I know I complain a lot about the hand sewing on my bindings, but a good percentage of them are batik fabrics. If you have never hand sewn on a batik, you might not realize they are a high thread count fabric and very tough to push a needle through. 
The batik I used for this binding was especially tough. I use a very thin needle, a small crewel embroidery needle, that has a long tapered eye instead of a round one (which makes the top of the needle fat) so threading is a "lot of fun" too, LOL. My fingers were so sore I didn't think I could stick with it but I did. I have never learned to use a thimble but my fingernails are very tough so I push the needle through with my thumbnail.
I'm just repeating this picture from a couple days ago so I will have them both in the same post when I look back into the archives for it some day. The Kaffe Fassett fabric was perfect for the back of this one.
The batik I used for this binding was especially tough. I use a very thin needle, a small crewel embroidery needle, that has a long tapered eye instead of a round one (which makes the top of the needle fat) so threading is a "lot of fun" too, LOL. My fingers were so sore I didn't think I could stick with it but I did. I have never learned to use a thimble but my fingernails are very tough so I push the needle through with my thumbnail. I'm just repeating this picture from a couple days ago so I will have them both in the same post when I look back into the archives for it some day. The Kaffe Fassett fabric was perfect for the back of this one.