Saturday, April 9, 2011

An easy faux binding handle

Tina's friend Jerri showed me a quick way to create a strong strip that can be used as a bag handle, or a strap for most anything. On top of that, it looks like the strap has binding, but it is created much faster then real binding.
First, you take 2 strips of cloth, one about an inch wider than the other. The wider one will be the binding fabric.
 To give the added strength, take a piece of this sturdy batting and layer it in. it doesn't matter much if the batting is the wide or the narrow width.

Line up the left sides of all three pieces and sew.
Now comes the tricky part.  Take all three right sides, line them up, and sew them as well. It's tricky because the wider piece will sag open. Don't worry, it will pay off later.

 Turn the strap inside out. Adjust the fabric so the narrow piece is centered onto the wider piece, making it look like binding.  press and stitch down.
 I experimented with some decorative stitches. Number 163 is the nicest stitch for this handle.
 You can vary the widths to get wider straps and/or wider binding. I like the binding best when the wider piece is one inch wider.

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