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Step 9Cut and join the strips to make the tie
Now we start the tie. Take what's left of your fabric and cut it into 2 1/4" strips along the longest length you've got. I use a rotary cutter and acrylic ruler to make this faster but you can use a regular ruler and scissors. Just try to make them as even as possible.
Depending on how much fabric is left and how you laid out your pattern, your strips could be any length, Just figure out what length they are and cut enough of them to make the length of tie you want. To make the longer tie that wraps back around front, you'll need 132" total of 2 1/4" strips. For a child size, you'll need 96" of strips. For a shorter tie which will tie in the back, measure around the waist of the intended owner and decrease the length needed by that many inches. I know it's math but it's just subtraction.
Take two strips and join them together by laying them at right angles, right sides together. Draw a little pencil line from corner to corner and sew along that line. Cut off the triangle to the right leaving a 1/4" seam allowance. Go to the iron and press the seams open. You should now have a longer strip joined by a seam going across at a 45 degree angle. Why do it this way? You still don't trust me, do you? Really, the reason we do it this way is so the stress on the seam is spread out over the length of the bias tape and not concentrated in one spot. Once it's folded and sewn down, it's not going anywhere. Keep joining your strips this way until you get to the right length.
A little note here: I am a quilter and there are uptight purists out there who say that bias tape must be cut from strips cut on the bias and if you don't, you're doing it wrong and the earth itself will stop rotating if you cut those strips along the grain and if it was up to them, they'd storm your house DEA-style with a no-knock raid and haul away your sewing machine and all your fabric while your family screams in terror. To them I say, "Go play on the freeway." That's not really what I say but I'm not dropping the eff bomb in a family tutorial.
Depending on how much fabric is left and how you laid out your pattern, your strips could be any length, Just figure out what length they are and cut enough of them to make the length of tie you want. To make the longer tie that wraps back around front, you'll need 132" total of 2 1/4" strips. For a child size, you'll need 96" of strips. For a shorter tie which will tie in the back, measure around the waist of the intended owner and decrease the length needed by that many inches. I know it's math but it's just subtraction.
Take two strips and join them together by laying them at right angles, right sides together. Draw a little pencil line from corner to corner and sew along that line. Cut off the triangle to the right leaving a 1/4" seam allowance. Go to the iron and press the seams open. You should now have a longer strip joined by a seam going across at a 45 degree angle. Why do it this way? You still don't trust me, do you? Really, the reason we do it this way is so the stress on the seam is spread out over the length of the bias tape and not concentrated in one spot. Once it's folded and sewn down, it's not going anywhere. Keep joining your strips this way until you get to the right length.
A little note here: I am a quilter and there are uptight purists out there who say that bias tape must be cut from strips cut on the bias and if you don't, you're doing it wrong and the earth itself will stop rotating if you cut those strips along the grain and if it was up to them, they'd storm your house DEA-style with a no-knock raid and haul away your sewing machine and all your fabric while your family screams in terror. To them I say, "Go play on the freeway." That's not really what I say but I'm not dropping the eff bomb in a family tutorial.
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