Tube piecing
Streamlining for quilt piecing
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Continuous bias tape
September 7, 2019
This is the most streamlined way I know of making continuous tape. The tape does not have to be on bias for the method.
Most likely we start with a rectangular piece of fabric. In case we want bias tape, we cut the rectangle at 45 degrees between the two long sides.
We sew together the two short ends of the ex-rectangle. We press the seam open to reduce bulk.
We next make even-width slits between what used to be the long edges of the rectangle. By a slit I mean a cut that ends at about half an inch short of the two edges. Instead of cutting all the way to the edge we mark with a pen all the way to the edge. Can you see the red marks along the top and bottom edges?
(Comment: we could do the same on any parallelogram, even on rectangles, not just on 45-degree parallelograms, in which case we do not get bias tape, just continuous tape. Also, the parallelogram can be pieced with seams NOT parallel to these slits.)
We extend the first and the last slits into full cuts at the sharper (more acute) angle.
After that we sew the long bottom edge to the top long edge, matching the marks at seam allowance. Below are two views of that seam, the second view after pressing the latest seam open.
It is now a quick matter of extending the slits into full cuts (cutting only one layer). The photo below shows the first such cut, similarly cut the rest.
The result is one long continuous tape.
For more options and beautiful examples check out my YouTube video on making continuous multi tape on bias or not.
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Who, What, Why
Who am I
What is tube piecing
What is tube piecing
My name is Irena Swanson. I have been developing tube piecing for several years and I have used it to make many projects very fast, efficiently, and accurately: all-over triangle quilts, zigzag patterns with triangles and parallelograms, flying geese, pinwheels, double pinwheels, ocean waves, LeMoyne stars and other stars, sawtooth
My name is Irena Swanson. I have been developing tube piecing for several years and I have used it to make many projects very fast, efficiently, and accurately: all-over triangle quilts, zigzag patterns with triangles and parallelograms, flying geese, pinwheels, double pinwheels, ocean waves, LeMoyne stars and other stars, sawtooth border, bear's paw, lady of the lake, square in a square, square in a parallel square, diamonds in rectangles, 3x3 diamonds in a square, 2x3 diamonds in a rectangle, 2x5 parallelograms in a square, ... hourglass blocks, seamless double and triple hourglass blocks, hexagons in halves, hexagons in triangles, tumbling blocks, paired peaks (my own design), Roman stripes, milky way, Indiana puzzle/snail's trail, Japanese puzzle, hearts and flower buds, rail fence, storm at sea, log cabin, courthouse steps ... . Since January 2014 I have been writing a book about my tube piecing method and the project has grown into several books. I keep adding projects and having lots of fun!
You can find several of my mathematics-related quilts at https://www.math.purdue.edu/~iswanso/quilt.html
What is tube piecing
What is tube piecing
What is tube piecing
Tube piecing means that much sewing gets done on tubes, but the final product is still a flat piece. The photo above shows the tube nature. Most photos of the tubes show them lying flat with only one side showing.
You do not need to buy any new gadgets —- scissors, a rotary cutter, cutting mat, ruler, sewing machine, iron, fabric, thre
Tube piecing means that much sewing gets done on tubes, but the final product is still a flat piece. The photo above shows the tube nature. Most photos of the tubes show them lying flat with only one side showing.
You do not need to buy any new gadgets —- scissors, a rotary cutter, cutting mat, ruler, sewing machine, iron, fabric, thread , pencil, pins will do. For a few projects I also use a seam ripper: not to correct mistaken seams but as part of streamlined design.
Tube piecing is accessible to any quilter who is comfortable with the rotary cutter and accurate measurements.
I actually have several streamlining methods:
tube piecing,
enhanced strip piecing, checkerboarding,
piling on (which at times I refer to as gridded accumulation),
shorten-and-widen maneuver, multi-tape, angling and rectangulating.
Why tube piecing
What is tube piecing
Why tube piecing
Tube piecing is an enhanced version of strip piecing; it is to strip piecing as strip piecing is to traditional piecing: more efficient and more accurate. You get to experience quilting from a new point of view: it is often about cutting large constructions down rather than building from small pieces up.
Tube piecing allows any angles
Tube piecing is an enhanced version of strip piecing; it is to strip piecing as strip piecing is to traditional piecing: more efficient and more accurate. You get to experience quilting from a new point of view: it is often about cutting large constructions down rather than building from small pieces up.
Tube piecing allows any angles, not just the standard 90, 60, 45, 30 degrees, it minimizes seam starting, it minimizes inaccuracies inherent in seam starting, it avoids corner discards of strip/row piecing, it minimizes the number of seams needed for the constructions, it manages the numerous small pieces more sanely, it reduces the amount of thread clipping, it speeds up the quilt-making, it makes the final product more accurate, it handles bias edges with their proneness for stretching more appropriately, and it allows for exploring new pattern possibilities with successive stages of wide and narrow tubes, and of pre- and post-tubes.