Double Welt Cording Tutorial

So, piping/cording has been the only thing that has ever stopped  me from doing a reupholstery project. I don't know why, but I guess it was the fact that I had no idea where to even start...it was just really daunting.

But then I had one of those ah-ha moments....and then one of those other moments that make you feel really stupid, like 'why didn't I think of that before'? You know the kind, right?

So, I was looking at a piece of double welt cording on a chair I have and realized that thats totally do-able and can be done so easy! So here is how I did it:

Okay, so for the first step, you'll want to get about a 2" wide piece of fabric in the length that you need for your chair. Of course most fabric won't come in that length unless you want to buy yards and yards of it. I just stitched mine together, having the two ends on the inside portion of the fabric, to make it the length I needed.

Next, I took some cording that I found at the fabric store.I ended up using about 11 yards of the cording for this chair. Cut it in half and place it inside the fabric. 

Next, fold the fabric over one piece of the cording. 

Pull the other cording close to the covered piece and on top of the fabric thats folded over it. 

Now fold the rest of the fabric over across both pieces of cording. I made sure I had a little bit more fabric than was necessary. You're going to have to cut it later either way and then you won't have to fuss with it while you're sewing. 

Next, just take your sewing machine and place the needle in the middle of the two pieces of cording. For the most part you can see where one starts and the other begins especially when pressure is applied from the needle.  

Do this until you are out of cording or fabric. I know some people say you can't do double welt cording without a double welted foot for your sewing machine. So not true! I did this with just the normal foot that came with my machine that I've never changed since I got that darn thing :)

Once you are done, just cut the excess fabric off. I used a seam ripper on mine, it was much faster and cut a lot closer to the 'seam'. This side of the cording will become the backside when gluing it on the chair.

Which is the next step! After cutting to the length you need for the portion of the chair you are doing, just start gluing it on every few inches with a hot glue gun.

I was resistant to do it this way...but then I thought of all the piping and cording I've seen or have taking off of things, and most of them are glued on anyway. So why not save some time and do it the same way, right?

Just make sure you have a lot of glue sticks on hand...believe me....you'll need them.

For edges/ends that meet with other cording like this......  

just tuck the raw/end edge under the finished cording as I did here and glue! (I knew ahead of time when gluing the first portion of cording that this would be a junction where other cording was going to go under it, so I made sure not to glue it for about two inches in that area). Just make sure to not place a lot of glue or else you'll be able to see it...and we should all know, thats totally not attractive :)

Make sure you place the cording along all the portions of the chair that have exposed staples.

And there you have it! A simple, quick and totally do-able way to get a great high end look when re-upholstering.

Linked to:
Someday Crafts
Blue Cricket Design
Today's Creative Blog
Not Just a Housewife