All about twill tape

Twill tape is a sewing tool that can be used for many purposes. How can it help you? Let’s explore it a little bit!

What is twill tape? Think about twill fabric, and you think about diagonal lines in the weave. Twill tape has those diagonal lines, and they form a sort of zigzag. It’s really strong, and that makes it great for a whole lot of uses. Twill tape can be made from cotton or synthetic fibers. As you can see in the photo above, it comes in various widths and colors. Mostly, I found it in white, natural and black. But I’ve heard of people finding it in lovely colors in the scrapbooking section of craft stores, or you can find anything online, right? Here are some uses for twill tape:

Photo courtesy of Junie Moon
Binding edges: Use twill tape in place of bias tape for binding edges. Just fold it around the edge of the fabric and sew in place. Consider this for finishing interior seams, or check out this cute golf towel tutorial.

Photo courtesy of Let's Go Fly a Kite
Casings: To form a casing for a drawstring or elastic, simply sew either long edge of twill tape to the fabric, leaving a hole through which you can insert your elastic or drawstring. This photo is of an old-fashioned hat.

Photo courtesy of my closet circa 2003
Stabilizing seams: When using stretchy fabrics, like knits, use a little twill tape to stabilize the seam and keep it from stretching out of place. For a shoulder seam, for example, you would sew a strip of twill tape to the wrong side of the back fabric piece and then sew that to the front fabric piece. This hoodie jacket of mine uses it along the neck seam. It may be a bit hard to see since the color matches exactly with the fabric.
Sturdy ties and straps: Twill tape is often found on hospital gowns and other garments as ties. Here, this pair of my pajama bottoms uses twill tape as the ties.
Snap tape: This is a by-the-yard strip of set-in snaps. If you don’t have a snap setter, this might be really handy for putting in a row of snaps. The twill tape is nice and sturdy to withstand the constant pull of opening the snaps.

Photo courtesy of Crafterhours
Decorative use: Most people don’t think of twill tape as decorative, but this blog post shows that it certainly can be used creatively and beautifully!
Marking a dress form: 1/4″ twill tape is great for marking style lines on a dress form.

Photo courtesy of A Day in 1862
Product labels: If you make your own stuff to sell, or even if you keep it, you might want labels for it. Have some cute ones printed up on twill tape. (See “Hemming.”)

Photo courtesy of Crafterhours
Hemming: You can use twill tape as you would hem tape, or you can use it for decorative purposes. Look at the adorable dress on this website. You can even order twill tape that’s printed with whatever you’d like! Check out twilltape.com for custom printing options.