How to Sew Double Cord Welting

Hi everyone!  I hope you are having a good week.  I promised I would write out the instructions for making double cord welting when I re-upholstered my cane chair back in October.  So here you go...2 months later! 

The first step is to cut 3 inch (or so) strips of your fabric on the bias. Cutting on the diagonal helps with giving the fabric some stretch so it bends around the corners easier.  Or so I've read. 

By the way, this was my first sewing project in years.  Literally, YEARS.  I haven't really sewn anything besides fixing a seam now and then, since about freshman year of highschool.  That's been 10 years.  Wow.

In order to not waste a ton of fabric, you can sew shorter strips together to get the length that you need.  Just pin across and sew a quick seam. 

After you get all your short strips sewn together and have a long enough piece for whichever part of your chair you are doing first, put your cording inside and roll the fabric over the top and pin. I bought my cording at JoAnn's fabric for something like 30 cents per yard. 

 

 

 Next, attach your zipper foot to your sewing machine (or in my case, your friend's borrowed sewing machine) so that you can get really close to the cording with your seam.  Sew down the length of the cording.

 

The next step is to insert another length of cording next to the first seam and roll it all over to enclose it in the fabric.  I put the normal foot back on the sewing machine and sewed right down the middle of both pieces of cording. 

 

 

This step is a bit tricky because of the bulk of material.  And especially so if you haven't sewn anything in YEARS.  I broke a needle at one point, the thread kept coming out of the needle, and I kept knotting up the bobbin thread.  I had to enlist the help of my friend, Alejandra for this step because of my lack of patience.  But you can do it, I'm sure ;)  The key is to use an upholstery needle...I think.

 



So after you get all of your sewing done, its time to attach the cording to your chair.  I used a hot glue gun and glued it on a small section at a time.  I had two lengths of cording, one for along the back of the chair and one for the front along the bottom of the seat.

 

 

 

 And after all is said and done, you have covered all of your staples with welting and completed your chair!