Tiger Tape Tutorial

Last week debbie r. asked how I got my stitches so even, and I thought I would show everyone how I do it. I use a nifty little quilting tool called Tiger Tape that I first read about on someones blog (I don't remember who's anymore). I found the tape at my local quilt store, but some of the craft stores might also carry it. I use the tape that is divided into increments of 1/8" because it's the only one I have found so far. Of course, as you can see, you can always order any variation off the web.

Here's how I use it:

First I position a short piece of tape on each end of the seam, making sure that a line on the tape hits the seam exactly and also making sure I get it placed at a 90° angle to the seam.

Then I add more pieces of tape:

These pieces are placed parallel to the seam and lined up on a mark on each piece of tape at the ends of the seam. Here's a detail pic so you see what I mean:


Here's where the 90° part comes in. The tape is lined up so that the marks on the tape meet up with the perpendicular piece of tape. This is done both above and below the seam so that you have a line to work with on both sides of the seam. This configuration is used when you are doing a seam treatment that moves back and forth across the seam as you stitch it.

For this seam treatment I was doing one side of the seam at a time, so I moved the bottom piece of tape up so it was close to the seam, allowing me to more easily position my needle.

As you can see, it isn't absolutely perfect, but when it's all stitched up and I do the other side of the seam, it looks pretty good!

This seam was done with varigated #8 perle cotton and seed beads. Both sides were button-hole stitched and then the bottom of the stitchs along the seam were whip stitched together to even it up more. Then, the seed beads were added.

Other news:
We finally found a house that makes us feel at home and made an offer yesterday. It was accepted and we are sooooooo excited!!!! The home inspection will be this week and I'll post a couple of pictures. Of course we don't get the keys until we close at the end of August, but I'm still VERY excited!! Now comes the sorting and packing, although much of what we have is still in boxes so I'm hoping that I will have time to work on my seam treatments and blog about them.

One can always hope!!! ;0)