Piping and Binding Your Curtains and Pelmets

Edging your curtains or pelmets with either piping or binding adds style and interest to your finished drapes. A contrasting, but complementary, color to that of your main fabric looks wonderful and can dictate the colors of accessories used in furnishing the rest of the room.

The fabric you buy to cover your piping cord should be the same weight as your main fabric. You will need to cut strips along the bias of the fabric. The piping is then stitched into a flat seam of your curtain - often the top edge or the inner edge of a curtain panel, or the bottom edge of a pelmet.

Binding is bias fabric strips that are attached to the edge of your curtains or pelmets. These can be any width you choose, depending on the look you want to achieve. Traditionally, a bias binding edging to the inner edges of the curtain length is about 10cm wide. When the curtains are drawn the bias binding edges meet and give a wonderful contrast to the main curtain fabric. Bias binding can also be used on the outer edges of your curtain panels.

To see where the bias of your fabric lies, fold in one corner edge of your fabric diagonally towards the center of the fabric. The direction of the folded line is your bias line