Appliqués and Homemade Bias Tape? No thanks.

I remain unconvinced that appliqués and bias tape actually add anything to a sewing project — I think that designs made with contrasting thread are much better — in every way. Furthermore, they’re no fun at all to do/make (side note: in Spanish, “do” and “make” are often represented with “do” as packing the suitcase is “hacer la maleta” or “to do the suitcase” — I can see why).

Here’s my very first appliqué – I didn’t have fusible bonding web (and I tried using fusible interfacing and wax paper and just made a big mess), but I did have Stitch Witchery (hemming tape) from my mother-in-love, so I cut it up and overlapped it a bit to make my appliqué adhere to the front of the bib. I sewed around the edges, but not over them, so I’m a bit nervous that as the bib gets washed, the appliqué might fall apart… so I’m thinking that I probably shouldn’t try selling this on etsy… we’ll see.

I pinned it all together — I don’t plan to baste it like the instructions recommend — I’m pretty sure the pins will hold it together just fine.

Now… the bias tape. The pattern for the booties called for twice the amount of fabric that I actually used. So I thought I could probably get away with using half the amount called for to make this pattern. WRONG. Oops. Now I don’t have enough of the backing to make the bias tape with… I looked through all of my other fabric options and don’t really like them as bias tape for this project… so, at this point I should probably just start all over and do it right with other fabric that I have lots of, but I like the look of the bibs I make more than this one, and I refuse to leave this project unfinished, so I’m just making bias tape with the fabric scraps I have and I’ll figure out what to do when it runs out.

Bias tape has to be cut out on the bias (which I think means that it has to be cut at 45 degrees to the grain of the fabric — recognizable as the edge of the fabric). So I got out the triangle that my father-in-love left us when he came and built shelves for us last October and cut up the bit of fabric that I had left:

I made several strips from this scrap, but I doubt it’ll be enough.

Now, sewing them all together, end-to-end… not nearly as easy as it sounds. And the instructions in Emma’s book were not helpful to me — the book is not for beginners! — and the drawings don’t show which is the right and which is the wrong side of the fabric strips! I asked my husband to help me figure out how to sew the ends together and he came up with something — I think we figured it out… and this tutorial was very helpful, but I wish I’d watched this tutorial before I cut up all the strips — she has a trick that looks brilliant.

Here’s my step-by-step summary of how to join strips of bias tape:

1. Lay out two of the strips out side-by-side so that they look like each other (eg. both angles pointing to the upper left).

2. Lay the right one on top of the left one, right sides together.

3. Rotate the right (top) one 180 degrees, so that it’s perpendicular to the bottom one.

4. Slide the top one up.

5. Shift it all around a bit so that the triangles hanging off each side are about the same size and pin it.

6. Stitch between the “valleys” — I flipped it over to use the contrast of the thread to highlight where to sew.

Well, now that the bias tape is made, it’s time for me to hit the infamous Steps 6 and 7 — attaching the bias tape to this derned bib!

* Another side note: while researching how to do this bias tape, I found an index of free patterns on the internet! I haven’t used any of them yet, but I plan to!

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