Sewing Basics # 14 - Easy Peasy Bias Strips

I don't know about you, but the prospect of accurately marking out and cutting narrow strips of fabric on the bias seemed a bit too fiddly and a bit too much like hard work for my liking. So for ages I relied on my stash of ready made bias tape for projects. Then I had a minor brainwave and tried out the basic idea here. What d'ya know...it worked! Alot of you seemed to think it was a pretty neat idea, so I thought I'd share my  bias strip technique in a little more detail in case, like me, you can't be arsed to faff about ;)

I used one of these bias tape makers to make my bias binding.  This particular size requires strips of fabric 1" wide. So I got me some 1" wide low tack masking tape (masking tape comes in several widths in our local hardware shop. If I need 2" wide bias strips I just use 2" wide masking tape)...

The fabric pictured is cut in a perfect square. (See here for an easy way to do this. The technique applies the same way to fabric as it does for paper!)  Now for a little geometry. Bias tape needs to be cut at a 45 degree angle to the grainline. On a perfect square, from point to point diagonally across the square, is exactly 45 degrees. So the strip of masking tape below, marks out a 1" wide strip of fabric at a 45 degree angle...

Every subsequent piece of tape lined up against it will therefore be at the perfect 45 degree angle too. I just kept adding strips of tape either side until they became too short to be of reasonable use. (For zero waste, the resulting corners/trianges left over at the end.could go in your scrap pile until you've enough to make some bunting)....

Leaving just enough gap between each strip of tape for your scissor blades...

...provides a super accurate cutting guide and stabilises the fabric whilst you are cutting (bias by it's nature is prone to stretching) this is especially useful on fine and/or slippery fabrics....

You end up with a load of strips backed with masking tape. Exactly the right size, with poker straight edges and cut precisely on the bias....

Square off the ends....

...and there you have them. Lovely neat bias strips. Ready to use to make your own bias tape. (I've been making up more than I need, then peeling off the masking tape as and when I need the make some bias tape up. Otherwise I leave the masking tape in place to keep them stabilised and store them for future use)

Easy peasy lemon squeezy!
Px