Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Tuesday's Tute: Fray Free Trim/Ribbon

the ruffle in this picture was made with taffeta and has a raw edge
Have you ever found the most wonderful fabric for a trim or a ribbon but were unable to use it without finishing the edge, hemming, or (ugh!) sewing a casing and turning it? We surely have...until now!
There's a way to make trim and ribbon out of any "frayable" fabric and leave the edges raw; even through the wash. How.....now here's the secret....

Materials:
Fabric
Cutting tools

Directions:


1. Cut the ribbon strip on the....bias (at a 45 degree angle to the fabric grain). Yes, cutting on the bias is the secret to eliminating the "fray".
The above photo shows two ways to bias cut.
-The photo on the left shows a bias cut using the bias line on my cutting mat.
I square up the fabric on the mat.
Line up the ruler with the bias line printed on my mat and rotary cut away.
-The photo on the right shows a bias cut using the "corner to corner" method, no mat line needed.
Square up your fabric.
Line up the ruler from corner to corner and cut away.
No rotary cutter/mat....oh my, get one. No... you can use the corner to corner method and draw a (removable) line at 45 degrees.


After you've cut one line, measure up and down from there, the width of the ribbon you'd like, and cut bias line after bias line.
If you want a long straight piece of fabric, you'll need to cut one layer. Every fold creates a "zigzag" when doing a bias cut. I learned the hard way....lol.
Oh....Introducing the Casey Skirt in the following post...go see her while she's only $3.
Happy Sewing!
Debbie

3 comments:

  1. How simple, yet how fabulous!!! I own a rotary cutter, ruler and mat, and never thought of this solution for this trim idea! You've just opened up worlds of fabulous trims for me!! Thanks so much!!!

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  2. *face palm* thats so simple, makkes me wonder why I never realized it sooner.

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  3. I just made a little post about bias ruffles and referenced this awesome post of yours. You can find it here http://ricochetandaway.blogspot.com/2011/08/bias-ruffles-godsend-for-ruffle-addicts.html

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