Claire's Sewing Room

During lockdown I invited the inspirational Mary Funt to talk to us about making custom trim for couture garments.

Mary has kindly agreed that I can include the video of her second presentation as part of the membership.

Mary has been writing her blog Cloning Couture since 2014 which explores the world of Couture Sewing.

After finding that the ready-made trim which is available to buy lacks the softness and quality found in couture garments Mary has developed several methods to enable you to create your own trim to match your fabric. 

Using different techniques such as crochet, weaving and beading you will be able to use your imagination to create beautiful original trim for your couture garments.

If you would like to make a sample along with Mary here is a list of materials that you can gather together beforehand.  Please Note: you will need a basic knowledge of crochet for some of the trims as this will not be taught during the presentation but there will be other trims as well.  You don't even have to Sew Along - you can just watch and get inspired to make your own trims

An assortment of yarns in colours that compliment your fabric. Chunky weight (suitable for 5-7 mm knitting needles) is used to crochet the base of the trim. If you want to make thin knitted cords using an I-Cord knitter fingering or lace weight yarn works best. Bulky/Super Chunky weight yarn makes a good filler to give I-cord and fabric tubes more volume.

Crochet hooks: Sizes US C (2.75mm), US D (3.25mm), US E (3.5mm) and US F (3.75mm). If you’re unfamiliar with crochet stitches, then a large hook such as a 6mm, and worsted yarn are good for practice. It’s easier to see the larger stitches and a non-textured yarn works better when learning. When you’re comfortable with making the crochet stitches, experiment with finer, textured yarns.

Device for knitting narrow tubing. Embellish Knitter or I-Cord knitter available on Amazon. The device comes with a clip-on weight. Additional weights such as large metal washers are helpful with some yarns.

Mary will demonstrate how to make narrow bias tubes of fabric and fill them with chunky yarn but for your sample, it will be easier to practice with yarn.

Mary will also demonstrate turning and filling fabric tubes with brass trim tubes. The tubes are a set of 8 graduated sizes of 12 inch long hollow brass tubes. They also help when inserting filler into the knitted cord. You will not need these for this presentation, they are available from Mary's shop

The pictures show examples of the trim you could make 

Let's have fun and make some custom trim :)