~Piping Making~

I have always loved piping! 

When our DD was small and I made a lot of her clothes, I would add it to collars, pockets, waist bands, just for that extra pop of color. Back then I always purchased piping.  As the years went by I started making it more often than not. And now I try to always make it because, well~ have you seen the quality of prepackaged piping lately? Can it get any skinnier? :-o

Lately I have been using it for a little border pop on a mini quilt, and for bag making. Fun!

I suppose it is safe to say the "traditional" way of making piping was by using your zipper foot to baste it into a bias strip of fabric.  BUT with new products, things do get easier!

You can now get a piping foot for your sewing machine with a groove in it for the cording.

I always dreaded having to rip out any basting stitches that I didn't quite cover.

 And now I don't even baste! I use Wonder Tape by Dritz, or Wonder Web by Pellon.  :-) It comes in a roll and my roll is getting used up as you can see in the photo. It is 1/4 inch wide.

(Just FYI~ Wonder Tape washes out, Wonder Web does not.)

There are so many uses for this wonderful product, but just in case you haven't used it to make piping yet~

it couldn't get any easier. ;-)

In the photo I cut my bias strips 1.5 inches and pressed them wrong sides together to find the middle.  This makes a 3/4 inch 'tape'.  I opened it and pressed one side of the Wonder Tape right in the center of one side~ there should be 1/4 inch between the tape and the fold, and another 1/4 inch up from the raw edge... or pretty close! :-)  Let it cool completely.  If you don't, the paper is much harder to remove. Trust me on this! I am sometimes just a teeny bit impatient. :-) (and then I regret it!)

I used 3/16th's inch cord this time because I want an nice big piping, but you can use smaller for more delicate applications.  Once you have removed that paper, then it is just a matter of inserting the cord against the fold, meeting raw edges and pressing.  The piping stays right up against the fold~ and you didn't have to baste anything!! Easy! Right?  Give it a try sometime, you will be happy you did!

Until next time~

Happy stitchin'!