This week, I show you something a little different: how to make and use bias tubes to form an unusual braid! It gets its name from the single, colored strand that runs down the middle of the braid.
GIVEAWAY UPDATE: We have a winner! It's Natalie, who said, "I don’t think I could pick a favorite spot to vacation! Anywhere with family is great(as long as it’s not camping!), but I’d love to visit Ireland." Ireland sounds amazing, Natalie....and good times are always better with loved ones :) We'll be in touch via email soon.
And, thanks to everybody who entered! Wow! :)
There are lots of places you could use this braid, but today I'm going to use it as straps for the Liberty Jane Maxi Dress.
Cut fabric strips on the bias, 1" wide by about 12" long. You'll need three from your main color, and one from an accent color.
(By the way, "bias" just means at a 45 degree angle to the straight grain of the fabric -- there are lots of videos on youtube if you're not sure about this part. Cutting on the bias makes the finished tube lay a lot more smoothly when it's braided.)
Fold a strip in half, then stitch a shy 1/4" away from the folded edge.
Trim away the extra seam allowance, close to your stitching line.
Cut a tiny slit in one end of the tube, and thread a bobby pin through this spot.
Carefully work the bobby pin through the tube, to turn it to the right side. Give your finished tube a gentle press.
Do this with all the strips, then lay them out in order: two base color, accent, then the last base color. Stitch them together at one end.
Secure the end to your worksurface with a piece of tape -- or, you can just leave them in your machine, and hold them in place with the needle, like we suggest in the Maxi Dress pattern. It's time to braid!
Take the strip on the very left. Run it OVER strip #2, then UNDER the accent strip.
Then, take the strip on the very right, and put it UNDER its neighbor, and OVER the accent strip.
Keep going! (Left side: Over, Under. Right side: Under, Over. Left side: Over, Under...)
Your braid should start to look something like this:
When you get to the end, stitch the strips together at the bottom so they don't come unravelled.
Then, measure off the length of braid you'll need for your project, and stitch on either side of your cutting line. Now you're ready to chop the braid up, and put it to good use.....
...like sewing them into a cute new summer maxi dress!
Giveaway Time!
Wanna win this maxi dress? I made it just for this tutorial, and I'd love to send it to one lucky winner!
To enter, just leave a comment below, finishing this sentence:
"My favorite summer vacation spot is...."
We'll pick a winner on Monday, April 13th, and get in touch via email.
Thanks everybody, and have fun with this!
For Pixie Faire,
Melinda
344 Comments
We are fortunate to live near Charlottesville, VA, with the Blue Ridge a mountains in our back yard and Shenandoah National Park about 12 miles away, but Asheville, NC is our favorite vacation destination. Great restaurants, including Plant, an all-vegan spot, great craft beers, great scenery.
My favorite summer vacation spot is riding my horse up in the Anaconda-Pintlers and camping out.
I never got to go on vacations, there were 14 of us kids and mom and dad couldn’t afford those luxuries.. but do like to go fishing with my husband of 55 years almost will be in Oct. the little dress is beautiful and my grt. granddaughter would love it.
Our favorite summer vacation if having all the family together on the weekends at our country home. Watching all the grandchildren and great grandchildren playing together outside with their trucks and dolls brings back memories when we were all younger. And, then top it off with a wonderful picnic at the end of the day.
Thank you for the braiding tutorial. I only had boy babies, so have never learned to braid! But now I have a little granddaughter and am learning all sorts of girl things. My favourite summer vacation spot is anywhere my grandchildren are. We usually plan one getaway a year with them, and have had some great adventures. Last one was Arizona, and we were all breathless over the beauty of the Grand Canyon!