Sewing piping: It's easy with this guide

For a long time I didn't dare to sew with piping. But it looks great! With my tutorial, even beginners can sew piping really easily!

The most important things at a glance

• Piping is a part of a sewing project sewn with piping tape
• In this post I'll show you how to sew piping onto a straight piece of fabric, around a curve, and around a corner
• Piping tape comes in many different versions
• Piping visually enhances a sewing project and gives it a special finish
• Piping can help stabilize sewing projects and highlight the shape of a yoke
• When sewn into outdoor clothing, reflective piping can provide visibility

What is piping?

Piping is a part of a sewing project sewn with piping tape.

Piping consists of a strip of fabric cut diagonally to the grain, with a cord placed in the fabric fold. This is then topstitched close to the edge. This keeps the cord in place.

Piping can mark the transition between two pattern pieces, finish an appliqué pocket, highlight seams, or give simple cushion covers a refined border.

What does piping tape look like?

Piping tape comes in many different versions.

Cotton piping tape^* is available in many colors. It is pre-sewn and only needs to be caught in the seam.

Elastic piping tape^* is great for jersey and sweatshirt clothing

Reflective piping tape^* is often sewn into the seams of outdoor and children's jackets. It reflects light and thus increases safety in road traffic.

Faux leather piping tape^* is very suitable for bags, but also visually enhances clothing.

At Stoffe Hemmers I discovered beautiful piping tape^*. I especially like the polka dot piping tape^* in many colors, the multicolored three-layer piping tape^* and the one made from sturdy denim fabric^*.

Can I also use cotton piping tape for jersey?

For short "sewing distances," it definitely works. Especially if the piped areas are not stretched a lot when worn, e.g., on bags.

For anything beyond that, I recommend elastic piping tape. I recently sewed a lot of children's clothing and came across the elastic piping tape^* from Stoffe-Hemmers. It sews very well and moves nicely when worn.

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Can I also make my own piping tape?

Sure, you can!

• Cut a 3 cm wide strip of fabric diagonally to the grain. The diagonal cut (i.e., 45 degrees to the selvedge) applies to non-stretch cotton fabrics. If you want to sew jersey piping tape, you can cut it along the grain, since jersey is stretchy

• Fold the fabric strip lengthwise so that the two long edges meet
• Then place a cotton cord in the fabric fold
• Topstitch very close to the cord using a zipper foot

When making my own piping, I use this cotton cord^*:

^*

A cord with a diameter of 4 - 6 mm is ideal for most sewing projects.

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Sewing piping - why?

What is the function of piping?

Above all: looking good! Piping visually enhances a sewing project and gives it a special finish.

It can also help stabilize sewing projects and highlight the shape of a yoke. When sewn into outdoor clothing, reflective piping can provide visibility.

Instructions: Sewing in piping tape

What materials do I need to sew piping?

• the fabric cut you want to embellish
• Piping tape (I like the Piping tape^* from Stoffe-Hemmers with the polka dots)
• Sewing machine with zipper foot
• Color-matched sewing thread^*
• Fabric clips^*

Sewing piping - here's how!

First, look at the piping. It has a right and a left side. You can recognize the right side by the "pretty" seam visible there.

Sew the piping so that the left side shows on the back of your sewing project after turning it.

On the left side of the piping, you can clearly see the back seam.

Instructions: Sewing piping onto a straight fabric edge

Place the piping flush against the fabric edge - the flat side of the piping facing the fabric edge.

Secure the piping with fabric clips.

Put the zipper foot in your sewing machine and sew the piping into the seam.

Now place the second fabric piece flush on the prepared piping part and sew from the left in the first seam.

Turn the piece, shape the seam. Now you can fold the seam allowance, if you like, and topstitch from the right.

Done!

In red and pink: Rheingold cosmetic bag mini with piping, in Rheingold micro grey.

Instructions: Sewing a curve with piping

It works the same way with a curve, but there's a little trick.

Pin the piping to your fabric cut as shown above.

Then cut the piping with sharp scissors about 3 mm before the cord.

This allows the piping to fit the curve better and prevents the seam from pulling.

Now sew it firmly into the piping seam with the zipper foot as described above.

Sew the second fabric piece back into the first seam from left to right.

Cut the seam allowance of the curve about 2 mm before the seam.

And turn it inside out:

 Instructions: Sewing piping around a corner

The preparation is the same, but this time the seam allowance of the piping is cut directly at the corner.

Sew the second fabric piece firmly into the first seam.

Then trim the seam allowance at the corner and turn it inside out.

Sewing piping ends

How do you actually sew the ends of the piping together? There are two methods, both of which look good.

Option 1: Sewing piping ends together

In this version, I sew the piping with the piping foot. You can see how the foot works in my detailed blog post about sewing feet.

This is what the piping foot looks like:

It has grooves on the bottom that it "rides" on the piping.

It looks like this:

When you have sewn back to the beginning, leave the piping overlapping by about 4 cm.

Cross it and align it as squarely as possible with the fabric edge you want to pipe.

The more flush the piping lies, the more even the transition will be. This way, you will only have a tiny gap between the beginning and the end.

Now you can sew the piping firmly with a close-to-the-edge stitch.

This is what it should look like now:

Now you can lay the second fabric layer flush against the fabric edge and sew it into the first seam.

Trim the piping back to the fabric edge.

You can now iron the fabric so that the seams set nicely.

This is what it should look like now.

Option 2: Piping with shortened cord

In this version, the cord is shortened and the ends are placed together.

Sew up to about 5 cm before the beginning and leave the first 3 cm of the beginning and end unsewn and overlapping.

Mark the length of the piping beginning on the end piece.

Open the seam of the piping with a seam ripper. Do you already know about my great seam ripper test?

Free the cord lying inside the piping.

Cut it off at the mark.

Important: Only the cord is shortened, not the piping fabric. :)

Fold the fabric of the piping end 1 cm inward.

Place the beginning inside.

Fold the inserted end neatly over the beginning piping and sew the piping firmly.

Now you can sew the second fabric layer firmly into the first seam again.

This is what the finished piping connection looks like now:

And here is the comparison between the two methods:

I recommend you position the beginning and end on the underside of your sewing project until you are more confident with the transitions on the piping.

Happy simple sewing,

your Sabine

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