Understanding, Making, and Using Binding Tapes (Part 1)

Baffled by binding? Biased towards bias? You're not alone!  Upcoming collaborations on our partner blog Dalmatian DIY will be featuring some fab winter warmer dog DIYs with cuddly blankets (easily adapted for people) as well as bed/furniture protectors made for our special senior spotty who need a little extra TLC these days.  Several of these projects will be using binding, so we thought we'd share some tips and resources here to help! Pet projects are great for practising and/or trying new techniques as they won't care if you make a few mistakes or things look a less than perfect!

Binding refers to finishing the edge(s) of a sewing project with a cover. Binding can be bought ready-made, but it is also easy to make your own. It does take some patience and time, but is a great way to customise the fabric, look/styles, and/or size of the binding, plus making your own can be very cost efficient as well.

Bias binding aka bias tape refers to binding made strips of material cut along the bias of the fabric (45 degree to the grain/weave). Bias cut fabric tends to have a little more natural stretch, which can be particularly helpful for binding shapes and curves. Effort and waste for cutting diagonal strips can be significantly reduced by splitting the material and rejoining, and you can then do a continuous cut (like this pictorial example at Quilt Social, including matching a strong linear pattern). I've made it the "old way" of joining strips on the diagonal and will definitely be trying the continuous cut method if making a large amount sometime in the future!

Fabric can also be cut crosswise (selvage edge to selvage edge) or lengthwise (raw edge to raw edge), and this is referred to as straight binding or straight grain binding. This is far less common in ready made bindings, but I find straight binding perfect if the fabric I'm using already has some natural stretch. It is also fine if using a stiff material if the application is straight lines and/or mitred corners. It is much simpler to cut and join straight binding strips (at least in the traditional method) than on a bias. If I'm careful with the prep and handing, I can fold, mark, and quickly cut long strips in bundles. for easy joining later. Tip: The grey binding pictured in this post show a microfibre sheet being cut for a custom quick-dry binding for my pet projects. Sheets (of good sturdy quality, bought or upcycled) can be a great way to get a lot of length with little effort/cost. 

Single-fold tape has two folds...just to mess with your mind! The raw edges of the take are folded inwards towards the centre (midline). Double-fold tape has three folds, the raw edges inwards and then an additional fold along the midline.  Single-fold tape is usually used as a facing on one-side (example here), while double-folded tape is what is most commonly used to wrap and bind edges. 

Despite it's doubled layers, this type of double-fold binding is still only one layer thick as it crosses the midline fold, which is where the rough/raw edge(s) of the bound material(s) will be encased. For special projects that are made of hard materials, going to be subjected to heavy use/wear, or are intended to last a very long time, you might want to approach binding differently than the usual edging methods. When I made my recycled t-shirt quilts, I used a french fold binding, which is a true double fold binding, where the strips were folded fully in half before forming the binding. This means that that material is two layers across the rough-raw edge.

Binding fabric choices depend on the look/style of the project and how durable you want the finished item to be; however, if you're making your own there are a few things that can help to make things a little easier. Tape making with the usual tools/methods requires a lot of ironing (helpful for application as well) so a material that can be ironed and hold its creases makes things much easier. Plain colours or small random patterns are easier to join than pattern matching. For a strong patterned material, using a bias, crossgrain, or straight cut can also make a huge difference to the finished appearance, so look may play a role in the decision on binding type as well as the joining/cutting of the strips. The example photo below shows how strips cut from the same fabric can look very different depending on the chosen direction.

Tape makers are simple tools that help pre-fold the strips into a flattened U-shape for ironing.  The ironed single-fold strips can be used as-is or refolded along the centre and ironed for double-fold tape. They're handy, but its necessary to make the strips the exact size for the specific maker. The maker size dictates the size of the finished binding, which can be a limiting factor in your projects.  They can also be a bit tricky with some fabrics depending on thickness, texture, etc.

I have a set of bias tape makers and they are great for some uses, but I often prefer to hand fold and iron. This lets me decide exactly what I want for size, but it does take time with all that cutting and manual folding/ironing. I usually iron my prepared (washed/pre-shrunk if/as required) fabric before cutting, sew the strips together, and then re-iron my prepared strips in three steps: 

1. Incrementally folded (wrong-sides together) along the centre (midline) and ironed full length. 
2. Incrementally folded again from side-to-centre crease and ironed full length. For long strips, I do both sides individually the full length of my ironing board rather than one side the full strip length and then the other. I find less handling at this stage is helpful on any fray-prone materials.
3. Incrementally refolded along the centre (or with a slightly offset fold per the tips below) and ironed again full length.

Additional Tips and Tricks: 

• If you aren't confident with folding, you can use a sewing gauge or make a guide out of a thin piece of cardboard with a marked line(s) measured from the edge. Very handy for consistently pressing a foldover for hemming as well, not just when making binding.  
• Most ready-made (and DIY, if you take the extra time) double-fold bindings do not have a perfectly centered fold. There is one side slightly longer than the other. If the longer side is sewn first, it is then easier to ensure that it is caught in on the second sewing. 
• DIY double-fold binding is often made with a centred fold, as this is much easier than folding and ironing a perfect offset for the full length of the binding.
• If your binding is centered and you're having difficulty with catching or wrapping, you can cheat by shifting the edge alignment slightly, shifting the first sewing line slightly, and/or take extra care with the second stitch line position. You can also (of course) open up and reiron to better suit the project. Read more about application methods, issues, and fixes here.
• If you are just casing an edge and sewing with a single line of top-stitching, a perfectly centered fold works fine (arguably better).
• Bindings can also be left unfolded and applied using measured allowances instead of the creases as guides. This is common in quilting, but can also be particularly helpful in other sewing projects for materials that can't be ironed or are poor at holding creases.

Stay tuned for Part 2 where I'll show examples of different binding application methods, potential issues/problems, and a few sneaky little tricks and cheats to help avoid some of the most common problems and/or save a little time in application.