Sewing: Week Twenty Nine Piping and Zipper Outdoor Pillow

Piping and zipper outdoor pillow – the perfect way to dress up your deck. I wanted piping on these pillows, but I also wanted a zipper. Now, the tricky part was to try and figure out how to make it work. Let’s just say I broke a needle or two since at some points I stitched through 9 layers of fabric. That’s a lot for a little needle.

This tutorial makes use of two other tutorials I’ve done – one a few years ago and one just recently. First, you’ll need to know how to apply piping. Visit piping 101 if you need a refresher. Second, you’ll need to use the technique I used 3 weeks ago when making my other outdoor pillows. I’ll be installing the zipper the same way.

Okay, let’s get started!

What You Need

1.5 yards of outdoor fabric
2 pillows 20×20
another 2 pillows 12×12
7 yards of piping
2 14 inch zippers
2 8 inch zippers
matching thread
pins
machine
serger

Gather your fabric and coordinating piping. Both of mine are outdoor and fade resistant in the sun up to 500 hours. I love how it matches the table runner I made a couple of weeks ago – colourful mountains.

Cut out all of your pieces. The trick to a full looking pillow is cutting your squares 1 inch smaller than the size of the pillow. So, with a 20×20 pillow, cut out a 19×19 square. You’ll need to cut 4 of 19×19 and 4 11×11. Keep in mind that you’ll want the fabric all going the same way, so be mindful if you’re using a very patterned pattern.

Once your pieces are cut out you’ll want to serge all edges; the reason why is because outdoor fabric frays a lot when it’s moved. As a result, if you serge the edges you can move the fabric around and you won’t end up loosing an inch due to fray. Trust me and serge your edges.

Piping

Once everything is cut out apply the piping. Pin it all in place so it doesn’t move. Be mindful that your ‘joint’ is at the bottom of the pillow – you’ll also install the zipper here, too.

Use the zipper foot to attach the piping to this piping and zipper outdoor pillow. Be sure to visit the piping 101 post for added tips.

See, the piping makes the pillow pop and give it some structure.

Zipper

Time to get ready to install the zipper and I’m going to do this the same way I did it on the outdoor pillows. Visit the outdoor pillows for the zipper install and other tips and tricks.