French Bias Piping

Today I attended my American Sewing Guild Neighborhood Group meeting.  I took part in the program for the day which was on seam finishes.  I presented two:  French Bias Piping and Underlining and Seam Finish.  While making the samples for the program I snapped some pictures and wrote up a tutorial on the French Bias Piping.  This is a lovely way to pipe a neckline or armhole and eliminate the need for a separate facing.  Hop on over and take a look.

Also while preparing for this program, I remembered some pictures that I took that should have been included in my last post about my Paisley Houndstooth skirt. 

I get questions about the best way to add 5/8" seam allowance to the underlining technique I used on this skirt.  After I cut out my fashion fabric I place the pattern on the underlining fabric.  I attach a Removable Rotary Guide Arm (made by Olfa) to my rotary cutter and set the distance from the blade to 5/8". 

It is then a simple task to guide the arm along the edge of the pattern while the blade cuts 5/8" away from the edge.

I hope you will give both of these seam finishing techniques a try.  I'd love to see how you use them.