Part 12 - Sewing the fabric and piping

Part 12 - Sewing the Fabric & Piping

With everything cut and prepared, you can now sew all the elements together.

1. Take your cut lengths of piping to the sewing machine.
2. You want to join opposite ends together for a continuous look, so begin by taking one length and put the marked end face up on your surface.
3. Take another length, this time putting an unmarked end face down at a right angle to your first length.
4. Sew together diagonally using a straight stitch from the meeting point in the top corner to the meeting point in the bottom corner.
5. Cut away the excess leaving a 0.5 inch seam allowance.
6. Repeat this process to join up all your lengths to form one piece of continuous piping fabric.
7. The next step is inserting the piping cord. You'll need to change the foot on your sewing machine to a piping foot.
8. Place your length of piping wrong side up, so that the joining seam is facing up.
9. Lay your piping cord down the middle of the piping fabric. Fold the fabric over the cord.
10. Place in position under the piping foot and begin to sew a straight stitch down the length of your piping to secure the cord. Don't worry too much about making it tight at this stage, as we'll be sewing it a further two times.
11. The next task is to join the border pieces together. Take the first two pieces you need to join and place them together front to front, with the edges lined up neatly.
12. Sew together using a straight stitch with a standard seam allowance of 1 cm or 0.5 inch.
13. Repeat as necessary for each border piece.
14. The final bit of sewing is to join the front pieces of fabric together.
15. If you pattern matched these pieces, you have already marked the line you need to sew with chalk and pins. Using your sewing machine, carefully run a straight stitch all the way down this line. Ensure you remove your pins as you go. If they go underneath the needle they may break it.
16. Repeat as necessary if you have another piece on the other side.