Hey, let's talk about one of the best edge finishing techniques ever... Bias Binding!!! Who, what, when, where, why is binding you ask?!? Ok, so binding is a bias cut strip of fabric with pre-folded edges. The fact that it’s bias cut makes it ideal for finishing curved edges.
Adding piping to your seams can add such a special touch. It's totally worth the extra bit of work as it can make your seams more prominent and beautiful.
Piping comes in lots of different colors and is generealy covered in a basic cotton fabric but it looks extra fancy when you create piping covered with self fabric. Whether your pattern calls for it or not, you can add piping to seams if you want to spruce up the design a little. Here's a little tutorial to show you how to cover store bought piping with self fabric.
I used it here in the Simone dress because I wanted to add prominence to the seamlines of the front placket. I broke up the monotony of the blue fabric by added a running stitch in anchor threads to match the piping in order to integrate the colours.
If you’ve ever had to hem a curved edge, you’ll know how tricky it is to turn, press and stitch it so that it looks neat and tidy. Curved edges are tricky for a few reasons. They involve a bias grainline, which causes the fabric to stretch out. Also, depending on the kind of curve you are working with, whether it be concave or convex, the fabric edge will be longer or shorter in length compared to the area it is being folded to, indicated by the red dashed line in the following diagram...