Sewing: Using Bias Tape to Wrap an Edge

Yes, it is possible to make your own bias tape, but in my humble opinion, that takes it out of the category of "easy". A later article will talk about making your own.

The big benefit of bias tape is that is can be molded around curves.

One of my sewing books refers to this technique as Rolled Binding or French Piping. I like to think of it as wrapping an edge with bias binding.

This type of binding looks really nice on the collar and sleeve edges of a sheer or silky blouse, on clothes for little girls, or simply as a trim.

This photo shows bias tape wrapped around the neckline of a blouse. And yes, the back neck finishing is a bit crude, but effective - and no one will see it!

But the public side of this bias trim looks quite striking.

One of the first items that I made with this application of bias tape was a makeup cape way back when I was a farm girl in a 4H Sewing Club. That was a long time ago!

By the way, there is a companion article to this: Using Bias Tape to Face an Edge - it describes a different way to use bias tape to finish an edge of a garment.

When you use this tape to wrap around an edge, do the following steps:

• Make sure that the seam allowance has been removed on that edge. This is especially important if you are working on a neckline, because the neckline will be too small unless the seam allowances are cut off.
• Open out the tape, and lay the edge of the NARROW side even with the edge of the garment, RIGHT SIDES TOGETHER.
• Sew along the fold that is closest to the edge.
• Wrap the bias tape to the wrong side, with its edge folded under along the fold line. Because this side is the wider side, it will cover the seam.
• From the right side, sew the tape again, either "in the ditch" or close to the ditch.
• The photos below will show these steps in more detail.

When you make your own bias tape, you have to consciously work at having this bit of un-even-ness, or hand-sew the wrong side to the seam.

The photo shows an OUTSIDE curve.

The geometry of an outside curve tells you that the finished edge (the center fold of the tape) needs to be a bit bigger than where the seam line is.

To make the center fold bigger, scrunch the tape a bit, as shown in the photo. Then, when the tape is wrapped to the outside, there will be enough fabric to wrap.

You may be confused by this photo. There really are 3 folds in double-fold bias tape, a center fold and two outside folds. In this photo, the outside fold that is farthest away from the fabric edge was not unfolded - it is actually tucked under the points of the pins.

In this case, the geometry tells you that the finished edge (the center fold of the tape) needs to be a bit smaller than where the seam line is.

To make the center fold smaller, stretch the tape a bit, as shown in the photo. Then, when the tape is wrapped to the outside, there won't be any inappropriate puckers.

You can sort of tell that it has been stretched - the base fabric has some folds in it - but that's not going to be a problem at all.

The iron just covers the seam - the goal is to leave the center fold untouched by the iron.

At this point, you have two options for the final stitching:

• From the right side, sew very close to the first seam, as shown in the top photo at right.
• From the right side, sew "in the ditch", very close to the tape but not on the tape, as shown in the bottom photo at right.

An alternative preparation method

Here is an optional step that can make it easier to manage those inside and outside curves.

With the tape double folded, position it on the base fabric with the center fold aligned with the edge of the base fabric, and the wider half of the tape on the bottom, closest to the fabric.

Where you have an outside curve, stretch the outside edge (the center fold portion), and pin to make it fit.

Where you have an inside curve, stretch the inside edge (not the center fold portion), and again pin to make it fit.

Note that these pins are merely positioning helpers - they are not attaching the tape to the base fabric.

Now, press the tape with steam, to educate the tape about the curves that it is supposed to follow.

This photo shows more stitch-in-the-ditch.

Yet another preparation method

This example came from a commercial pattern. It used wide double-fold bias tape. The pattern just said to wrap the tape around the fleece edge (with the wider half of the tape on the underside) and sew it down.

I wasn't as satisfied with this approach, primarily because it was difficult to manage the curves at the neckline.

But it did take only one pass with the sewing machine.

Conclusion

Wrapping commercial bias tape around a raw edge is an easy and effective method to finish that raw edge. Try it!