I am working on some place mats for my son and his family. My daughter-in-law's grandmother passed away a few years ago, and her sewing machine and all the accompanying stuff passed to my daughter-in-law. She doesn't sew, so she gave me a lot of the trims and such. She gave me a beautiful piece of fabric without asking me to do anything with it. I decided to do the place mats so there will be my work and the grandmother's and great-grandmother's fabric. Something for Mike, Andrea, and the kids.
Now for my tip. I have a rather unorthodox way of attaching bias tape to some items. I just insert the fabric into the fold and stitch it down. Since the place mats are oval shaped, I was having trouble holding them flat and in place. I bought a box of the little plastic paper clips, and they are working just fine. I just stitch a ways and remove them. They are much less expensive than the quilting clips.
By Marty Dick from Houston, TX
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That is a wonderful idea! Thanks so much!
I remember this post! It inspired me to try using binder clips (had a ton of those lying around after retirement but no paper clips).
The binder clips work really well for me and I offer my newbie sewing students the chance to try both methods after I invested in a box of those jumbo paperclips. Several have chosen to add the paperclips to their sewing supplies and are VERY happy with the great results they achieve compared to using straight pins.
Paperclips or binder clips can make such a difference in making those difficult curves sew easily and correctly. I'm including a photo of how I used binder clips to 'pin' bias tape on a potholder I was making:
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