Sewing Piping

Dear community,
What is piping, and what is it used for?

Piping is something I don’t really enjoy sewing, but every now and then it’s absolutely necessary. Piping—or “Paspol,” as it’s also called—consists of narrow edging that’s either sewn on or sewn in. Very often, there’s a cord inside the piping so that it stands out nicely. This really calls for very precise sewing, and you have to work with very little room to spare—because if it’s meant to serve as a finishing touch, you can’t add much seam allowance; that just makes the whole thing look unsightly and creates a messy edge. For dividing seams, a piping like this is often sewn in as an eye-catcher to give the garment a little extra flair.

Best regards, Inge

I’ve even tried my hand at making a piping edge out of stretchy jersey. It was a sewn tunic where the front panels crossed diagonally at the front. The tunic was decoratively gathered on one side. The raw edges were supposed to be finished with piping.

The garment was never finished because the piping edge rippled, and the neckline where the front panels overlapped diagonally was much too open. I probably should have stretched the elastic piping more while sewing it on. But knowing exactly how much to stretch it requires sewing experience, which I still lack.

What Inge describes above—that the seam allowance sometimes slips out of the piping in certain places, especially around curves—happened to me, too. In the end, I was dissatisfied and painstakingly unpicked the entire piping. I know that unpicking is part of sewing, but it was still disappointing. Now the piece is sitting in the basket for half-finished projects, waiting for its second chance. But since I haven’t gained any further experience with piping in the meantime, it has to stay in the basket.

Best regards, Ina

Yeah, yeah, the piped edge. Brrrrr..........


I had that on my dirndl, which I made at the rural home economics school. All of us girls had to sew a dirndl.

On the armholes and the other edges. And then also on the split back.
  The piping was made with bias tape I cut myself and a thin, white cord. And the cord wasn’t allowed to be sewn down. There was a lot of handwork involved, because the cord was sewn into the bias tape by hand.

That was very time-consuming, and we had to unpick it a lot.

But in the end, it looked great, and everyone was proud of their work.