How to Attach Cording to a Pillow
A basic yet attractive way to dress up an accent pillow is to attach cording. Cording gives the edges of your throw pillow a decorative trim that can match or complement the fabric of your pillow. While you can't attach cording to an existing pillow, you can make a pillow with cording trim in the colors and patterns of your choosing without much effort or experience.
Things You'll Need
- Fabric for cording, 2 by 60 inches
- 5 feet of quarter-inch cording
- Pins
- Sewing machine
- Zipper foot
- Two pieces of fabric for pillow, 14 inches square
- Scissors
- Stuffing
Instructions
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Preparing the cording
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1
Spread out your 2-inch strip of fabric on a flat surface with the right side facing down. Align your length of cording in the center of the strip all the way down the length of the fabric.
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2
Fold over the fabric strip lengthwise working 6 inches at a time and place a pin to hold the fold and capture the cording inside. Push the cording as far toward the center of the strip's fold as possible so it is tightly inside the fabric.
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3
Sew the fabric strip closed using a zipper foot on your sewing machine as close to the cording as possible. Leave the last 3 inches of the strip unsewn.
Making the pillow
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4
Lay one of the fabric squares down with the right side facing up. Set the cording on the square starting with the sewn end. Position the cording so the fabric edges align with the edges of the fabric square.
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5
Adjust the edges of the cording so the sewn line is a half-inch in from the edges of the square. Pin the cording strip in place and work around the edges of the pillow to attach the strip to the square, leaving the last 3 inches unattached.
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6
Secure the ends of the cording strip where they meet by peeling back the unsewn inches of fabric from the cording. Let the bare cording overlap the finished and pinned strip by half an inch and cut away any excess cording.
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7
Fold over the end of the peeled-back fabric strip by half an inch to form a simple hem. Unpin the first few inches of the attached cording from the square. Bring the remaining fabric strip portion over the raw cording and the unpinned portion and wrap the fabric strip over the two. Pin the edges down to make a clean, continuous cording line all the way around the square.
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8
Place the other fabric square right side facing down over the cording and bottom square. Pin all of the edges to secure. Sew a half-inch seam all the way around the three layers, leaving a 3-inch opening along one side.
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9
Turn the pillow right side out through the opening. Stuff the pillow through the hole as full as you want it to be. Sew the opening closed either by hand or with the machine to finish.
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1
Tips & Warnings
Some cording can be bought already set inside a fabric strip or twisted, which can make sewing the pillow faster. However, these are often available in solid colors that may or may not match your pillow fabric, so bring your fabric with you when you purchase the cording to make sure the fabric and cording colors coordinate well.
