If you head to the notions aisle of a fabric store you can find all sorts of adorable trims, binding, and ribbons to give your sewing project a finished look. I never used to bother with them because they take an extra step and each additional step was an opportunity for a mistake. Plus, they aren’t cheap. But once I finally got over the Beginner’s fear of adding extra steps to screw up to my work I started to really enjoy the look of lace and piping. I have also found some ways to make that extra step a little less intimidating.  In this tutorial I will teach you how to make a simple pillow with piped seams. Of course you can go buy piping at the store, but this tutorial will also show you a simple way to make your own with scraps from other projects.

For your supplies you will need a fat quarter of your main pillow fabric cut into two equal pieces, a 2 inch by one and a half yard strip of coordinating fabric, and at least a yard and a half of t-shirt yarn. T-shirt yarn is made by cutting an old cotton jersey shirt into a long thin strip and pulling on it so that it curls into a tight cord. You will also need a zipper foot for your sewing machine, which is shown to the right of the standard presser foot.

The first thing you’ll need to do is make your piping trim. You can use bias cut fabric, but since I was using scraps the fabric I chose needed to be cut on the grain for the pattern to work. Just lay the t-shirt yarn into the center of the fabric strip (you can also use store bought cord or rope for this) and fold the fabric over the yarn. Then with your zipper foot attached sew the cord into the fabric with a straight stitch.

It will look like this when done.

Still using your zipper foot, line up the piping with one layer of your main pillow fabric on the right side, with raw edges together. Stitch with a straight stitch as close to the cord as possible. Snip the raw edge every quarter to half inch to work curves in the piping.

If your piping isn’t long enough you’ll need to add another length of cord and secure it so the cord doesn’t fray. Overlapping with the new piece and the old piece and sew the raw end in to the seam so it doesn’t fray. Continue sewing the new length of piping. This is also the way that you finish the seam once you’ve made it all the way around the pillow.

Now you will sew the two layers of the pillow together. Lay the two layers on top of each other, right sides facing, and with the piping attached to the top layer. This will make it so that you can sew all layers together without needing to pin, just follow the stitches from where you sewed the piping on and the piping will be snug and your seams will be straight. Leave enough room in the seam to turn it right side out and stuff it.

To stuff my pillow I used 4 or 5 layers of an old comforter. You can of course use poly-fill or cotton stuffing. If you do use a comforter or other layered stuffing just stack the layers, roll them up, slide it in, and unroll it evenly inside the pillow. Once the pillow is stuffed stitch the opening closed using a ladder stitch.

All finished! Look at that beautiful piped edge and how evenly it fits into the seam. It really gives this simple pillow a little something extra, without a lot of extra work! You can use this same method for adding ric-rac to seams, as well as lace. It will dress up any plain project very quickly. Happy Sewing!