How to Apply Welting

Cut the cushion or pillow pieces you need from the upholstery fabric. Lay out the cushion or pillow top, face up.

Place the welting with the raw edges along the raw edge of the cushion or pillow piece. The corded welt should be toward the center of the fabric piece. Pin the welt in place along the edges.

Manipulate the corners of the welting for a smooth fit, clipping the corners as necessary to avoid puckers or cupping. Clip only the seam allowance of the welting from the raw edges almost to the stitch line that secures the cording -- be careful not to cut through the stitch line. On an outside corner turn, the clipped edge fans open so the clips become open V-shaped easements. On an inside corner, as found on a T-cushion, the clipped edges overlap and allow the cording to fold easily for a smooth application. Pin the clipped welting at the corners.

Hand baste the corner welting in place to ensure accurate placement. When placing welting, arrange it so the fabric piece lays flat, and the welting follows the curves and corners smoothly. Baste the welting all around the edge by machine, sewing with a heavy-duty needle and heavy-duty upholstery thread.

Pin or hand baste the gusset or back fabric piece to the edge of the front fabric piece with right sides together, sandwiching the welting between. Machine stitch through all layers -- the front, welting and back -- using a zipper foot. Set the zipper foot and needle position on your sewing machine so the stitches are close to the welting without catching the cording underneath the foot and needle. For a pillow with only a front and back piece, leave an opening to turn the pillow. For a gusseted cushion, stitch completely around the edge.

Turn a pillow covering, add fill, and hand sew the opening closed to finish the project. For a gusseted cushion cover, apply welting to the edges of the cushion back as you did on the front. Sew the gusset-and-front assembly to the back piece, leaving an opening for turning, if necessary. Turn and fill, then hand sew the opening closed. Gusseted cushions often include a zipper in the gusset for turning and filling, which allows you to sew the welting all the way around on both the top and bottom. For greater maneuverability, unzip the zipper while you sew the gusset, turn and fill, then zip closed.