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Making Binding/Bias Tape from Scraps—A Tutorial

A few weeks ago we had a chance to guest post over here:
LivingwithPunks
The post was an invitation to find ways to use up the scraps that we all stash away because we just know that one day they will come in handy. Somehow Susan must have known I am the queen of scrap fabric hoarding so this was a perfect opportunity for me to pull out the bins (yes, bins—not bin) of scraps and get to work.We had a lot of ideas and tried several wacky projects (none of which I will be posting) but the favorite was using our scraps to make our own binding/bias tape.

So, if you have a secret stash and something that could use a little trim, and maybe a bow…

…follow these instructions and whip yourself up some binding.

How to make Binding Out Of Fabric Scraps:
Step #1. Cut your scraps into pieces 2 inches wide and 6 inches long. (The length actually doesn’t matter…I just wanted them all to be the same. But it would be cute to have them all different lengths. Just make sure that all your pieces are the same width.)

Step #2. Sew all your pieces (right sides together) into one giant strip.

Step #3. Iron the entire length of your fabric strip in half.
S

tep #4. Now open the fabric back up and fold in each side of the fabric until it meets in the middle and iron again. (and then if your the ironing wiz that I am…go and get a cold beverage to guzzle and to wrap your burned fingers around….I prefer Dr. Pepper but you know, as long as it’s cold it doesn’t really matter…)

Step #5. Sew the binding around what ever you’d like…skirts, aprons, place mats, whatever…


And then if you’re like me and still have a pile of scraps after you’ve made 85 million miles of binding you can use the scraps (that you’ve already cut) to embellish the bottom of a fun summer shirt. Like this one:

I told you the shirt was fun!

So that’s that. How to make your own binding/bias tape and use up your scrap fabric at the same time.

***And just as a side note because I love a good deal: The dress and the shirt are both made out of flour sack dish towels (and you know how I love to use those whenever I can). Which means the clothes are inexpensive to make (nice flour sack dish towels cost around $1 each), wash well, and are light weight and breezy for the summer.

It’s everything I love in a project—affordable, easy, practical, and will last a whole lot longer than just for the pictures. Now, if only all the other projects I was working on would make me this happy…

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Comments

  3. Ricochet says

    Lovely! Can’t wait to use this on one of my bags. I’ll be sure to reference you and this tute if I do! Thanks for sharing!

  5. Caroline says

    I love this idea – it would be gorgeous as a quilt binding! Just a quick question – do you cut your strips on the straight or the bias?

  12. Emily says

    I do this too! I sew the scraps to register tape and then trim it and tear off the tape.
    Emily
    domesticdeadline.blogspot.com

  17. Sandy says

    I have so much scrap fabric, I will definitely try this. One question though… you say to sew the pieces wrong sides together, but from the picture, it looks like they are sewn right sides together. I just want to make sure which way to sew them before I start! Thanks.

  18. liZ evans says

    Sophia—I buy my flour sack dishtowels at Wal-Mart. You can get a set of I think 5 and it costs like $5.97.

    Gnash—I didn’t really use a pattern for the top. I just looked at a dress I had previously made for Grace and went from there.

    Sandy—-Ack!!! It is right sides not wrong sides together. I went back and changed it on my post. Thank you for asking—I wouldn’t have noticed I wrote it otherwise!

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