How To Sew Double Welting

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Here is my tutorial on how to sew double welting.

There are ways to sew it by just sewing one seam, but I can't get it nice and tight that way, so I figured out my own way.

SO HERE IS MY WAY THAT I FIGURED OUT ALL BUY MYSELF!!!!!!

First you gots to cut your strips of fabric and seam them together to the length you'll need.

The strips should be over 2" wide.

I suggest you practice on some welting and figure out how wide you need to comfortably sew the welting.

I do it according to what my fabric is and how much I have to play with.

If it's a normal fabric, you'll want to cut it on the bias (diagonal) so that the fabric can stretch nicely when going around corners.

If it's stretchy, like the linen I used for Kris's chair, you'll want to cut the strips with the weave, parallel or perpendicular to the selvage.

 I use a zipper foot when sewing single welting.

 I position it so the foot is to the right side of the needle, and the needle is in the normal stitching position, not in the center.

This is probably wrong, but it is what works the best for me and my clumsy fingers.

 I fold the fabric over one of the welting cords and stitch as tightly against the cord as I can.

(unless it is a stretchy fabric, and then you can't pull too tightly on it or it will end up gathering and you'll end up crying.......)

 I use my middle finger to hold the cord in place against the zipper foot, and use my index finger to hold the fabric down in front of the needle.

I use my right hand to also hold the fabric against the right side of the cord, but I couldn't take a picture and show you because I needed my right hand to hold the camera......

Once the first cord is sewn into the fabric casing, it should look something like this..... 

Then I pull out my double welting foot.

You can make a double welting without it, just using your regular pressure foot, but the double welting foot really helps make a nice tight double welt.

The one on the right I bought on ebay.

I thought I left it in Florida, so I bought another one from my sewing machine store up here in Massachusetts.

The one of the left is much better than the one on the right.

I didn't realize I had it until I finished making all the #$% welting for Kris's chair.

 Once attached to the machine, I moved the needle to the center position,

 I placed the sewn single welt upside down, and laid the second cord along the first cord.

 Then I flipped it over and pulled the fabric tight against the second cord.

 Then I placed it under the pressure foot, letting the two cords fit into the grooves in the foot with the needle running down the trench in the center.

I pulled the fabric with my middle finger out to the left side of the welting and sewed it down the middle. 

This is how it should look at this point.

You may need to practice this, but it's really not that difficult.

It's just a matter of learning how it should feel when you're pulling the fabric tight against the cord.

 Then flip the welting over and trim the excess on the back.

 You want to trim off enough so that it doesn't show when the welting is right side up.

This is how it should look on the back.....

 It should end up looking like the picture below when you're done.

I used scrap fabric, so ignore the fact that the stripe is all squiggly.

 Here's a close up.

Use thread that matches the fabric.

I didn't bother to change the color for this here tutorial, 'cuz I couldn't be bothered,

 so there......

 I always leave extra cord sticking out of the ends so if the fabric shifts, the cord is still long enough.

I hope this helped all you baby upholsterers out there in blog land.

I am now working on the coverlet for Kris's master bedroom.

I figured it would be easy.

I figured it would just take a couple of hours.

I figured wrong.

You'd think I'd learn, already.....

On that note,

Latah, Gatah