Piping Cord
For creating very narrow strips of fabric - especially for things like rouleau loops a good technique is to use a length of piping cord to help turn the fabric inside out. The fabric for this video was kindly gifted by Lamazi Fabrics
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SewHayleyJane
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One method of turning a narrow tube of fabric is to use piping cord. You could also use some ribbon. I just find piping cord a little easier as it gives me something to butt the edge of my presser foot up against as I go.
Now this is easiest done with a strip of fabric that is actually wider than you're going to need because it's easier if we've got a decent amount of seam allowance. If you cut a narrow strip of fabric and then try to use that with the piping cord it's going to be really fiddly, you're not going to have enough room. So you do want a wider strip of fabric to start with.
Now you don't need to cut a length of piping cord. I tend to leave mine long because all I'm going to do in the end is chop the very very end off. So I want to leave as much piping cord intact as possible.
So we're going to put our piping cord in the middle of the strip of fabric. We're going to wrap the fabric around the piping cord, right sides together, and then to start off with, we want to sew across this short end. So I'm gonna do that first.
So as you can see, I've sewn across the short end. It's actually easier to start with your needle at the side of fabric opposite where the piping cord is. So the piping cord is towards me, I started here, sewed down across the piping cord and then back over it to lock that in place.
Now I'm gonna switch my presser foot to a zipper foot. Once you've changed to the zipper foot put your strip of fabric underneath the presser foot with the cord to the left of your foot. Now we are going to sew all the way down. Backstitch at the start and end. As you sew down, just make sure that the piping cord is remaining at the very left of the fabric with the fabric wrapped around the piping cord. You might need to just use your finger or a tool to make sure that you hold the piping cord flat against the presser foot. It kind of wants to veer off to the left and ping out from underneath the presser foot. So you just want to make sure that that stays nice and straight. Once that's sewn, we need to trim down the seam allowance nice and fairly close to the stitching line because we're going to be turning a very narrow tube of fabric here so the less fabric that we have going inside the better. The other thing we can do is just trim off this end a little bit.
And now we're going to very gently pull on the piping cord in order to turn it through as with the other methods. This first bit is the fiddliest, this turning through that end. So this bit takes a little bit of patience, a little bit of teasing the fabric through once you have turned that initial bit, the rest is nice and easy. Just keep pulling on the piping cord until you have turned the tube of fabric all the way through.
Then finally, you can just chop off that end where the piping cord is attached. You've still got the majority of your piping cord ready for another project, and you have a narrow strip of fabric.
Finally, give that a press, just rolling the fabric so that the seam line is on one long edge and not twisted around. So you can just do that as you go along with the iron. I tend just to use my fingers or my thumb and finger just to roll the fabric to one side. And that is how you turn a narrow tube of fabric using piping cord or ribbon.
Now this is easiest done with a strip of fabric that is actually wider than you're going to need because it's easier if we've got a decent amount of seam allowance. If you cut a narrow strip of fabric and then try to use that with the piping cord it's going to be really fiddly, you're not going to have enough room. So you do want a wider strip of fabric to start with.
Now you don't need to cut a length of piping cord. I tend to leave mine long because all I'm going to do in the end is chop the very very end off. So I want to leave as much piping cord intact as possible.
So we're going to put our piping cord in the middle of the strip of fabric. We're going to wrap the fabric around the piping cord, right sides together, and then to start off with, we want to sew across this short end. So I'm gonna do that first.
So as you can see, I've sewn across the short end. It's actually easier to start with your needle at the side of fabric opposite where the piping cord is. So the piping cord is towards me, I started here, sewed down across the piping cord and then back over it to lock that in place.
Now I'm gonna switch my presser foot to a zipper foot. Once you've changed to the zipper foot put your strip of fabric underneath the presser foot with the cord to the left of your foot. Now we are going to sew all the way down. Backstitch at the start and end. As you sew down, just make sure that the piping cord is remaining at the very left of the fabric with the fabric wrapped around the piping cord. You might need to just use your finger or a tool to make sure that you hold the piping cord flat against the presser foot. It kind of wants to veer off to the left and ping out from underneath the presser foot. So you just want to make sure that that stays nice and straight. Once that's sewn, we need to trim down the seam allowance nice and fairly close to the stitching line because we're going to be turning a very narrow tube of fabric here so the less fabric that we have going inside the better. The other thing we can do is just trim off this end a little bit.
And now we're going to very gently pull on the piping cord in order to turn it through as with the other methods. This first bit is the fiddliest, this turning through that end. So this bit takes a little bit of patience, a little bit of teasing the fabric through once you have turned that initial bit, the rest is nice and easy. Just keep pulling on the piping cord until you have turned the tube of fabric all the way through.
Then finally, you can just chop off that end where the piping cord is attached. You've still got the majority of your piping cord ready for another project, and you have a narrow strip of fabric.
Finally, give that a press, just rolling the fabric so that the seam line is on one long edge and not twisted around. So you can just do that as you go along with the iron. I tend just to use my fingers or my thumb and finger just to roll the fabric to one side. And that is how you turn a narrow tube of fabric using piping cord or ribbon.