How to Make Your Own Piping

Piping is a great way to add extra detail and design to a project, whether it’s home décor or garments. Ashley Hough shows you how to make piping on your sewing machine with ease.

Piping Size

It can be difficult to find store bought piping in various thicknesses and widths. However, when you learn how to make piping, it can be made in any size you need. Ashley shows you how you can use different thicknesses of cording to sew piping on your sewing machine in any size. She also shows how to sew piping by starting with a larger strip of fabric so the final width can be trimmed down to size later. This is helpful if you need to have piping with a width to fit a certain seam allowance. It is also easier to sew the piping on your machine when the fabric strip is wider.

Sewing Machine Feet

As with many other sewing and embellishing techniques, there is a special foot that can be used with piping. The foot is known as a piping or cording foot. It does not normally come standard with a machine but can be purchased separately. A piping foot can be used for not only sewing piping on your machine but for attaching the piping to a project as well. The foot has a small groove on the bottom that allows the piping to easily slide under the foot when stitching. However, if you plan to sew piping on your sewing machine that is fairly thick, this foot may not work as well. Ashley shows you how to make piping using a zipper foot.

Finishing the Ends

Depending on the project, you may have two ends of piping that need to be connected together. Ashley shows you a great way to overlap and finish the piping ends. Using these sewing and finishing piping techniques will help you add fun detail and design when learning how to make piping for your next project.

9 Responses to “How to Make Your Own Piping”

1. Janet February 21st, 2017

   If your piping is intended to go around curves or corners, the fabric you use to encase the cord DOES need to be cut on the bias!

   Reply

2. Diana S. November 16th, 2015

   But how do you find the bias to cut the fabric correctly?

   Reply

   • National Sewing Circle November 18th, 2015

     Hi!

     Here is an article as well as a video that shows how to correctly find the bias of a fabric.

     http://www.nationalsewingcircle.com/article/sewing-bias-grain-fabric/

     Hope this helps!

     Cheers,
     Ashley

     Reply

3. Adela Hatton November 6th, 2015

   I believe the new strip of fabric used to make piping would be better if cut on the bias, not on the straight grain of the fabric. This was not mentioned in the video

   Reply

   • National Sewing Circle November 6th, 2015

     Hi Adela. Thank you for your feedback. We appreciate it. We will forward your comments on to the proper department.

     Reply

4. Marie Dempsey November 6th, 2015

   In order for piping to work well and go around corners the fabric must be cut on the bias, made with fabric cut on the straight grain will disappoint

   Reply

   • National Sewing Circle November 6th, 2015

     Hi Marie. Thank you for your comments. We will forward your feedback on to the proper department.

     Reply

5. Lynn November 5th, 2015

   Piping material is cut cross grain, giving it much more flexibility than the material cut along the grain…..which, when piping a pattern with a lot of curving, will fight the curves and end up with a messier finished project.

   Reply

   • National Sewing Circle November 6th, 2015

     Hi Lynn: Thank you for your feedback. We will forward your comments on to the proper department.

     Reply