The Shabby Creek Cottage

Hundreds of ideas for creative ways to eat, make & decorate!

How to: cut your own bias tape

how to cut bias tape

Last week I shared my nifty new tool – a bias tape maker. I didn’t really think about including the directions on how to cut bias tape fabric. But after a few comments and emails, I heard you loud & clear – you wanted a detailed tutorial on how I cut the fabric. I’ll do my best – but if you have any questions feel free to leave them in the comments section & I’ll answer them there.
bias tape supplies

You’ll need: fabric (at least 1 yd), a yard stick, a fabric marking pen, and scissors or a rotary cutter. If you use a rotary cutter you’ll also need a cutting board. To keep things simple I used scissors (because we all have those, right?) Alrighty then… let’s get started!
cutting on a 45

Start by measuring from each corner 12 inches in each direction. This is where my high school geometry came in handy. Since the corner is a 90 degree corner, if you make both sides the same length, then you get a 45 degree angle. After you mark 12 inches from the corner on each side, then line up the marks and draw your line.
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After you have the first line, measure over two inches (or whatever width you need) from that line (away from the corner you started with, and make another line. Do it as many times as you need to get your length. Cut on the lines with scissors or a rotary cutter – either works great as long as you are precise.
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Now you’ve got all your strips – yay! Join all of them into one long strip (or two shorter ones, whatever you need), but placing them right sides together in a V pattern. It looks wrong until you stitch it up on your sewing machine.

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Once sewn together, it makes a continuous strip.
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Iron your seams out flat and you’re ready to run it through the machine.
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Now know how to cut bias tape! Pretty simple, but it can really finish off a project beautifully. Oh! And, you can use the same cutting method to cut strips to use for piping, just omit the machine 🙂

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Comments

  9. Hi Gina! Thanks for hosting – just linked up project #120. Thank you for the bias tape tutorial. I have plans to make a cushon for a bench and will use this tutorial to make bias tape for it! Am pinning this! Also am your newest follower. Please visit my blog sometime to say hello. I love to make new bloggy friends!
    Heather @ settingforfour.blogspot.com

    Reply

  10. So inspired this week! I even found a blog offering upholstery classes within a reasonable distance of me. Though I do upholstery I’ve never been formally taught and I bet there are some great shortcuts. Ha ha. Thanks for the link party!

    Reply

  21. It’s so close to the weekend, I can almost taste it. Good Thursday morning to you! Today, I have a Cheap, Organic Face Wash recipe. It ends up costing less than $.01 per use and is super easy to make! Thanks for hosting the party once again. Have a great rest o the week!
    Rebekah-www.potholesandpantyhose.com

    Reply

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