Mousie

If I'm making a 1" wide tape, I cut my strip 2" wide, finger fold in half, using this crease to place a 1" wide strip of freezer paper down the center of strip.
Iron the sides in, eyeballing it evenly, pull off freezer paper...ta da!
no fancy expensive machine needed. :D

crazy4kwilt

I bought the strip cutter, tried it out and returned it. It was a piece of junk, in my humble opinion. There is no way to keep the strips perfectly straight as they pass through the cutter, so the strips are not a uniform size. Don't waste your time or money on it. It would have been great if it worked well, though.

BellaBoo

I have the bias maker. I have no control when it comes to quilting goodies. It works great. I'm waiting for the 2 1/2 tip to be available for it this month. It's fast and folds and heat sets the strip perfectly. It folds straight binding too. Sure saves time. I spent a couple of hours one afternoon turning a jelly roll into miles of 1/2 straight binding.
The strip cutter is not for accurate cutting, I saw that right off when I tried one out and had no use for it for quilting. Now for rag crochet/rug/knitting it would be fantastic. A real time saver.

OHSue

I saw that someone was selling this little thing you could put on your finger to protect it from the iron, looked closely and realized that looks just like the "Ove-Glove" that you use in the kitchen. Much cheaper way to save your fingers and you can get it at your local Walgreens, CVS, Walmart.....

Prism99

You mean your cut strips have the "V" in them? Or that your bias tape isn't even?

I have never basted bias tape I have made with the Clover tips, but then the pre-starching I do before cutting the strips tends to keep the ironed folds in place. I honestly don't see a reason to baste bias strips except maybe to hand-baste flowers stems to the background, and then you would be basting through both the tape and the background at the same time.

Prism99

I'm not sure if you are talking about the same thing I am, which is bias tape with each side folded to the center, made with the Clover bias tape maker. For the first foot or so, I iron the tape carefully as it comes out of the thingie. The first couple of inches are not so good and need to be cut off, but after that the folds are very uniform. The reason I use the pins as a guide are (1) to stop burning my fingers, and (2) because it is much faster.

I'm wondering if you are talking about a different method of making bias tape -- where you cut strips, sew cut edges together with wrong sides facing, then press so the seam is in the center of the strip (maybe by inserting bias tape bars through the tube). I tried this method a long time ago and found it very laborious and time-consuming. The Clover bias tape makers are much faster for me.

CajunQuilter2

Ok I am gonna ask a really dumn question. Just remember I am fairly new to all the sewing/quilting stuff. What is the difference between bias tape and binding??

Prism99

Bias tape is used for applique. There are different ways of making it. The one I make with the Clover bias tape maker folds each edge in to meet at the center. Bias tape is commonly used for the curving stems of flowers and for the "lead" in stained glass quilting. There are other ways of making or applying bias tape, but basically it is used whenever you need long, narrow curves in a design. This is because fabric cut on the bias has some stretch and"give" to it, so it can be manipulated around curves. Bias tape is typically not used to bind quilts because there would be only a single layer of fabric at the quilt's edge (at least, made the way I make it with a Clover bias tape maker), and the edge is what gets the most wear so you want something strong there.

Binding for quilts can be bias or can be straight-grain.

Double-fold bias binding is considered the strongest application because there is no single thread running along the edge, which gets the most wear. The binding's edge is composed of criss-crossing threads because the strips were cut on the bias, and there is a double layer of fabric in case the first layer gets worn through. (This is the "double-fold" part of double-fold bias binding.) Bias binding is necessary if the edge of the quilt is curved (for example, scallops) because it can bend around curves. For straight edges, the quilter has the choice of bias binding or straight grain bnding.

The most common binding these days is double-fold straight grain because it is the easiest to cut and apply and requires less fabric than bias. It is applied just the same as double-fold bias binding, but the strips are cut on the straight-of-grain rather than on the bias.

Straight-grain binding can also be applied as a single layer (single-fold straight grain binding), but that is much less common; it would be even weaker than using bias tape because the single layer of fabric would be on the straight-of-grain, meaning a single thread running along the length of the binding would likely get worn through relatively fast.

CajunQuilter2

Thank for the great explaination. I truly appreciate it.

Skeat

I tell you what....I was a bias making queen today!! I was so out of control and here's the big helpful hint that was suggested.....starch!!!!!!!!!
And, I pressed open the seams...and, I have miles and miles of bias....thought since I have so much I could tie an end to my mailbox w/a bucket hanging so the mailman can drop my mail in it and let it slide back home:)The starch made such a huuuuge difference in making the bias cooperate like it should!!:)Thank-you!! Was a whole different world at the ironing board today!!:)My applique thanks you....so do my fingertips!!Skeat