Tutorial: Bias Tape!

This is an older tutorial for making bias tape without a tape maker. If you have a bias tape maker, this gets so insanely easy to do! However, not everyone has every single tool there is out there, and bias binding is easy enough to do if you have a little patience. This tutorial, like a number of tutorials I plan to post, were made roughly three years ago, when I was the costumer for the Italian guild, San Lorenzo, at the Renaissance Pleasure Faire in California. The idea, when I originally made these little instructionals, was to help people with all the little details that really bring a costume together. Most, if not all, of these how-tos are common knowledge, but it's nice to have them all together in a single place!

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So, you want to make your own bias tape? Awesome! It’s easy! Bias tape is used to bind edges on items you can’t hem, or otherwise close up, like on bodies/corsets. It can also be used on the neckline of a lady’s camicia, to hold gathers or help add a little structure. When folded in half and not quarters, it can become piping, snipped picadils, trim... the possibilities really are almost limitless! And it’s easy to make! It is a bit more time-consuming than going out and buying the stuff, but you get the advantage of having bias tape that perfectly matches your garment.

What You’ll Need

Fabric

Scissors/rotary cutter

Ruler

Chalk/colored pencil/pencil/pen

Iron

Ironing board

Step 1: Cut your fabric. If you’re edging a corset or binding a gathered neckline, I’d recommend you make your binding 2” wide. This is where the chalk/whatever and ruler will come in handy.

 

Step 2: Fold and press your fabric strip in half.

 

Step 3: Open your strip back up, and fold the outer edges in to meet the center crease you just made. And, of course, press.

 

Step 4: Fold your tape in half, along the crease you made in Step 2, and press again.

 And you’re done! So easy, and so attractive!