Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Neck Bias Binding.

The bias binding was a little tricky to sew, and on my muslin, it did not come out at all.  You make a bias strip the length of the neckline and fold it in half lengthwise.  The band and collar are sewn together onto the neckline, and the bias band is sewn into that same seam.  The bias band is then folded over the seam allowance and stitched down.  On my muslin, I didn't have enough width on the bias strip to cover the seam allowance.  This time, I trimmed the seam allowance to 1/4" before attaching the bias strip.  Now I had more than enough width.  I only wanted to stitch about 1/4 inch away from the seam edge, so the bias strip looks like it is stitched right down the middle.  It is on the  inside, and the edge is folded, so I'm not worrying about tacking that down any further.  It lies flat and is a finished edge, and all the raw edges of the seam allowances are enclosed.  It gives a smooth finish on the outside as well.


You could also finish this traditionally, by sewing only the upper collar and band to the neck edge and then turning under the edge of the under collar and either slip stitching it or stitching in the ditich to enclose the neck seam allowance.  This is the first time I've done the bias band and I do like it because it also gives a bit of support to the collar.

Thanks for asking!

1 comments:

Cathi Twill said...

Hi Nancy,
Wow...a whole blog post just for me! :-) Thanks! I check/read your blog every day and learn so much.

Cathi