How to Sew with Piping {Tutorial}

 
I am in the middle of a much-needed makeover for my two younger girls' room as I posted about here. It is starting to come along, but I have hit a couple of bumps in the road. First, is my white quilts. I ordered two that are technically suppose to go inside a duvet cover, but hoped that they would work by themselves. Not so much. They're definitely going to need a duvet cover, but I'm planning to make a permanent cover for each one out of sheets, kind of like this duvet cover I made, only this one will be fitted to the comforter and completely sewn up. It's pretty much necessary in my girls' room. The second bump in the road to completion is that I have come to a painting project involving spray paint. Me & spray paint don't really jive. Think drippy and clumpy. I'm really trying to hold off as long as possible {or until my hubby is here to guide me on it}. I'm just a tad bit nervous about ruining a piece of furniture. No big deal, right? Yikes.

Today I did make some progress on a couple of sewing projects for the room and I am feeling good about it. So, I thought I'd throw in a tutorial on how to sew with piping. This is one of those things that looks absolutely fabulous on a pillow or what-have-you, but can be a little intimidating when you first start out. However, if you take it slow, you'll be just fine. Enjoy! And if you have any questions, feel free to comment.

This tutorial for piping is shown by sewing piping onto a pillow cover. So, we'll start from the beginning. If you need a pillow cover tutorial, check here. Take your two pieces of fabric for the pillow cover - Front and Back. Place right sides together and lay on a table top.

Now, take your piping and start placing it in between the top and bottom pieces, carefully pinning all the way around the fabric. You want the straight edge of the piping to line up with the straight edge of the fabric pieces. The rolled edge will be on the inside.

Pin carefully, approximately every inch or so to hold it in place. I like to leave the corners unpinned so that I can move it around exactly like I want it. Feel free to pin yours.

Leave an opening of approximately 7-8 inches, depending on how big your pillow is, so that you can stuff your pillow form inside before sewing it up. We'll deal with the opening in a minute.

Now, change your presser foot to the zipper foot. This gives you the ability to sew closer to the edge of the piping giving you a more professional look. The regular presser foot will leave a gap.

Start at one end of the opening and begin sewing all the way around until you have only 7-8 inches left. Backstitch at both the beginning and ending.

Now, turn your fabric rightside out. Be sure to push the corners out. Put your pillow form inside and fluff it up to fit your pillow cover.

Once you are ready to sew the opening closed, line up the piping to see how much you need to trim off. You are going to line it up so that you have about a one inch overlap.

Next, using your seam ripper, open up the fabric on the piping that will overlap about an inch down.

Cut the cording {not the fabric covering the cording} so that you can now line up the two ends and overlap the fabric piece on top of the other end.  {See pic.}

Now, fold each side piece down on both sides of the opening to line up with the already sewn part of the pillow cover. Line your piping up inside the two folded over sides and pin close together.

Still using your zipper foot, start sewing the closure. Go very slowly, removing pins as you go, to keep everything in place. Cut all loose threads.

You're done! If you want to embellish your pillow, do it before you sew the two pieces together. Unless you're like me and you decide to hot glue your design onto the pillow. I wouldn't recommend it for pillows that will be laid on or jumped on. The pillows I made are just for looks.....now if I can convince my girls of that.....

Thanks for stopping by! Stay tuned for more shared girls' room tips and tricks, and of course, the After pic.