For a newbie quilter (or even a seasoned one), the idea of bias edges can be scary. They stretch! They can distort! They can make your quilt top wavy! None of those things sound fun, especially when you are spending blood, sweat, and tears (and money) on making a quilt.
But don't worry, several of my patterns have bias edges so I'm going to share what works for me when I make those kinds of quilts.
First thing first. What is a bias edge?
Here is the simplest way I can explain it (if you want to get technical, here is a good blog post). Fabric has a lengthwise grain and a crosswise grain that goes perpendicular. This makes up the straight grain of the fabric. If you cut the fabric selvage to selvage, that is a straight grain cut. If you cut the fabric diagonally across the straight grain (like you would to make a triangle), that is the bias edge.
The bias edge has considerably more stretch than the straight grain. Which is great if you're making garments, bags, things with curves, etc. If you're making a quilt, it can be...fussy.
1. STARCH your fabric. My friend, starch is your best friend here. Whether you prewash your fabrics or not (I don't, for the record), starch them if you're going to be working with bias edges. Starch adds stiffness and structure to the fabric making it easier to work with.
My process: I lay down a shower curtain liner, place the fabric top and spray generously with starch. I use the the cheap stuff you can find in the grocery store, but there is quilting specific starch like Best Press that I have heard good things about.
Once the fabric has dried, iron with a hot iron over a pressing board (which gives me better results than an ironing board).
Sometimes, if I'm working with wovens (like Warp and Weft from Ruby Star Society) I'll repeat the process twice, but that is not usually necessary.
2. PRESS don't iron. This is an important one.
Whether you press your seams open or to the side, make sure you are pressing (setting the iron down on the seam and then lifting it up) instead of ironing (dragging the iron across the seams). The heat plus pressure from the iron can pull the fabric slightly out of shape.
3. Handle pieces GENTLY. The more we handle the bias cut pieces, the more distorted they can become, and it's not always obvious until trying to sew it to another piece.
If possible, I'll wait and cut the triangles (like for Deltille or Hurrication) until I've reached the step where I need to sew them. If I do cut everything at once (because I want to take a picture for Instagram), I'll leave them stacked on my cutting table until I'm ready to use them. I avoid playing with them and moving them around for pictures as much as I can.
When sewing, I am careful not to push or pull the fabric through the machine and just guide it while the feed dogs to the work. Honestly, this is true for any piecing, but a good reminder for working with bias edges.
4. PIN as needed. Full disclosure, I rarely use pins.
That being said, I will always use pins when sewing long seams with bias edges to keep things from shifting and pulling as the weight of the quilt increases. If you have the space, larger work surfaces to the left of your sewing machine and behind your sewing machine can help hold the weight of the quilt as it's going through the machine.
That's it! Bias edges really aren't as intimidating as they are made out to be. It just takes a little more care and a little practice, and you'll be just fine!
Pressing is one of the unsung heroes of quilting. A nicely pressed seam improves the accuracy of the quilt block and helps the whole quilt top lay flatter. Many of the quilters I am friends with on Instagram started raving about a wool pressing mat recently. So I bought one to try for myself.
Ive been using it for a couple of weeks now, and I have to say, I love it. I can’t imagine going back to pressing HSTs or flying geese without it.
Last week, I asked my IG stories what questions you had about the wool pressing mats. Here are the most common questions I got:
- Yes. Without question. Below is an example of an HST pressed on my ironing board and my wool pressing mat only pressed on one side for a few seconds.
- Again, yes. Due to the way the wool traps the heat, it’s like the seam gets pressed from both sides at once. So, I no longer need to take the extra time/step to flip the block and press from the other side.
- The only time I thought I detected a faint odor was during a marathon pressing session when the heat/moisture from the iron kind of built up in the mat. As soon as as the mat cooled off, the faint odor went away. It also didn't affect my fabric in any way. I have had more marathon pressing sessions since then, and haven't noticed any more weird smells after that first time. It definitely doesn’t stink up the room or anything.
- Nope, I do not. I have not had any problems with color transfer or any adverse reactions to my fabric while using the mat. I would hesitate to cover the mat with something that would block or hinder the advantages of using a wool pressing mat in the first place.
- I currently have mine sitting on top of my pressing board or ironing board so I haven’t had to worry about that. I have noticed that the heat goes all the way through the mat so I wouldn’t use it on my dining room table or surface I cared about without something underneath just in case. Below is a picture of my current set up. Ironing board as a base and extra "table" space. My wool mat sits on top of my homemade pressing board (just because I don't have anywhere else to put that pressing board and it makes a nice carrying tray to move from room to room).
- Mine is 14"x14". In a perfect world, I would have an amazing sewing studio with a huge pressing station, but I don't have that just yet. I need something that is portable (sometimes I do my pressing upstairs where my sewing machine is and sometimes I do it downstairs hanging out with my family), yet big enough to accommodate the size of the majority of blocks that I make. This size fits the bill for that. With my mat sitting on my ironing board, I have pressed an entire throw size quilt top easily. Just scooted things along as needed.
- I teamed up with Project Wool Mats to give you a 10% off coupon code!
Any questions I didn't answer? Leave me a comment and I'll answer them for you!
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