Is your local PBS a little behind the times and not yet airing It’s Sew Easy? No worries, every week It’s Sew Easy will show one of their weekly episodes online. Totally free of charge and if you register on the website there are even additional tutorials you can follow. A new episode starts every Friday at noon and today starts Episode 113. Rebecca Cornell and Christy Howden open the show with felting techniques for a fun toy. Next, Tricia Waddell and Katrina Loving have a mom friendly tip for reinforcing seams for heavy wear on stuffed animals and clothing. Then, Sheree Schattenmann creates a simple duvet for a baby’s room. Angela Wolf wraps up the show and the first season of It’s Sew Easy showing how to distress jeans for a fashion look suitable for kids, teens, and moms.
Making bias tape has never been easier! It is really important to make sure your bias strip are really cut on the true bias. Here are a few tips to make sure you have success:
To find the true bias: lay your fabric on a flat surface. It is easier if there is a grid to follow in order to line up your grainlines. Here I line up the crosswise grainline and the fabric salvage.
Take one corner and pull the fabric to match the selvage with the crosswise grain. This will create a triangle.
When working with slippery fabric, use a weight at one end so you can maneuver the fabric around. The bias is along the folded edge.
Align a see through ruler along the bias edge. I want 2″ bias strips so the first cut will be at the 1 inch mark because I am on the fold.
Now you will see you have a nice cut line on the bias. I then take the bias line and fold the fabric in half, so I don’t have to cut so far. I also move the fabric so I can line up the edge of the fabric along my grid underneath.
Again, using the see through ruler, cut every 2 inches.
Keep cutting strips until you run out of fabric. I always cut more than I need, you never know when you might need a strip of bias!
Does anyone have any other tips for cutting bias strips … especially when cutting slinky, slippery fabric? I would love to hear your ideas.
