How to make your own bias binding tape
A bias tape is a strip of fabric that has been cut on the bias direction in the fabric. This means that instead of being cut along the fabric thread to maintain stability, it has been cut along the diagonal (the bisector) between the warp and weft of the fabric. Being cut this way, on the bias, the fabric deforms more and is therefore more adaptable, for example in curved areas. Pre-made bias tape is sold in haberdasheries, but you can make your own as well.
The first thing we have to do is to choose the fabric from which we want to create the bias tape and draw the bisector between the warp and the weft, that is, a line at 45ยบ. You can use chalk to draw the diagonal.
Now that we have made our reference diagonal, what we have to think about is how wide we want our bias tape to be. Let’s say we want the bias tape to be 1.5cm wide. In that case we will have to add 1.5 + 0.5 + 0.5 to add the two folded tabs that the bias tape has. So the end result would be a strip of fabric 2.5cm wide. Parallel to our reference diagonal we are going to draw the 2.5cm strips.
We cut the fabric strips with which we will create the bias tape and go to the iron!
On the ironing board we are going to stick a pin to create a kind of slider that will be used to shape the bias tape. The size of this pin should be the final size we wanted our bias tape to be, which in this case was 1.5 cm. Now, putting the ribbon through the pin with the tabs bent inwards, we will fix the shape of the bias tape pressing the iron.
Isn’t it simple?
With this method we can create our own bias tape in the fabric we need. In the image for example you can see that I have created a bias tape made of organza which would be perfect for when we need to finish delicate garments or those that need a very fine and concealed finish.
