Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Blue green sea quilt - 2

So I picked out the border for the blue green quilt.

I knew I wanted a 2" border of ivory then a 2" border of the accent color and a wider 5 1/2" of the ivory. 





I was leaning towards the aqua green color of the bias tape but my JoAnn's has an abysmal selection of Kona's. They had NOTHING to match the green or the aqua in stock. I went with a touch darker olive green from another brand. I think in the end it was a good thing though and I'm really digging it.



Here it is with the bias tape next to the quilt top. 
I think it looks good for the quilt and the blue green sea name.



Sunday, February 3, 2013

Simplicity Bias Tape Machine Review


The big man got me one of these for Christmas and I finally got  to take it out and play with it.






It is a machine that basically folds and irons your bias tape for you. The compact machine comes with a 1" single fold bias tape tip, however there are many other sizes available for purchase. I also have the 1 1/8" tip as well. To make this size you will need 2 1/4" strips for bias tape. Using the method I showed in the bias tape tutorial make yourself a nice pile - o - bias.




(notice I got the fancy bias tape ruler?? REMEMBER for the larger tip the strips need to be 2 1/4" wide NOT 2 1/2")

Then following the directions for the bias tape machine I ran it through the machine. This machine only makes single fold tape. I always use double fold so I opened up the single fold tape and folded the raw edges to the fold line. Then ran the tape through the machine sans bias tip. 

Do I like the machine...
Yes and No. 

It would be totally rockin' if they came out with a double fold tip because it is hard to keep the raw edges folded in and even while it is running through the machine. It is pretty fast though, if your doing single fold. That alone will keep me working on getting more proficient with it. Nothing will motivate you more than burning the crapples out of your fingertips with the other method--even though it is perfectly folded that way.