Rant: My instructor told me to stop using bias tape on curved hems

Back in my first sewing class 2 years ago at a community center in Buffalo, the teacher kept saying bias tape was a crutch and that I needed to learn how to cut curved hems properly from the pattern. I ignored her for like 6 months because bias tape was fast and made my skirts look clean. Then I made a summer dress with a tricky circular hemline and used bias tape anyway. The dress looked great on a hanger but the hem pulled and puckered the moment I sat down at dinner. She was dead right. I wasted 10 hours of work on that dress because the tape added stiffness that fought the fabric's natural drape. Now I only use bias tape on straight edges and necklines. Has anyone else had a teacher give you advice that felt like gatekeeping but turned out to be solid technique?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_christopher28d ago

My silk charmeuse disaster in 2019 taught me that lesson.

derek_perez28d ago

The bias tape thing is funny because I had the exact opposite problem with my first sewing teacher. She told me to ALWAYS use bias tape on curved hems and I spent a year doing that before I realized why my garments never draped right. @the_christopher might've had that silk charmeuse disaster but at least he's learning from mistakes we all make. For me the real wakeup call was making a circle skirt for a wedding and having it look like a cardboard tube on the dance floor. Now I'm all about learning how to grade curves properly and only use bias tape for armholes and deep necklines where you actually need the structure.

nancycooper21d ago

My mom taught me to sew in the 90s and she swore by using a walking foot for everything. I thought she was just being difficult until I tried sewing a rayon challis blouse without one and the layers shifted so bad I had to cut new pieces. Now I won't sew anything slippery without digging that thing out of my drawer.