Friday Fun Fact: Finishing an edge with bias tape

Hey, it's time for another installment of our bias tape series!

One of the most common things we do with bias tape is finish an edge, such as a neckline or armhole. 

So you've cut all your bias strips and sewn them into a continuous length. Now what?

You can use a bias tape maker to iron creases in your bias strips in advance, but I prefer to sew first, press after.

You should have a 1/4" seam allowance on your garment. If yours is larger, trim it down.

Pin your bias tape around the edge you're binding, lining up the raw edges. Stitch around at 1/4".

Using the tip of a sharp scissor, snip into the seam allowance all the way around.

Take your piece to the iron. The most important work here is going to happen at the iron! We're going to press in three separate steps.

First press from the right side. Push the bias tape away from the garment and get it nice and flat. Use your fingers or crease with a fingernail as needed to get it really smooth (no lips!).

Next, flip your garment to work from the inside. Fold the raw edge of the bias strip over to enclose the seam allowances. Press press press.



Finally, turn the folded bias edge over again. All the bias tape should be on the inside now, and the seam should be right on the edge. Keep the edge curvy and stretch the bias tape around the curve as needed. Press!



Now pin the bias tape in place and edgestitch close to the inside fold.



Don't flatten the curve as you go! To keep the edge from flaring, keep it rounded as you stitch, and rotate the fabric as you go to follow the curve.



When you're done, the bias tape hides on the inside, and the outside is clean and finished with a simple line of topstitching.

Coming soon, we'll show you more of our favorite bias tape methods!

See the rest of the bias tape tutorials at the Friday Fun Fact archive here! 

Friday Fun Fact: Joining bias strips

It's time to join those bias strips!

Remember last week's fun fact? We showed you how to cut bias strips on the perfect 45 degree true bias. Now you've got a big pile of strips. What to do?

The first step is to join them into one continuous length.

If your ends are selvages or other straight-grain edges, they'll be on that perfect diagonal. Then you'll align them with right sides together and the short diagonal edges lined up.

But REMEMBER! You need to offset those short edges. See the little "ears" hanging off? You NEED those! That means your pieces are lined up at the seamline.

Now draw a line from one inside corner to the other. This is your stitch line.



Okay, all set? Stitch right on your line.



When you press that seam open, you'll have a lovely diagonal seam and perfectly aligned strips!



Okay, but...

What if your strips' ends are irregular, squared, or weird? You don't actually need that angle to set them up properly.

Overlap the strips, right sides together, at a 90 degree angle.

Now draw a line, from one inside corner to the other, just like the example above.

Stitch right on that line you drew!

You can trim the seam allowance down to 1/4" and cut off the "ears" before you press the seams open.



You can see the Friday Fun Fact archive here! There are loads of great tutorials and fun little tidbits! 


Coming soon: how to apply this bias tape!

We'll show you a single-fold method, double-fold method, and our favorite method for elegant necklines!

Friday Fun Fact: Cutting Bias Strips!

We're making bias strips!!

Ok, first of all, why make your own bias tape? There are plenty of reasons! 

It's better - factory-made bias tape almost always uses crummy poly-blend fabric.

Variety! You can choose almost any fabric!

Make it custom - you can match or coordinate with your project and make any width you need.

It's FUN! We're all makers because of the joy of doing! Let's make some bias tape!

Here's what you'll need:

- Fabric! 1/2 yard or fat quarter
- Clear gridded quilter's ruler
- Rotary cutter and mat OR chalk wheel and scissor

First, let's establish the true 45 degree bias (learn more about that here).

Align the ruler's 45 degree line with the selvage.

Rotary cut along the ruler's edge (OR chalk mark and use a scissor).



Now you've got a little triangle. We don't need that. Set it aside or toss it.

Now use your ruler to measure the strips you want to cut. We already established the true bias so just keep the ruler along that diagonal.

Use your rotary cutter to cut your strips OR a chalk wheel and scissor.

That's it! Now you've got bias strips!

But what about...

How wide should the strips be? That depends on how you're going to use it. Generally, cut 1" for single-fold bias tape and 1 1/2" for double-fold. 

Single-fold or double-fold? That depends on your project! The main thing is: double-fold shows, single-fold hides.
Look for more next week!

How big a triangle to cut off when you start? You don't actually need to cut much off at all. You can be stingy and only cut a tiny triangle, but you'll have to make more seams. Cut off a bigger triangle if you want to avoid seams.

What about continuous bias? That's definitely an option! We'll talk about the pros and cons of this technique in an upcoming Friday Fun Fact.

Next time, we'll show you how to join your strips correctly and how to use the bias tape!

See all our Fun Facts and tutorials here on the blog! 

Friday Fun Fact: Bias Tape!

Today I want to talk about bias tape!

It's such a common notion and we've probably all used it. But what makes it bias tape, and why is it so magical?

Bias tape is not just folded strips of fabric. The strips have to be cut on the true bias.

Fabric's straight grain runs parallel to the selvage. The cross grain runs across the selvage. And the diagonal is the bias!

While any direction at a diagonal to the grain is bias, only the 45 degree angle is the TRUE bias!

And what's so special about the bias? Because of the way the threads lay at angles, bias strips go around curves. This makes it work for binding hems, armholes, and necklines in a way that straight-grain pieces just won't.

Look for a future Friday Fun Fact on how to use bias tape, and even how to make your own!

Right now at Treadle we have a fantastic selection of locally-made bias tapes! We've got single and double fold for all your needs.