position and insure that your angles are crisp. 

 

Okay, now that the binding is sewn onto the quilt, it’s time for the hand sewing part. I have repetitive stress issues with my hands, so just thinking about the hand motions required to roll the binding to the back and secure it with pins (or rolling as I go so I don’t get stuck with the aforementioned pins) gives me pain. Enter Technology to the rescue again, with the Zip Bind, another clever device that grabs, holds, and perfectly aligns your binding as you sew (and also relieves your hands of stress). Pins and pains are gone. The Zip Bind is a specially-designed metal and plastic adjustable spring clip that you attach over the edge of the quilt and the binding. Once you have it set up at the right width (from ¼” out to a full inch) and firmly attached, you simply slide it along as you sew. The binding folds itself over perfectly and slides into the device’s groove, maintaining an even width all the way down each side and around the corners. Whip away!

 

The last piece that comes in the Zip Bind system is the Sew-Mate, an all-purpose tool that serves as a seam ripper, a thread cutter, and a stiletto to guide small pieces of fabric through the sewing machine or hold them down while ironing (without burning your fingers!)

 

If you decide that you’d like to stitch-in-the-ditch to attach the edge to the back, there’s yet another invention the Martelli geniuses have come up with. This product is not a part of the Zip Bind system package, but can be purchased separately. The Stitch-n-Ditch Presser Foot will trap your renegade binding in its little track and allow you to stitch it down on your machine without pinning or basting. How cool is that? I really couldn’t believe that it would work as well as it did. The foot will fit on virtually any sewing machine using a set of adapters that come with it. My problem with it was being strong enough to snap the connector piece to the body of the foot, so I had to request husband help. (Hint: for the many of you who have bought this product, the adaptors are numbered exactly the same as  CURVE MASTER adaptors. That plastic is sturdy, so don’t be afraid to snap it down, but don’t take a hammer to it or anything.) There are three different size “fences” (to corral your binding?) depending on the width of the binding. You feed the binding so it catches in the little track in the fence, and begin to sew. The first time I tried it, I snagged the binding with ease!

 

Certainly you can attach binding to your quilt without these inventions. You can also eschew take-out food and wash dishes by hand. Or you can join me and experience victory over binding once and for all!