Sunday, July 5, 2009

a bias tape epiphany

I've been doing a ton of anxiety-related sewing for the new babies.  I will post pictures as soon as I manage to take some, but in the midst of my sewing frenzy I stumbled on the world's best way to attach bias tape. In my opinion.  I'm talking about projects like this.

Here goes:

Sew it to the wrong side first.  

Basically, you're following this tutorial, but instead of sewing the tape to the right side in the first step, sew it to the wrong side.  Then, flip the item over, arrange the bias tape the way you want it to look on the right side, and sew it in place from the right side.

This solves the problem of accidentally not catching the entire tape on the wrong side (which means you have to either unpick the entire stupid thing or sew another line over the missed part, which winds up looking like crap).  My wrong-side-first method solves that problem and the garment winds up looking better on the right side and the wrong side. 

The other method probably works just fine when you have pre-packaged bias tape (as opposed to the sloppy stuff I make myself), really even seam allowances, or more attention to detail than I can personally muster up.

I should probably have posted pictures because I realize that out of context this probably sounds like the ravings of a bias-tape obsessed lunatic.  Which I am.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

why have i never thought to do it that way? ive only been doing bias tape related projects for a few months but have already had my share of mistakes. this way would definitely solve some problems.

Karen said...

I can't take credit for having even thought of it--I attached it to the wrong side by mistake and was too annoyed/lazy to unpick it, so I just carried on. Now my life has changed forever.