Cutting Strips for Fabric Binding. Use a clear acrylic rotary ruler and a pencil or fine-point permanent pen to draw the lines. If you have folded your fabric correctly, this cut sliver should come off in 1 long piece. The bias grain runs on a 45º angle to the selvages. This article has been viewed 22,567 times. Cut the square in half diagonally (Diagram I). The diagrams shown illustrate a 5⁄8-yard length of 42"-wide fabric. To quickly cut binding strips on the bias, start with a fabric square or rectangle. The strips have angled ends that make it easier to connect them along the edges of your project. Start cutting the bias tape strips from one end ( the extended not stitched end) . For quilts with curved edges, you must use bias strips so the binding will bend around the curves. Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered. Depending on the type of fabric, you may need to pre-wash and dry it before ironing it. Step #8. There are bias binding makers out there, but I tend to do things the old school way, so I cut and fold the binding my hand. Supply List. If you want to try this technique, here is what you need: Half yard of quilt … Using the same marking on your ruler ensures your strips of fabric are all the same width. Traditionally, there are 2 ways to get a length of bias to make a binding or a piping or other trims. wikiHow is where trusted research and expert knowledge come together. The dimensions that you cut your fabric to will impact how much bias binding you can make. wikiHow is a “wiki,” similar to Wikipedia, which means that many of our articles are co-written by multiple authors. I wanted to make this job easy and without wasting fabric so I had to step out of my comfort zone and UNDERSTAND a technique that I messed it up once or twice. Take one corner of the fabric and fold it diagonally to meet the opposite corner. Let's get started! Step 4. wikiHow is where trusted research and expert knowledge come together. This trick is MIND BLOWING. You’ll need a 14 1/2 inch square —– to make approximately 94 inches of a 2 inch wide bias strip; You’ll need a 20 1/2 inch square —– to make approximately 191 inches of a 2 inch wide bias strip ***These instructions are for making 2 inch wide bias cut strips, which will result in 1/2 inch Double Fold Bias Tape. To cut bias strips using this technique, follow these easy steps: Using a ruler, mark lines on a piece of fabric on a 45-degree angle to the grain line. Press the entire binding in half wrong sides together. [1] "Fabric grain" is the direction in which the woven threads run. Simply stated, it’s a technique for pre-sewing bias binding strips before you actually cut them. … The best way to understand it is to just show you. wikiHow's Content Management Team carefully monitors the work from our editorial staff to ensure that each article is backed by trusted research and meets our high quality standards. In other words, cut width-wise, not lengthwise. Spread your fabric on a hard surface, such as a table or gridded cutting board. If you need longer strips you can cut from a 20 inch x length of fabric piece. However, you will have to be much more careful when cutting the fabric since you will not have the benefit of a lined surface to cut on. With right sides together, sew the triangles together with a 1/4″ seam and press open. If you just have a small piece, then you can skip it. Bias binding is also more enduring than straight binding and can give a smoother, more beautiful finish to your quilt. {"smallUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikihow.com\/images\/thumb\/c\/c6\/Cut-Bias-Binding-Step-1.jpg\/v4-460px-Cut-Bias-Binding-Step-1.jpg","bigUrl":"\/images\/thumb\/c\/c6\/Cut-Bias-Binding-Step-1.jpg\/aid9485677-v4-728px-Cut-Bias-Binding-Step-1.jpg","smallWidth":460,"smallHeight":345,"bigWidth":728,"bigHeight":546,"licensing":"