Quick 'n Easy Continuous Bias Strip

Do you sew?  If you make your own piping/welting or bias tape, you'll enjoy this easy method for creating a long, continuous bias strip.  I just finished up a slipcover that I will share with you soon, but first I wanted to show you this process.  It's relatively simple, but it deserves it's own post.  (If there's a difference between welting and piping, I don't know what it is.  Perhaps that piping is used in apparel applications and welting in upholstery?  Anyway, I'll use the two interchangeably.)

Once when I was in a fabric store shopping for welting supplies, a friendly lady explained this process to me.  She drew it out on a scrap sheet of paper and sent me on my way.  I'm so thankful to her!  It's how I always make welting now, even if I don't necessarily need it to be on the bias.

"Bias" just means the fabric is cut on an angle to the selvage edges.  This gives the strips more flexibility and stretch which is handy when the project your working on has corners and curves (which most do).  See the welting on our couch pillows below.  It's covered in corduroy fabric, and as you can see, the stripes of the corduroy are running diagonally. It's visually more appealing than if they were all horizontal or vertical, and it was much easier for the seamstress to work with as she constructed the pillows.  Pay no attention to the errant cat hairs there...they're everywhere!

The steps may seem overwhelming, but hang in there!  You'll be pleasantly surprised at how easy it ends up being.  I've seen other "easy" methods, but with this one you'll save more time in the cutting stage at the end. 

You want to start with a rectangular or square piece of fabric.  The beauty is that any size rectangular or square piece will do.  The proportions don't matter.  I had a long narrow piece that I wanted to use.  And if you're making a project that will be washed in the future (slipcover, pillow cover, etc) be sure you wash and dry the fabric a couple of times to pre-shrink it. 

Fold it in half.

I lined up the pattern to keep the seams neat and tidy (as you can see on the two edges on the left).  This isn't necessary, but with a pattern this bold and obvious the seams will be less noticeable in the end if you do this. 
Now, sew around the three open edges, so you end up with a completely enclosed rectangle.  Three sides are sewn shut, and one is the fold.

Trim the edges so you have about a 1/4 inch of fabric outside of your seams.  Now use a long straight edge to draw a line connecting two diagonal corners (use the corner of the seams, not the edge of the fabric). 

Now, flip the fabric over and draw another line connecting the other two diagonal corners on the other side.

Next you want to carefully cut along the lines you've drawn.  BE SURE to only cut the layer of fabric where the line is drawn.  First pinch the top layer and make a small snip along the line. 

 Now carefully cut along the line, then flip and cut along the line on the other side. 

 Cut right up to the corner as shown below.  If you're concerned about cutting too far, just stop short and cut farther in a minute.

Trim the corners.

You're left with a tube of fabric with several seams.   (Now you can see how the cuts have worked, and if you need to cut a bit farther in the corners, do it now.)

 Iron the seams open. 

Lay your tube out flat, and fold one end towards the other.  Leave 6-8" of fabric unfolded (let's call this "the flap".

You may want to fold again.  This step will depend on how long your particular tube is.  If it's very long and narrow, you may end up folding/stacking several times.  Just be sure to leave that extra fabric flap, marked below.  Make sure you have scissors sharp enough to cut through the stack, too.  If you don't think your scissors can make it through very many layers, don't fold as much. 

So far, so good?  Now we'll mark our cuts.  The width of the strips will depend on your particular project.  I was using a pretty skinny piping, so I wanted my strips to be 1.5" wide.  Use a ruler to mark your cuts on the stack of folded fabric.

Carefully cut along the lines you've marked on the folded stack.  Be careful to just cut to the edge of the stack, barely into that flap.

Here's what your tube looks like now.

Loop your tube around your ironing board, or carefully lay it out on a table (if you can't hang it, make sure you put a piece of cardboard or something sturdy in the middle of the loop, so you only end up cutting through that top layer in the next step.

This is probably the most crucial step:  In the photo below I've labeled the cut intersections.  Draw lines connecting the bottom intersection to the adjacent top intersection.

See how "bottom a" is connected to "top b" then "bottom b" to "top c" and so on?  Now, cut along these lines.   

 You're left with one long continuous bias strip!  The two ends are narrowed to a point, so I just snip those pointed ends off.

 To cover the welting, simply use your zipper foot.  I don't even pin it.

A couple of caveats:
-  If you need wider bias strips, you may want to leave a longer flap.  There will be an angle in the strip at those intersections I labeled in white, and the shorter that flap is, the sharper those angles will be.   The longer the flap is, the wider (and less noticeable) the angles will be.
- The size of your original piece of fabric can help you estimate the amount of finished strip you will have.  If you were to start off with a 20x60 piece of fabric, and you simply cut it into several 2" wide strips, you would get 10 strips that are 60" long, or 600" total of strips.  Using the method above, you'll get roughly the same length of strips from that same piece of fabric.  You would want to subtract a bit for seam allowances, but you should be able to roughly estimate how long your strip will be by measuring your original fabric.

Thanks for sticking with me 'til the end!  I hope you'll come back soon to see the project this was made for.  Here's a sneak peek.

 Please let me know if you have any questions, or if I need to clarify something.  Just leave a comment. 

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