This month at Patchwork Society, we learned the wonder of using bias tape in quilting! Bias tape can be handmade cutting strips on the bias of the fabric or bought in packaging. You can easily create this rainbow with these amazing strips! For the project, I whipped up this bright and cheery sewing machine cover. Doesn’t this just scream at you to come and sew?!
*Directions for the 12″ block can be found on page 158 of Modern Blocks Compiled by Susanne Woods (available for purchase at MD).
Materials:
- 1/2 yard of white fabric (for the top of the cover)
- 1/2 yard of contrast fabric (for the back of the cover)
- 1/2 yard fusible fleece
- 4 fat quarters (for the rainbow strips & binding)
- Bias Tape Maker – optional
- Wonder Tape – optional
Directions:
- Measure the perimeter of your sewing machine you want to cover (minus the bottom). Trim your 1/2 yard cuts to the length that you need. 18″ should be plenty to cover the width of your sewing machine. Unless you have the fabulous 7 or 8 Series BERNINA machines, in which case 3/4″ yard would be perfect.
- Make a quilt sandwich! Fuse the fusible fleece to the wrong side of your white fabric. Make sure you have a dry, hot iron, and press until fully fused. Lay the back fabric, wrong side to the fusible fleece. Pin it in place with a few pins.
- Quilt your favorite quilting pattern! I love quilting crosshatch patterns on small projects. To achieve the same look as I did, start in the middle and chalk a straight line. Quilt over the first line. Then use a quilting bar set at an 1″ apart. Continue to quilt using the previous line as your guide. Once you have finished quilting lines one way, flip the cover 90 degrees and repeat.
- Cut one 2″ strip on the bias and make bias tape out of each fat quarters. You can do it with an iron or the bias tape maker makes life so much easier! 😉
- Lay the bias strip over your quilted cover and use Wonder Tape to adhere it into the rainbow shape that you most like. Or use lots of pins to hold it in place.
- Using a #10 Edgestitch foot, topstitch each side of the bias tape to your quilted cover.
- Trim & square up your project.
- Making the ties: From your backing fabric cut four 2″ x 12″ strips. Iron these in half lengthwise. Open and fold both edges to the middle line. (Or use a bias tape maker, only these strips do not need to be cut on the bias.) Fold the 1″ end 1/4″ in to create a hem. Stitch the hem down using the #10 edgestitch foot pivoting at the corner and stitching along the edge of the rest of the tie. Repeat for all four ties.
- On the back of the cover, 6″ up from the bottom of each edge, pin the ties. Make sure to match the raw edges of the quilt and ties to the edge. The tie should be laying on the inside of the cover. Baste in place. Repeat for all four ties.
- Use your favorite method of binding. Since I already started cutting strips on the bias, I went ahead and continued to cut the rest of the fat quarters into bias strips and make a scrappy binding out of that. Here’s a binding tutorial, if you need a refresher!
Enjoy!