how to make bias tape

My previous posts have covered cutting and sewing for bias strips and today I'm going to cover how to make bias tape. This is where you essentially fold over the edges on either side of your bias strip to encase the raw edges.

This is single fold bias tape

 and this is double fold bias tape

For the double fold bias tape you simply iron in half the single fold. It's that easy. The hard part is making the single fold bias tape to begin with. Your dealing with stretchy bias cut fabric and no it does not play nice with the iron. Which brings me to the first method which is to iron the old fashioned way by hand. Yes that's right by hand which if your anything like me will drive you nuts because the results are so inconsistent and it would take for-ever.

The second method involves a metal tool which I'm guessing has been around for ages but has perhaps had some improvements. I had one such tool lying around and mine looks like this.

 The newer bias tape makers look quite different from the back and seem to have a flat tip on both the top and bottom of the unit. If you search these tools you'll see the difference. 

Nancy Zieman has a video on how to use this tool, and for her it works perfectly (hers being the newer version perhaps). Anyways I could not get this to work for me and to top it off this was not the right size. Also these cost anywhere from $6 to $15 depending on the size you get, if the new ones work and you make a lot of bias this would be worth it. I'm curious if the newer styles work better.

So that Idea scrapped I found online another method promising an easy no cost method. Place pin in ironing surface making a gap the size of desired tape and simply pull through. WRONG! This takes the old fashioned ironing by hand method and basically gives you a helping hand but you still end up with sloppy inconsistent work. Is it too much to ask for prefect results.

Then lastly I wandering onto this blog scientific seamstress science + sewing = perfection. This lady is just awesome she created this wonderful device that I would buy in a heartbeat and she is offering it to her readers for free. Here's the link to her bias tape maker. It worked wonderfully with perfect results and was worth the effort of assembly and as I said I would buy it in a heartbeat.

Here's how it worked for me.

Honestly I was a little doubtful and thought it would be super complicated but really it was super easy 4 pieces and I used "terrifically tacky tape" for paper crafting instead of glue (since I can be inpatient) and it worked wonderfully. If you are looking to make bias tape try this you won't be disappointed.

What methods have you tried and which do you prefer?

Thanks for reading♥