Making Trims

Thank you for all of your nice comments on my jacket-in-progress. You have encouraged me to do at least one more post on how it is going.

I’ve been working on some trims to add to the ones that I bought. This will be a bias trim cut from silk satin. The fabric is the kind of fabric meant for the lapels and trouser stripes on a mens’ tuxedo. I came across it a while ago for a good price at the mill, and it’s a fantastic fabric. Thick, stiff and pretty much indestructible. The silk floss that I’m using is very heavy, as is the needle I’m using to pull it through. This combo would leave huge holes in most normal fabric, but not this silk.

I measured the lengths I would need for this trim, and marked the bias strips on the fabric. You can see the white lines in the photo. I’m doing the embroidery before I cut the strips so I can have a larger surface to work on.

I’m working in two passes. The first pass is the orange silk motif, then I’m going through and adding the green beads. I found the embroidery motif in the book Elegant Stitches An Illustrated Stitch Guide and Source Book of Inspiration by Judith Baker Montano. I love this book. All of the projects in the photos have the cluttered Victorian vibe turned up to 11. It’s such a relief to see photos of embroidery samples that are in no way “modern” or “tasteful”. For a while, I was spending a lot of time on Pinterest, and I overdosed on the modern, tasteful look. Montano’s book was like a breath of fresh air.

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