How To Make A Continuous Bias Strip

A tutorial on how to make a strip of bias without having to cut multiple strips of the same width and sew them together.

For more tutorials, please check out my blog: http://erincomptondesign.blogspot.com

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• sewing
• crafting
• design
• how
• to
• tutorial
• bias
• strip
• sew

[Akudda]

Thanks alot for this wonderful post!It is quite helpful. Please could you say what is the name of that gridde thing on which you cut the fabric and is that a special type of ruler you used in the video? Pleas esay where I may purchase these items.

Thanks again!

[ErinComptonDesign]

@Akudda The thing I cut the fabric on is a "self-healing mat" and the ruler I used is an "Omnigrid" 18-inch by 3-inch quilting ruler. It's a thicker ruler so it holds a line when I run the roatary cutter across it. It is one of the sewing tools I use the most! You can get both at most sewing/quilting supply stores online or locally.

[raizelmama]

omgosh THank you!! Ive been dreaming about making my own bias tape and looked through so many tutorials before I saw your video and decided I would finally give it a go. I just did it and it was great!! The music is great between and I love how you set it up but yeah it was louder than your voice.

And do you have any tips for pressing it down with the iron to make the single fold without burning your fingers??!

Thanks again!

[ErinComptonDesign]

@raizelmama Thank you!

For pressing you can get a bias tape maker, they're about $6 at a craft store, its a metal tube that curves the fabric into the desired width for single fold bias, by pulling that along your resulting strip with the iron following it you can avoid finger burns and get your desired width of bias without much effort. You can get them in varying widths and if you make a lot of bias for quilts they're very much worth it!

[4theloveofcake]

I love this video, thanks!!! Can you tell me what length you ended up with using a 10" square? I only have a small amount of fabric left so I want to make sure I can make enough tape for what I need. Thank you :o) Is there an easy calculation to know what size square to cut for the amount needed?

[ErinComptonDesign]

I asked my husband, a math whiz, to come up with a calculation for me and he has yet to be able to come up with a good one.

I did find out a few weeks ago that a 12x12 inch square will make a 64" length of bias that is 2" wide, when folded down makes 1" wide bias tape.

Hope that helps!

[sj1605]

i messed up something. the entire fabric i used to cut this is ruined now. I cant use it for anything. very confusing.

[DebbieI]

This address gives you a formula for figuring out how large a square is needed for a given amt of tape AND a reverse formula for how much tape a given square will make:

quilting.about.com/od/bindinga­quilt/ss/binding_strips_4.htm I haven't used it yet, but thought you might like to know about it. Also, I love your tutorial!

[Yokoa19]

Respond to this video... thank you so much for posting. i've seen so many tutorials on how to make continous bias tape and your is much easier to understand

[Yokoa19]

@ErinComptonDesign thanks!

[jouwhoo]

I don't like how the music gets really loud all of a sudden. My ears are hurting. Otherwise, great video. Thanks for sharing.

[ssmosman]

Excellent tutorial, horrible music! Well, it's not the music that is so awful, it's that I keep having to turn it up to hear you and then it blasts throughout the house when you aren't talking--it's going to wake the kiddos! But, I'm grateful for it either way. :-)

[harmoniousthreads]

thanks for the tutorial but is this for making bias tape, or is it for sewing? leave out the extraneous info. anyone that doesn't know to back stitch (for example) shouldn't be spoon fed. watching this is like going to a creative writing course, and being lectured on learning the alphabet.

[PyxiGirl]

Everytime I have to make bias strip I come back to this site for a refresher. And EVERYTIME i watch this video I hear, "the hypotenuse, if you will." And it makes me laugh. Everytime:)

[drjreed]

I used a 44" square to cut about 9 yards of an unfolded 3" strip.

[sdeslf]

Thanks for a really useful technique and great instructions! In regards to the size of the square and what length of tape it makes, I found that 8x8inch square made only about 20inches of 2inch tape. But, as Erin said, 12x12inch square made about 65inches of tape. So the length seems to increase exponentially with even small increases in the size of the square.