Last month I showed you how I made mug rugs (click
here for that post) using bias tape that I made myself - you can purchase bias tape in different widths and lots of colors (click
here for one example of using store-bought bias tape), but it's simple to make and especially handy if you want the bias tape edging to be the same pattern as the main body of your work.
Bias tape is a strip of fabric that has been cut on the bias of the fabric - the bias is the 45-degree angle across the weave of the fabric, sewing it that way makes the bias tape stretchy and more elastic. Bias tape is used to cover raw edges of fabric, essentially enclosing the edges, it's used around quilts (and mug rugs), placemats, etc. to finish the piece.
There are lots of tutorials online on how to make bias tape - basically you cut strips of fabric on a diagonal instead of with the grain. How wide your strips are depends on how wide you want the finished bias tape to be - to make this 1/2" wide double fold bias tape I cut 2" strips and sewed them together creating one long strip. Fold the strip in half and iron getting a nice crisp fold line. Open the strip back up, fold the right side in 1/2" to meet the middle fold line and iron; then fold in the left side 1/2" to meet the middle fold line and iron. With the two sides folded to the middle, fold the tape along the middle fold line and iron again. That's it!
The material I used for this bias tape is black with giant pretzels and because I took pictures while it was on my very colorful and patterned ironing board I think it might be hard to see what I'm doing - I took some additional pictures folding a strip of white paper hoping that it helps...
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| starting with a 2" strip to make 1/2" double folded bias tape |
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| 1. Fold the strip in half, iron |
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| 2. open strip back up, fold one side to the middle fold line, iron in place |
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| 3. fold the other side to the middle fold line, iron in place |
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| 4. fold back in half along the first middle fold line, iron again creating a nice crisp very flat double folded bias tape |
Last month I showed you how I made mug rugs (click here for that post) using bias tape that I made myself - you can purchase bias tape in different widths and lots of colors (click here for one example of using store-bought bias tape), but it's simple to make and especially handy if you want the bias tape edging to be the same pattern as the main body of your work.
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