I recently found this embroidered cushion cover at a flea market. I bought it because I liked the edge trim around the outside of the piece, and wanted to figure out how to reproduce it. 

Follow along for the results!

 

Here's a detail of the edge, from the front.

 

And this is the reverse. As you can see, it looks similar, front and back.

 

As I've done in the past, I'm using the unit of "ribbon width" in this lesson. With this unit of measurment, the trim can be scaled up or down, to any size. I'll also use numbers here, so you can see how the "ribbon width" proportions work.

This strip is cut on the straight grain, 1 ribbon width (4-inches) wide. Since this trim begins with knife pleats, I marked the crease lines onto the strip.  You can see that these lines alternate, 1/4 ribbon width (or 1-inch), and 1/2 ribbon width (2-inches) apart.

 

Press the knife pleats into position, as shown. The distance between the leading edges of the pleats is 1/4 ribbon width (or 1-inch).

 

Machine baste 1/4-inch from one of the edges to hold the pleats in place.

 

Next, along the opposite edge, fold the pleats in the opposite direction, matching the leading edge to the back of the previous pleat. Pin.

 

This is the work pinned, ready for sewing. Machine sew the opposite edge.

 

This is what the front of the work looks like when both edges are sewn.

 

Turn the work over–this is the work's wrong side. You can see that the strip wants to shift, indicated by the arrows in the photo. This is normal, and we'll make use of this shift in the next step.

Matching:

We're still looking at the wrong side of the work.

I've put a double-ended arrow on one of the pleats on the left side of the strip, and another on the right. Look carefully–follow the first marked pleat from the left across to the right edge. Notice, that the double-ended arrow on the right edge is two pleats up. This is important.

Match the left edge double-ended arrow to the right edge double-ended arrow. This gives the twist needed to get the pleats to fall correctly on the right side.

 

Pin those two pleats together. Fold the rest of the strip in half lengthwise, back sides together.

 

Match the cut edges all along the strip length, matching the pleats as shown. Since you initiated the twist when you offset and pinned the first pleats, everything else falls in place. You see the right side of the work now–the wrong side is hidden inside the fold.

 

After pinning, machine baste the edges again to secure.

 

Now, just fluff and style the pleats so they all lie correctly. The easy way to do this is to put your finger inside the folds, and smooth with your thumb.

 

Here's one side of the finished work.

 

Here's the opposite side of the work. They both look the same.

 

And here's what the edge lo

 

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