Bias Bound Hem - Step 1
The first step is to open up the bias binding and line it up with the raw edge of the garment ready to sew.
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A really lovely way to sew a hem is to use bias binding on the inside. This is especially great if you are sewing a curved hem.
The circumference of the hem is always bigger than the circumference of the garment that you are folding it into, which means if you try to do the traditional double fold hem, you're gonna end up with too much fabric in the hem and you're gonna end up with pleats and puckers and tucks, and it's gonna get a bit frustrating, look a little bit annoying, and it's just not gonna be as beautifully finished as it could be with bias binding.
Bias binding is made by cutting strips of fabric on the bias so that they stretch and they curve around with the curve of your hem. You can make your own bias binding either using an alternative fabric or the same fabric as your garment, or you can purchase ready-made bias binding, which takes all the fiddliness out of it for you and is just a little bit easier. So
I've got my bias binding here. I've got two different types because there's actually not enough to go around the entire hem, so I'm going to be using a mixture of both. So I'm using single fold bias tape today, which just means that each of the raw edges of the bias binding has been folded in once. You can also get double fold bias binding which is where it is then folded again in the middle like that.
This is a single fold bias binding. So let's attach it to our hem. What we are gonna do, we're gonna open up the bias binding and we start by sewing it to the right side of the garment. So this is the right side, this is the wrong side of the garment, and we are gonna line up the bottom edge of your bias tape with the bottom edge of your hen.
Now to start with I'm going to fold over the first bit of the bias binding just by a couple of centimetres and I'm going to pin that in place Now, you definitely don't need to pin the bias binding all the way around before you sew. I actually find that a completely unnecessary step.
All I do is sew a little bit and then realign and just make sure that I'm constantly aligning the edge of the bias tape up with the edge of my garment. And the first thing we're gonna do is we're gonna sew all the way around and we're gonna sew so that the needle is hitting in between this first fold of the bias binding.
I'm using the word bias binding and bias tape interchangeably they are exactly the same thing. So we're gonna start here and we're going to sew all the way along in this groove the fold that has been made in the bias binding
The circumference of the hem is always bigger than the circumference of the garment that you are folding it into, which means if you try to do the traditional double fold hem, you're gonna end up with too much fabric in the hem and you're gonna end up with pleats and puckers and tucks, and it's gonna get a bit frustrating, look a little bit annoying, and it's just not gonna be as beautifully finished as it could be with bias binding.
Bias binding is made by cutting strips of fabric on the bias so that they stretch and they curve around with the curve of your hem. You can make your own bias binding either using an alternative fabric or the same fabric as your garment, or you can purchase ready-made bias binding, which takes all the fiddliness out of it for you and is just a little bit easier. So
I've got my bias binding here. I've got two different types because there's actually not enough to go around the entire hem, so I'm going to be using a mixture of both. So I'm using single fold bias tape today, which just means that each of the raw edges of the bias binding has been folded in once. You can also get double fold bias binding which is where it is then folded again in the middle like that.
This is a single fold bias binding. So let's attach it to our hem. What we are gonna do, we're gonna open up the bias binding and we start by sewing it to the right side of the garment. So this is the right side, this is the wrong side of the garment, and we are gonna line up the bottom edge of your bias tape with the bottom edge of your hen.
Now to start with I'm going to fold over the first bit of the bias binding just by a couple of centimetres and I'm going to pin that in place Now, you definitely don't need to pin the bias binding all the way around before you sew. I actually find that a completely unnecessary step.
All I do is sew a little bit and then realign and just make sure that I'm constantly aligning the edge of the bias tape up with the edge of my garment. And the first thing we're gonna do is we're gonna sew all the way around and we're gonna sew so that the needle is hitting in between this first fold of the bias binding.
I'm using the word bias binding and bias tape interchangeably they are exactly the same thing. So we're gonna start here and we're going to sew all the way along in this groove the fold that has been made in the bias binding