I am Biased

A short and sweet tutorial blogpost this week. I would like to share with you a little trick I found works well when deciding what fabric to use to make bias strips. I am currently up to making basket handles out of bias that will be used on a quilt I am  working on in a Marg Sampson George Class.  I don't need long lengths of bias strip.  I just need enough to make a handle length, so I don't want to waste fabric if I can help it. This is what I decided to do - make a paper peeper to audition my fabrics before cutting diagonally into them.

 

I cut out a square of paper and folded it diagonally. Then I cut out a half inch rectangle along the diagonal as shown above. ( Change the rectangular width to meet your bias width needs) . This will be my bias peeper. Line the lower edge of the paper up with the selvedge  and you can then see whether you like the look of that fabric cut on the bias before you cut it out. You can also move the peeper across your fabric to find where you would like to cut out the bias. 

Just look at the different looks that can be achieved with just one fabric

Here are some more examples . As you can see- it is quite fun and just a bit addictive!

I made my peeper a half inch one. Of course I will have to remember to cut my bias strip wider than that so I can turn under the raw edges and still get the desired look/ effect. I plan on making wider peepers for larger bias too.

I really hope you have enjoyed this tutorial style blogpost. Please let me know ! I love hearing from you.

Happy sewing, love Miriamx