Thick rolled / corded hems for Fraggle clothes?

[Iscah]

Hi all,

I'm wondering how to go about adding piping cord to hems, to make the thick rolled edge on the Fraggles' clothing? (Specifically I'm experimenting with making Wembley's shirt, where the hem is visible from both sides as the collar folds over, so it needs to be neat on the inside too.)

I tried to look up instructions/tutorials but it seems that the "proper" way of using piping cord is to sew it into a separate piece of fabric and then attach it into the seam, which isn't what I need to do here.

I bought some twisted-cotton piping cord and I've done a test version - I just rolled it around and did a running stitch from the outside, which looks okay but it's rather lumpy around the corners and you can still see the bumpy spiral shape of the cord through the fabric. Is there a better way or do I just need to work on doing this more neatly?

 

[Slackbot]

I use regular ol' clothesline, roll the edge of the fabric around that, and sew it with small running stitches. When I've looked at the clothes on publicity pics, the stitching was visible around the edges, so I knew I didn't have to get too fancy.

I'd heard that people used airline tubing, and tried that. However, that stuff tends to have a shape of its own, and bent the clothing in weird ways. No good!

If you're seeing the shape of the cord through the fabric, you might be sewing the "roll" too tight around the cord. Do you have any photos of the problem areas?

 

[Iscah]

From the front:


and from the back:


This part is the front where the buttons attach (so the sharpest angle the cord has to go around). It's actually for my cosplay, not puppet building, but I figured it's the same technique either way!


What do you mean by clothesline? The stuff I am thinking of is thin plastic cable (about 3mm or 1/8 inch thick) that I couldn't see being useful even at puppet scale...

I know I've seen plastic 'hose' in the sewing shop before. Not sure what it's supposed to be for, but I might get some and experiment with it.