I have made a dress using bias cut as I bought a horizon patterned fabric online. What I was thinking?!! It is something I don’t normally do as most patterns don’t normally recommend cutting on bias. Therefore this post is on how to bias cut for making a dress.

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An alternative for horizontal pattern fabrics

I didn’t want to have a horizontal pattern dress as it will make me look fatter than I am actually is. It is an amazing cut as it allows the fabric flow on the body better that the usual straight grain cut.

Therefore it is recommend for dress fabrics. I am using silk crepe fabric. Bias strip is use in a lot of bias strips cut as it allows the most stretch.

It is also recommended in making wedding dresses as well. For example the famous Pippa Middleton’s bridesmaid dress for the royal wedding a few years back.

However, it does use more fabric than usual I got about 3meters X 1.4meters fabric compare to the recommended fabric on the pattern 2.6meters X 1.4 meters. Something to keep in mind.

It is easy to cut the fabric on bias just fold the fabric at 45 degree angle (you will end up a triangle) like below. One tip is always to leave enough seam allowance for the back panel. If you used to cutting dress patterns on a straight grain fabric(like me), when cutting out the back panel I always put it by selvage (edge of the fabric). This is where there is always extra fabric at the edge however not a fold. So it is something to keep in mind when using bias cut. I did make a mistake this time but I did manage to rectify it.

By putting on selvedge helps in cutting out as it doesn’t fray at all. It saves the need of overlocking the fabric.

I just love the flow and look of the end result. Dress pattern is from a recent burda style pattern magazine in which I love to use. Bias cut works with any dress patterns. So not just burda style.

In summary I would like to recap on how to cut on bias. By making sure there is always enough fabric, and leave some seam allowance on the fold. It does use a bit more fabric than usual but the end result it’s fantastic. So do give it a try if you haven’t. If you have do leave some comments below.

This is the result of the dress I made back view.