Bias Stem tutorial...

I know we all love a tutorial, pictures are so much more helpful than words! So today I thought I would show you how I make my bias stem (vines). This tutorial may be handy for the ladies who are currently working on Fernhill, my mystery button club quilt.

I have started with a fat eighth (half a fat quarter) of fabric, depending on how much bias vine you need to make and how wide you want the bias you may need a bigger piece of fabric. 

Bias vine is cut on the cross (bias) of the fabric. Make a fold somewhere on your fabric, as you can see I have folded up a corner of my fat eigth. Put a crease in it with your hands, then open out the fabric and cut along the crease line, this will be at 45º to the straight edge.

For this bias I am cutting my fabric 1" wide which will end up approx. 3/16ths wide

Continue cutting strips 1" in width from the fat eighth, 

you will get approx. 3m or more of bias vine from just one fat eigth of fabric!!

Depending on the type of pattern you may need to join the pieces but for most of my patterns I tend to arrange the bias vine so that the ends are hidden under applique and then you dont need to join all of the strips.

I love using these bias bars, these ones are called 'Perfect Stems', the pack comes with 5 different width bias bars allowing you to make any width bias you want.

Lets get started....fold the fabric in half wrong sides together and stitch with a 1/4" seam down the length of the bias strip, you are making a tube.

Using your Perfect Scissors, cut off the seam allowance as close as you dare to the sewing line!!  Make sure you cut off the seam allowance with the cut edge not the folded edge or you will be cranky!

Insert the bias bar into the tube of fabric,

twist the seam to the centre back

Using a hot iron with stream (if you like steam or not if you dont) press the fabric covered bias bar

Continue pushing the bias bar into the tube of fabric, making sure the seam is at the back, pressing as you go. Remove the bias bar from the tube.

Press the fabric tube (bias stem), if you have one of those bouncy fabrics that wont stay pressed then a light spray of starch should do the trick :)

I think thats it...I hope you can now make some perfect bias vines for your furture projects. The Perfect Scissor and the Perfect Stems are available in my online store.