First of all, I feel that a little shout out is necessary. The largest sewing store in my town closed down recently, and a new place has opened up. Dave bought out another sewing business, and has moved the stock to Mareeba to set up shop here. The reason this is relevant to this post is that he has SO. MANY. TRIMS. It is actually ridiculous how much he has. However, seeing all the possibilities has really inspired me, so here’s a big thanks to Dave at Cairns Haberdashery, Fabric and Trims.

This post is going to look at adding trims to the hems of things. I am going to demonstrate on skirts because it is easy.

Up first, are pom pom trims. Like rick rack, these used to confuse me. But after taking the plunge and using them, I think they are actually quite fun. There are two ways you can apply pom poms. You can sew them to the outside of the hem, or sew them to the inside.

When I sew the pom poms to the outside of the hem, I finish sewing the hem completely before adding the trim. The technique is fairly straight-forward, so I am going to show the steps involved with the inside technique only. Unlike the trims in the previous tutorial, I add the pom poms after sewing the back seam. Then I press up a small hem, and make sure it is ironed really well.

Next I lay the pom poms over the inside of the hem. Make sure that it lays low enough that the pom poms will jiggle freely from the bottom of the skirt. Now, as the hem is not yet sewn down, I pin the pom poms in place. I haven’t shown the point at which the ends overlap, but I just lay about 0.5-1.0cm of one end over the top of the other and just cut off the excess.

When you sew the pom poms to the skirt, you will be sewing on the outside of the fabric. I use either a straight stitch or a zigzag here. Remember that you are finishing off the hem at the same time.

When I reach the overlap of the two ends, I backstitch a little to make sure that it is really secure.

And this is literally all there is to it. Below is the finished skirt. Below that, is a little pair of shorts that I added pom pom trim to. It is really difficult to see, but the trim was sewn to the outside of the shorts. If you match your colours well, then sewing the pom poms to the outside is a fast and easy way to go.

My next demonstration uses lace to edge some skirts. You can achieve a variety of effects doing this. There are also different ways to do it.  Sometimes lace trim comes with a finished edge. That is, the lace is on one edge, and the other edge is finished in such a way that it won’t fray. If the edge of your lace isn’t finished, you may have to finish it yourself. I use my overlocker. On the skirt below, I have placed the lace and the fabric hem right sides together, matching the edges. It is quite a wide lace, and happens to be slightly gathered.

 

Next I used my overlocker to sew them together. You could easily just use your sewing machine, but you need to remember that the edges will need finishing. Next I open the lace out and press the seam. To make it sit flat and look tidy, I then topstitch the lace to the seam allowance behind it.

Next is to finish the skirt. The edges of the lace will be finished in the back seam of the skirt. You obviously won’t need to hem it. Here below are two more skirts that I have added lace to. One skirt had the lace sewn to the wrong side of the hem, much like the pom poms on the skirt above. As for the other skirt, I added the lace to the hem of the lining.

Points to remember:

• Think about whether the trim is sewn separate to the hem, or whether it will form a part of the hem.
• Think about whether the trim needs one of its edges finished prior to sewing it on.
• See this Oliver + S tutorial for a method to add ribbon to the bottom of your skirts!