How do I attach a trim so the stitching does not show?

What you need

• Thread matched to the trim, not to the garment
• Fine pins or clips, and tacking thread
• A pressing cloth

Step by step

1. Step 1

   Press the trim first, and press it alone

   A trim comes off the piece with the curve of the roll still in it, and pinning that curve onto a straight edge builds a ripple that no amount of stitching takes out. Press it flat on its own, at the setting the trim will take rather than the one the garment wants, and let it cool before moving it.

2. Step 2

   Pin from the ends inwards

   Pin both ends first, then the middle, then halve each gap. Pinning progressively along the run pushes any slack ahead of it and delivers all of it to the far end, which is the classic way a border finishes 4 cm long on one side of a hem.

3. Step 3

   Tack before you machine

   Pins hold a trim across the seam, not along it, and the presser foot climbs a raised or beaded trim differently at every pin. A row of tacking takes a few minutes and is the difference between one pass and unpicking a metre of top-stitching.

4. Step 4

   Stitch both edges in the same direction

   Machine the first long edge, then return to the same end and machine the second edge in the same direction. Stitching back down the other side pulls the two layers against each other and the trim finishes twisted, most visibly at the corners.

5. Step 5

   Hide the stitches in the trim, not beside it

   Run the line inside the trim's own outer edge, where the texture breaks it up, rather than on the garment just outside it, where it reads as a hard line. On an openwork or crochet ground, matching the thread to the trim and slip-stitching by hand disappears entirely; a lace with a scalloped edge is stitched along the scallop, not straight across its points.

6. Step 6

   Fold the ends under

   Cut a centimetre or two long, turn the raw end under itself and stitch through the fold. A flush cut leaves a woven edge to unravel from the first wear, and on a metallic or a cut-pile trim the raw end is the part that catches on everything.

7. Step 7

   Turn corners with a mitre

   At a corner, fold the trim back on itself to form a mitre rather than easing it round — a woven or embroidered trim has no give across its width and will pleat instead. Press the fold, stitch the diagonal, and only then continue down the next edge.

Words used here

Selvedge

The bound edge that stops a woven trim fraying. A trim with two selvedges can be applied straight down; one cut from a wider cloth cannot.

Border

A wide trim meant to run along a hem, most often a saree hem. Width is the whole decision: too wide and the border wears the garment.

Crochet

Open work built from interlocking loops rather than a woven ground, so light passes through it. It eases around a curve but does not spring back, so cut a little long.

Repeat

The distance before a woven or embroidered pattern starts again. Buy the length plus one repeat when several pieces have to match, or each will begin at a different point in the pattern.