Tutorial - Piping a Mary Poppins Carpet Bag

Hello, it's Nicole from Nicole at Home to show you my fabulous new Companion Carpet Bag made from an incredible silk brocade from Britex!

For this bag, I wanted to use matching piping for the outside pocket, so I tackled the task of making my own. Have you ever thought to make your own piping? It's super easy, and creates an incredibly professional effect for not much effort!

Today, I'll be showing the general technique for making piping and then give you all a little trick for connecting piping on projects where two ends come together. For most projects, store-bought piping works great. It comes in lots of colors and adds a nice contrast to all kinds of sewn items. However, from my perspective, store-bought piping has two big drawbacks: first, contrasting piping is nice, but that isn't always the desired look; sometimes you want it to match perfectly! Second, piping is a cotton/ poly blend, so it's not as soft or lovely as our favorite garment fabrics.   To make your own, really, all you need is fabric, cording, and a zipper foot. Cording can be purchased in pre-cut lengths, but there are often more options (depending on your fabric store) if purchased by the yard. At my local store, I could purchase many different widths, but used the 6/32" cord for this project. (FYI, 1/8" cording is more common for garment piping.)

For my bag, I used self-fabric for the piping, but the fabric was a bit difficult to photograph, so I've switched to the bag lining fabric for this tutorial. The first thing to do is cut a strip of your fabric on the bias, which will cover the cord. The width of the strip of fabric you'll need to cut is based on the width of your cording plus desired seam allowance.

Here's the equation:   ((diameter of cording) x 3.14) + (2 x (desired seam allowance))  

So if you have 1/4" cording and want 1/2" seam allowance on your piping, you would multiply 0.25 x 3.14, then add 1" for your seam allowance to equal 1.75" (1 3/4"). As I tell my Biology students, math is everywhere! But if you don't feel like doing the math, wrap your tape measure around the cording and add seam allowance to estimate. Place the cording on the bias strip, being careful not to stretch or distort the bias fabric. Then, wrap the fabric around the cording, matching the long ends and pushing the cording toward the fold. Use your iron with steam to encourage the fabric to form around the cording, but do not iron the cording itself. That would squish it flat--not a good look!  Then, using either "Wonder tape" or pins, secure the open edge of the piping.  Using the zipper foot on your sewing machine, baste as close to the piping as possible.

I use the fingers on my left hand to apply gentle pressure against the piping to keep it tight against the fold. Your piping is done! To apply it to the fabric, line up the raw edges and sew over the basting stitches to attach. If you must join the ends of the piping there are two options. First, you can overlap the ends and sew them in place (see above)

For the second option leave at least 1" overlap of the two ends. Unpick the basting stitches holding the cording in place by about holding the cording in place by about 1-2" on one of the ends.  Open up the end and trim the cording such that it abuts exactly with the uncut end of the cording.  Fold the fabric on the cut end and wrap it around the other side of the cording. Sew along the cording to secure the spliced section. Here's what it looks like once the cording is turned. Lovely!   

Okay, back to the bag! This Mary Poppins-style carpet bag uses a tubular frame at the top to open and snap closed. The pattern comes in 12" and 8" size, and for this particular bag, I made the 8". Despite the seemingly diminutive dimensions, it's like a bucket, or a gaping bass mouth....maybe I can't stash a floor lamp in it like in Mary Poppins, but it's still incredibly spacious!

And here you can spot my unconventional lining fabric choice. I went with a comics-inspired print, which extols the virtues of home sewing. Such fun! The bag pattern includes zip and slip pockets, which I subdivided for holding my phone and lip gloss.  

Overall, I am fully in love with my new bag. The silk brocade is subtle and stylish, and surprisingly versatile. At Nicole at Home, I have more details of the bag construction. If you are interested in getting your hands on your own Companion Carpet Bag pattern, you can order it from Mrs. H in Wales!