First-ever BIAS BINDING...yes, I said it.

Folks, I have a loooong list of sewing fears.  Nothing makes me break out in a cold sweat in front of the sewing machine more than things like sewing a rolled hem on sheer fabric, welt pockets, and until very recently, buttonholes.  Was bias binding one of those sewing fears?  Sorta, but I have to admit my avoidance of this particular sewing technique boils right down to extreme laziness (do you think less of me, now?).

I'd been making knit tops like mad, and never even had to think about bias binding.  But, once I ventured into woven top territory--and I continued to use finishing techniques for knits on my woven armholes and necklines--stuff started to go all wonky.  Consequently, it was difficult for me to like my finished garments....especially when I'd look down at my chest and the darned inside of the neckline was flopping out in public for everyone to see!  Grrr.

My kamikaze seamstress buddy had been telling me for many moons that bias binding was where it's at, but I kept ignoring her (and kept not liking my finished results on woven tops).  She even sent me blog after blog of bias binding tutorials--including something called continuous bias binding that totally blows my mind and I STILL don't quite understand.  Someday maybe I'll understand how to do a continuous bias binding for myself.

Okay...down to business (the whole reason for this post).  I bought some poly stretch charmuese in grape from Fabric.com for some insane price, like $1/yard.  I decided to start building a little of a fall wardrobe as summer wanes, and I thought this purple-shiny-lovely fabric would make a super shell and add a punch of jewel-toned color to my bland repertoire.

I based my pattern for this woven blouse on a pattern I copied from an expired LL Bean knit shell.  I altered that pattern (in pink, below) to take it from a knit pattern to a woven pattern (and, uhm, to adjust for weight gain...ughh!).  On the white pattern below, you can see how I exploded that pattern and added some side shaping.  I even made a muslin to make sure the new dart placement was correct and that the side shaping (that I horked from yet another pattern) looked right on me.

At the last minute, I decided to add a detail from a free Colette sorbetto pattern that I've admired on my kamikaze seamstress buddy.  I can't really explain that detail to you, so if you're too lazy to click that link, here's a photo of it (see that foldy-thing down the front of this top???  CLASSY!!):

As you can see, this top requires some mad bias binding skillz.  I didn't (couldn't) use the continuous bias binding technique, so I powered through the old fashioned way (i.e., guessing what's a 45 degree angle from the scrap fabric and sewing bits of it together).  It was a little difficult pressing the 100% poly stretch charmuese--it just didn't want to hold the crease I was attempting to put in it.  But it mostly worked out.

I'm super please with this top AND my first bias binding attempt.  It's mostly an acceptable job, with a few tweaks in it.  I don't yet have the stitch-in-the-ditch operation down yet, but it's an acceptable product.  (Honest, this IS purple, but somehow turned out blue in my photos!):

Here's a bonus photo...the top/shell that caused me to become committed to figuring out the bias binding is below.  Though you can't see it here, trust me, the neckline was flopping out so badly that I had to make this ruffle to cover up my shoddy work!  So there you have it, folks...bias binding IS worth the effort.