How to Sew Cording to Re-Cover Furniture

Cording is often added when re-covering furniture to help give it a professional look and strengthen the seams. The cording is covered in bias strips cut from the same fabric as the furniture, or a contrasting fabric can be used to make it stand out.

Things You'll Need

• Dressmaker's measuring tape
• Upholstery fabric
• Iron
• Yardstick
• Ruler
• Fabric marking pen
• Scissors
• Sewing machine
• Sewing machine needles
• Thread
• Dressmaker's pins
• Zipper sewing machine foot

Instructions

Measure for the Cording

1. Use a dressmaker's measuring tape to measure the length of all seams that will be corded.

2. Add the length measurements together and divide the total inches by 36 to get the cording yardage needed. Add a few extra inches to make sure you'll have enough.

3. Use the tape measure to measure the width of your cording, and add 2 inches to that to calculate how wide the fabric strips will need to be.

Cutting the Fabric Along the Bias

1. Take your upholstery fabric and lay it down on a flat work surface, wrong side up.

2. Fold one of the cut ends of the fabric piece up to meet either selvedge. Line up the two edges evenly, then use an iron to press the fold that is created.

3. Unfold the fabric and use a fabric marking pen and a yardstick to draw a line along the crease to mark the true bias of the fabric. Bias cut fabric has more stretch and is easier to place around the curves of the furniture.

4. Use a yardstick or ruler to mark how wide the strip must be from the first line in the fabric. Draw a second line that is parallel to the first. This is your first strip.

5. Repeat as many times as needed to either cover the entire fabric with lines or until you have enough strips to cover the cording.

6. Cut along the lines of the fabric to create your bias strips.

Sewing Fabric Onto Cording

1. Look at your original furniture seam measurements. Sew the fabric strips end to end to create pieces long enough to cover each seam.

2. Place the cord in the center of the wrong side of the fabric strips. Fold them over to cover the cord and pin them in place. Make sure the pins are in place to keep the edges together as well as hold the cord in the center of the fabric.

3. Sew as close to the cord as you can with your sewing machine. The zipper foot makes it easier to sew and keep the cord where you want it.

Adding Cording to the Seams

1. Place the cording on the right side of one of the pieces of uphostery fabric it will be sewn to. Match the raw edge of the cording to the raw edge of the fabric and pin it in place.

2. Sew the piping to the first piece of fabric using the zipper foot.

3. Add the second piece of fabric that will form that seam. Match the raw edge of the fabric to the raw edge of the piece you just sewed the cording to and pin them in place. The pieces should be right side to right side, with the cording between them.

4. Sew the pieces together. When it's turned right side out, the cording will be on the right side covering the seam.

5. If any cording ends meet, trim them so they meet but don't overlap. Trim one end so the fabric is even with the cording. Trim the other end, leaving 1/2 inch of fabric extending from the cording.

6. Fold the 1/2-inch piece of fabric in half. Place the fabric over the end of the cording it is adjoining and top-stitch it into place as close to the cording as possible.

Tips & Warnings

• If the cording is mainly covering straight areas of seaming and not a lot of curves, you can just cut strips of fabric on the grain instead of bias-cut strips. Upholstery fabric can be quite thick. When sewing the cording into the seams to re-cover your furniture, you may need a sewing needle meant for tougher materials like leather. To apply piping to corners and other curved areas, it may be necessary to clip a "v" section from the raw edge of the piping to just before the seam along the cording to give it more flexibility.