Bias binding

I am guessing that the right way to use bias binding is a mystery for most beginners. It was for me, before I discovered this explanation by Mme Zsazsa. She's the sewing guru for the Dutch speaking world, or at least for the blogging part of that world.
I recently discovered that she's also very nice. She has allowed me to translate her tutorial on bias and share it here with you.

Here it goes:

1. Put the ribbon to the backside (the wrong side) of the fabric, aligned with the top side, and stitch in the pleat.

2. Turn the fabric and fold the ribbon over the top until it reaches the stitch line or right under it. Stitch it to the fabric, as close to the edge as possible. This way the stitching is positioned in the seam or on the bias on the other side of the fabric and not on the tissue, which looks much nicer.

3. If you don't make a circle, fold the beginning and the end of the bias around the fabric and attach it. See the upper left corner in step 1.
Open the bias, the wrong sides of the bias are now touching, fold them down and stitch as in step 2.

4. If you do make a circle with bias do it as explained in the drawing below.

 

Goede kant = Right side

Achterkant = Wrong side/backside

A few more tips:

- If you are using a heavy fabric, stitch the ribbon (step 1) on the right side of the pleat and not in it. This way you have more ribbon left to fold over the fabric and reach the stitch line on the other side.
- If you notice that you can't reach the stitch line with the edge of the ribbon (step 3), cheat by cutting a millimetre of the fabric.

Copyright: This tutorial and all drawings are made by Mme Zsazsa. I am very grateful that I could post them here.