Summer pillow wip - update

I thought I would share a status update on my summer pillow wip. In my last post about this project, I was trying to decide which trim to use for the pillow edges. My favorite trim is pom-pom trim and that is what I had planned to use. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find the perfect size. So I decided to use the pom-pom trim pictured below but as it turns out, I don't have enough of it to go around the pillow. I thought maybe yellow pom-pom trim would work but I couldn't find a good enough color match. Thank you to everyone for so many helpful comments on that previous post - Julia suggested using piping as a trim. I was really happy to find this white bias tape piping. In case you have never seen it, piping is a woven cord encased in fabric. It comes already stitched right next to the cord and then has about a 1/4" seam allowance with a raw edge for you to sew into your seam. I think it is going to look great! I have cut out the front and back pillow panels. They are approximately 14" in width by 12-1/2" in height. I took Wendy's suggestion and did a zig-zag stitch all around the edges of both the front and back pieces to stop all that fraying:
I pinned the piping all around the front panel. I pinned it in place on the right side of the front panel with the raw edges together:
I was a little nervous about sewing around the square edge of this panel and being able to make a smooth corner with the piping. I did a little research and came up with this great tip: right where you want it to turn a corner, snip the raw edge of the piping (carefully!) almost to the stitching. You can even cut out a triangle shaped piece of the seam allowance. Once it is cut, it can easily curve around the corner:
Then I stitched it in place. I actually changed the presser foot on my new sewing machine - I used the zipper foot! I moved my needle all the way to the left so that it could sew really close to the cord on the piping. Here is what the zipper foot looks like with the needle in the left position: I also wondered how to finish the piping when I had gone all around the panel. After searching around on the net, I saw several recommendations for this method. Before you have stitched the piping all the way around the panel and are almost back to the starting point, cut the piping a little longer than you need so that you have a bit of a piping overlap. With a seam ripper, take out little bit of the seam that you stitched where you started sewing the piping in place. Now you have two free ends of piping. Use the seam ripper to take out a little of the seam holding the cord in place on one end of the piping. Cut out a piece of the cord where it will overlap with the other end of the piping:
Fold under the raw edges of the piping end where you just cut the cord and slip it over the piping end where you first started stitching. Now you can sew it in place and have nice, smooth and finished piping! After I sewed all of the piping in place, I noticed that I hadn't stitched close enough to the cord in the piping...you can see in this picture where my yellow stitches are not close enough.
I have since stitched around the whole panel again, this time really close to the piping stitching. Now to the back panel of the pillow. I have transferred my patterns and am starting to stitch! I will keep you updated on my progress.