Have you ever tried to sew with piping? Did you follow any techniques from online resources or sewing literature? I was winging it when I made my Butterick forties style shirtdress. It turned out just fine, but I would have had more success if I had done some research first.
My most recent issue of Threads magazine had a great little article on this topic. The basic gist of it is that you don't want your layers of stitching to be right on top of each other. You end up with three rows of stitching in all - the row that makes the piping, the row to baste the piping to the seam, then the row that makes the seam. Each of these rows of stitching should be 1/16" apart. You also want to leave enough room on the closest row that the cording can move inside the its fabric cover.
Heather Lou from Closet Case files also has
a great little tutorial on piping for her Carolyn Pajamas. I didn't think through the piping around the sleeve band and it didn't turn out so well. But it's not in a really visible spot, so I just left it.
Piping can also be sewn flat without any cording. This is the technique that I used for Little D's
blessing outfit. I turned the hem toward the outside of the sleeve and placed the piping into the fold of the hem and stitched it down. This technique will work on any type of fabric (linen in this case) that is the same on either side. It wouldn't work on the fabric that I used for the dress because the wrong side it different from the right side.
Labels: Piping, Sewing, Sewing Techniques, Tips and Tricks
