Gadget love

I'm working hard on my Easter dress, McCall's 6024.  I'm making View B, which is the one with short flouncy sleeves and bias bound flounces.  I hate hemming - especially narrow hems on silky polyester, so I knew that bias bound view was the way to go for me!  And it gave me a chance to use one of my favorite gadgets - my binding foot!

Here she is in action.  Basically, the foot takes your bias tape, wraps it around your fabric and perfectly edgestitches it.  Every time.  All 6 yards (!) of it.

Isn't that nice?  It looks exactly the same on the back, which is my favorite part.  Since the foot itself folds the tape, the wrong side doesn't have that hanging over bit, but you don't have to worry about missing the edge on the wrong side either.  This was particularly critical for this project, since both wrong and right sides show on the flounces.

Here's a purty pile of freshly bound flounce.  The other big bonus of the binding foot - it only took me about 45 minutes to do all of this binding, and it seriously was about 6 1/2 yards worth.  If I had done that by hand, it would have taken days!  I love gadgets!!

Tutorial: Bound Neckline on Scrubs

Scrubs are one thing that I always thought should be an easy sew, but pattern companies have failed me. Mostly they are OK, but the neckline finishes that they use are disappointing at best.  Facings and sewn on bands are what I've found, but all RTW scrubs that I've ever seen or worn have a bound neckline.  It's nicer looking and a cleaner finish inside.  Here is how I did mine.

You will need:
A scrub top pattern that you like (aside from the neckline finish!)
A bit of extra fabric for binding.  You'll probably have some scraps that will be plenty large after you cut out your scrubs.  You can skip all of the "making the binding" steps if you find commercial bias tape that is a color and width you like, but I wanted a fabric match and a different width, so I'm including the how-to for that.
Spray starch
Straightedge ruler
Chalk for marking
Fabric glue stick or basting tape

First you need to prep your pattern.  Since you will be binding the neckline, you want both back and front necklines to be at their finished height.  That is, remove any seam allowances for facings.
Now make the pattern for your bindings.  For the back, cut out a rectangle that is the length of your back neckline plus an inch or two for shaping, and four times the finished width.  For example, my back neckline is 9 inches long, and my finished binding width is 3/4 of an inch, so my back binding is 10 1/2 inches long and 4 inches wide. For the front binding, you will need two pieces (one for each side of the V), the length should be a little more than the length from the shoulder to the point of the V, and the same width as the back.  Remember that you will be cutting these out on the bias so that they will stretch and conform to the curve of your neckline.

Once you've cut out all of your pieces, you need to prep your bias strips.  You are basically making bias binding.  I find it very helpful to starch my bias strips before folding and pressing.  I think it helps to control the bias so that you don't end up all stretched out of shape.  So, saturate your strip with starch, then fold it in half and press the folded edge to form a crease.  (Wishing I had taken a picture here!)  Unfold, then fold the two raw edges in to meet in the middle.  Crease those edges and then fold it back in half.  It should be looking like double fold bias tape now.
Now you are ready to apply the neckline!  I do this as my first step in construction.  You can do it when you want, but it does need to be done before you sew the shoulder seams.
For the front neckline, you need to form the V from your two strips.  To determine the angle that you need to sew, line one piece of binding up just as it will be sewn to the neckline, then with your straightedge, draw a line on your binding along center front like so...

This is your cutting line.  Now take your other piece of binding and open it out - just the first fold and put the two wrong sides together, like so -

You can see my chalk line on top.  Now fold them back together.  The one with the chalk mark will fold along the crease, the other piece will be folding against the crease.

Now cut along your chalk line -

Unfold and put the two right sides together with the V's matching up.  Sew with a 1/4 inch seam allowance.  Be sure to pivot at the corner with your needle in the crease.  Now trim your seam as closely as you can, particularly at the points.  Here's mine with only one side trimmed.

Now press the seams as flat as you can.  I just mash it with the iron.  It's hard to press them open, since you've trimmed them so short.

If you have any threads that hang over the folded edge trim them off.  They'll show.

Here's what it should look like now!  It's ready to be attached to the neckline.  Now for the big secret...  Glue!!

Get your fabric glue or basting tape and glue that baby down where you want it. This way, when you sew it on the layers won't slip and your edgestitching will catch both sides of the binding.

Now edgestitch it down, pivoting with your needle in the seam at the point of the V.  Isn't it pretty?  It looks just as nice on the other side.
For the back, just glue down the binding the same way, and edgestitch it down.  It curves a bit, but your tape has plenty of stretch, so just contour it as you are glueing.  Afterward, it may try to curve in or out.  Just press it down withe the iron and it will lie nice and flat.

Here are the front and back, ready to be sewn together at the side seams.  Now you can finish construction on your top however you like.  Neckline's done!

As pretty inside as it is on the outside!

As a final note, if you want your scrubs to be reversible this is the perfect neckline finish.  All you have to do is add an inside breast pocket and flat fell your seams.  Instant reversible scrub top!

In case you were wondering...

if you take 2 yards of sixty inch wide fabric and make a 2 inch wide bias strip out of it, you will end up with 65 yards of bias tape.

I know you were wondering that.

A few more little known facts -

-When the disappearing ink pen says that it will last 24 hours, do not believe it! It will not last the amount of time that it takes to sew and measure your binding.

-It is very frustrating to re-measure already sewn continuous loop bias binding.

-Children with dirty hands are irresistibly drawn to white satin.

-Convincing slippery satin bias tape to STAY ROLLED is nearly impossible. Swearing may be required. Or duct tape.

-After you have made all of that bias binding, you will need large amounts of semi-sweet chocolate chips and Advil to deal with the resultant migraine.

Cars Birthday Fun!

Well, while my pants~along puts on pockets, I thought I'd try out something fun for Logan's birthday party. I've been seeing all of these sweet buntings on blogs and in Etsy shops, so I thought I'd haul out some scraps and give it a go. I used this great tutorial, with a few minor changes.

Here is my fun Cars bunting!
Cute, eh? I think Lightning McQueen looks excited!

So, the only things that I did differently were that I didn't use fat quarters, just scraps from other projects, and I didn't starch my pennants. I tried it on one, but it didn't seem to make any difference, so I quit. One thing I did discover is that starching your bias tape makes a BIG difference, both in the making and in the using. I've often read that you should starch your bias strips before you press them into the tape, but it always seemed like an extra step. It's not! It totally made this project so much easier, and my tape so much better! I am a reformed woman. Going forward, there will be starch in my bias tape.
I also found this fun arrowhead shaped stitch in Janome's arsenal. She may not honeycomb, but she's still got a few cool stitches. I think this one makes for a nice "boy" touch, if Cars and checkered flags aren't "boy" enough for you!

Logan and Myra approve!

Wondering where my scraps came from? Well, the red Lightning McQueen and checkered flag fabric were left over from these, and the blue Cars toss was left over from this. The tan Cars toss was given to me by my good friend Donna, who had bought a bolt to use for some home dec stuff and then never got around to it. So now I have a bolt to play with! So fun!

My love affair...

with bias tape. Mitch knows all about it. He finds my in my sewing room, measuring, ironing, cutting, and he knows.

I really do love bias tape. It is wonderfully versatile. You can make curved casing with it, bind armholes and necklines, bind hems (yay! no hemming!!), make pretty edges, use it to make ties... There are more... I particularly love it for binding the edges of my ring slings. If you want to read more about slings, look here and here.
It is also cheap, which is nice. A package of three yards is only about a buck fifty, but, if you make it yourself, it is even cheaper, and you can make it out of any print you want! How awesome is that!? I usually get about 10 yards of 1/2 inch double fold (that's "extra wide" in the packages) bias tape out of a 1/2 yard piece of fabric.

Are you excited yet? Here's the kicker - it's not even hard to make. It can get a little tedious, as there is a lot of marking, but there are some awesome instructions here from the Dread Pirate Rodgers, and here are some tips from me. (and a cute baby, trimmed with handmade bias tape.)
1. Buy yourself one of these. It is a bias tape maker. It costs about five bucks at Hancock's. You'll find it in the quilting section. It will make pressing your tape SOOO much easier. I have done it both by hand and with the tape maker, and with the tape maker, it took about half as long. Go get one.

2. As you are pressing your tape, roll it onto something so that your creases don't fall out and you don't tangle the tape. Here I am using the top part of a blank CD container. Worked great. Empty ribbon spools are also good, as long as they are wide.

3. For your print, remember that you are cutting on the bias, and folding the tape into a small size, so a big print will get lost, and things that are lined up will look different on the tape. Polka dots, for example, look very different, and you may not like the effect. Take an edge of the fabric and fold it up, approximating the bias, so you aren't disappointed after you've worked so hard.

4. If you choose to make your tape by hand, and are making double fold, start by folding the tape in half, then tucking under the edges. It is easier than measuring the edges individually. then folding in half.

5. Read the instructions on the bias tape maker for pressing, if you are using it. They're right, although I did find that ironing with the point of the iron (rather than the long edge) was better when I ironed over seams.

6. Pay no attention to the instructions for cutting out your bias strips. Use the link above. Making individual bias strips and then sewing them together is ridiculously tedious. Don't do it!

7. Make extra. You'll use it.

Now get creative! Bias tape is awesome!!

I'd love to hear your tips and tricks, so please share!