Binding with Bias

You know you're not done with a quilt until you put on the binding. There are as many ways to do that as there are quilters. Some of us love it, some of us hate it. But if you want your quilt protected you have to finish the edges somehow.

commercial bias

Since we've been talking about bias, we thought we ought to include the queen of bias, bias tape.
Many quilters prefer bias binding for the smooth edges it gives, even with curves.

You can buy packaged bias in a lot of colors, but that doesn't always mean it will match your quilt. Is it the same weight? The same shade of red? The same fabric content? Most commercial bias is poly cotton rather than all cotton and it does look different.

Bias binding is simply fabric cut along the bias in even widths. Usually it's folded and sewed along the folds. Traditionally is folded in 4ths, so if you have a two inch wide strip your finished binding will by one half inch.

picture by Liesl Gibson

Once you sew the strips together, you can fold it using a bias tape maker.

Bias Tape folded from Sew4home

Your own bias will match your quilt it a way commercial bias never will. Besides striped fabric always looks fabulous on the bias.

Of course commercial bias is sort of like instant mashed potatoes. It's there in a hurry but it's never quite as good.

On Point: Turning a Corner with Your Quilts

We've talked some about bias cuts and how they respond to piecing and ironing. This is the fun designer part about bias.

Let's start with a simple square quilt block. 

We're all familiar with sewing those blocks into a grid. It makes a nice repeat but it doesn't have a lot of design action. Sometime's you'd really like to feel like a design is moving.

So, turn it on point. Turn in 45 degrees ( like a right triangle) and watch it change. Are you more excited now?

Not only that but we can turn our grid into a square on point and add triangle pieces to fill in the corners.

Now imagine what happens if you went modern with that. An odd grid gives it even more personality and energy
None of this is hard. It's a matter of looking at things from different angles. Try taking your favorite quilt blocks, putting them on point and see how they change.
Things to remember:
Once you put something on point, somewhere you'll have to use a triangle shape to square it in. That triangle shape does have one side that is bias. And it will stretch.
But you already know what to do with that.

• Pin, pin, pin.
• Use a walking foot.
• Don't stretch the edges as you sew.
• Pick your iron up and then set it down. Don't push the fabric by ironing flat.

Biased: Introducing Bias Cut Fabric

We talked last time about the construction of fabric and what " straight grain" means.

From Threads Magazine

Basically it means the fabric is cut along the line with either the warp grain( the long threads of the fabric) or the weft grain, (the threads going across).  Fabric is just woven threads. It's not static. The threads can easily shift within the fabric.So it can stretch, warp, or shift on you in a moment's notice.  The straight of grain fabric does that slightly. But what if you cut at a 45 degree angle across the square. The picture shows us a log of thread ends with nothing to hold them in place. That 45 degree cut is a bias cut. And since the threads aren't holding each other in place, it stretches. Not just a little bit. A lot! 

Is that a good thing? Again, nothing is  good or bad but thinking makes it so.

You may think this talk about grain doesn't matter to beginner sewers, or people making simple quilts. But it helps you predict how fabric will react as you sew it. And if you think it through, you'll understand some of the problems involved with sewing bias and some of the solutions.

Elizabeth Hartman from Oh, Fransson!

Remember how we talked about half square triangles, and how many different kinds of blocks you can cut from them? That seam across the half square triangle is bias cut. Any quilt we make with triangles or diamonds by definition has a bias seam, waiting to stretch out before your eyes. 

Before you start to panic, quilters have dealt with this from the beginning of quilting. And knowledge is power. Are you wondering why one square is bigger than the other? Pointed slightly differently? Why the seams don't match. It could be due to bias stretch. Here's some ways to control that,

From Exuberant Color

Bias coping skills

• The simplest thing to do about bias is to remember not to stretch it. Don't pull it through the machine. Don't tug it into place. Don't encourage it to stretch more than it does just in sewing.
•  Cut accurately and trim to even things out rather than stretch a seam to make it match.
• Use a walking foot to make your fabric feed evenly top and back side. A walking foot grabs fabric from both the top and the back side.
• Use pins. A lot of pins
• Don't drag your iron along the seams. Lift it. Place it. Let it steam. Repeat.

If it stretches a little, that's fine. Just don't encourage it to stretch a lot.

From Nettie at aquiltisnice

Is there an upside to bias? Actually yes there is! That curve you see on this bound edge is from cut bias strips. The bias stretches nicely to accommodate the curve. Many quilters use bias binding because that stretch leaves a smoother bound edge.

We'll talk more about bias binding next time!