Trim or trimming in clothing and home decorating is applied ornament, such as gimp, passementerie, ribbon, ruffles, or, as a verb, to apply such ornament.
Before the industrial revolution, all trim was made and applied by hand, thus making heavily trimmed furnishings and garments expensive and high-status. Machine-woven trims and sewing machines put these dense trimmings within the reach of even modest dressmakers and home sewers, and an abundance of trimming is a characteristic of mid-Victorian fashion[1] . As a predictable reaction, high fashion came to emphasize exquisiteness of cut and construction over denseness of trimming, and applied trim became a signifier of mass-produced clothing by the 1930s[2]. The iconic braid and gold button trim of the Chanel suit are a notable survival of trim in high fashion. In home decorating, the 1980s and 1990s saw a fashion for dense, elaborately layered trimmings on upholstered furniture and drapery. Today, most trimmings are commercially manufactured. Scalamandré is known for elaborate trim for home furnishings, and Wrights is a leading manufacturer of trim for home sewing and crafts. Types of trimming include:
- Bias tape
- Braid
- Buttons
- Cord
- Embroidery by hand or machine
- Gimp
- Lace edgings or insertions
- Passementerie
- Piping
- Ribbon
- Rick-rack
- Ruffles or frills
- Tassels
See also sewing, tailoring, heirloom sewing.
Notes
- ^ See Jane Tozer and Sarah Levitt, Fabric of Society: A Century of People and their Clothes 1770-1870
- ^ See Elizabeth Hawes, Fashion is Spinach, 1938
References
- Hawes, Elizabeth Fashion is Spinach, Random House, 1938
- Tozer, Jane and Sarah Levitt, Fabric of Society: A Century of People and their Clothes 1770-1870, Laura Ashley Press, ISBN 0-9508-9130-4
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| Techniques: | Basting · Cut · Darning · Dressmaker · Embellishment · Gather · Heirloom sewing · Pleat · Ruffle · Style line · Tailor |
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| Stitches: | Backstitch · Blanket · Buttonhole · Chain stitch · Cross-stitch · Embroidery stitch · Lockstitch · Overlock · Running · Sashiko · Tack | |
| Seams: | Bound · Hong Kong · Inseam · Seam allowance · Seam types | |
| Notions: | Bias tape · Interfacing · Passementerie · Pattern · Simplicity · Trim · Twill tape | |
| Closures: | Button · Buttonhole · Frog · Shank · Snap · Velcro · Zipper | |
| Materials: | Bias · Yarn/Thread · Selvage · Textiles/Fabric | |
| Tools: | Bobbin · Pin · Pincushion · Pinking shears · Scissors · Seam ripper · Sewing needle · Stitching awl · Tape measure · Thimble · Tracing paper · Tracing wheel · Upholstery needle | |
| Sewing machines and parts: | Feed dogs · Sewing machine · Needle guard · Pfaff · Singer · Tapemaster | |
