There are a few ways you can make bias tape, ie a length of fabric strips cut on the diagonal. This is the pieced method where you cut strips on the bias and then sew them together to make one long strip of bias tape.
Sewing Instructions
Cut a perfect square. This one is 45cm x 45cm (17 3/4″ x 17 3/4″).
Fold the Fabric in half along the diagonal (or bias).
Trim about 5mm (1/4″) off the fold.
Fold triangle again, making sure newly cut edges align on top of each other.
Cut strips along the short cut edge. This example is using 2.5cm (1″) strips, but they can be any width you want.
If your cutting mat is large, like mine, move the strips to a smaller cutting mat to keep them in the same order and take them to the sewing machine. Or am I being pedantic? If that’s not you, just grab and go! I like to keep them in order to make it easier to identify different lengths to avoid sewing lots of small strips together.
Now it’s time to sew. Take two different sized strips and put them right sides together on one short edge so that they make a right angle. They need to overhang by about 5mm (1/4″) on each side, as you will be using a 5mm (1/4″) seam allowance and you need to sew from one fabric intersection to the other.
I decided not to use the last little triangle as it would create too many joins in a small area.
Continue to sew strips together, alternating strip lengths. Ensure the unstitched strip is away from you (top-left) and the already stitched strip towards you (bottom-left).
Press open all sewn seams.
This made a total 7.55m (8 1/4 yards) of 2.5cm (1″) wide bias from a 45cm (17 3/4″) square of fabric, all ready for the next project!
There is another method of creating bias strips called Continuous Bias Tape. I’ll cover that in an upcoming tutorial. But if you know of any other methods please leave a comment below.
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