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Making a Jacket: Part III

comments (0) June 6th, 2008     

Now that my jacket construction is done, it's time to find the perfect trim to complete and pull together the garment. Trimming is a highly personal part of any garment. It takes a plain jacket, in this case, and turns it into a statement that reflects the wearer. I find that it's not unusual for me to spend more time and money on trims than I do on the garment itself. Just as this jacket has been an exercise in Slow Sewing, so has it been an exercise in Particular Trimming. I wanted something that was unusual and would not be easily identifiable. I also wanted something that I couldn't find back at home. I was on business in New York, so I decided to take some free time to visit three trimming stores: M&J Trims, Pacific Trims, and Ginsburg Trims. Jacket in hand, I went on the hunt.

All three stores are heaven for seamsters. M&J Trim, located at 1008 6th Avenue, is arguably the largest retail trim store in New York. It's packed to the 30-foot-high ceiling with just about any and every trim you could want. Pacific Trims, located at 313 West 37th Street, has a large assortment of handbag hardware, ribbon and chain trims, zippers, grommets, buckles, and just about anything else you need to complete your project. Both of these stores had some great possibilities, but nothing that really spoke to me. Finally, I walked into Ginsburg Trims, located at 242 West 38th Street. Earlier in the day, a designer friend said to me, "You need to trim that jacket with leather piping. That's what's hot right now." In Ginsburg's window was a display of all types of leather piping and trimming, perfect for my jacket.

Why Stop at One?
After spending time with one of the staff there, I'd found several choices. I narrowed it down to two finalists. One was a leather braided piping with both suede finish and metallic leather. The other was a 1/4-inch-wide ivory patent-leather strap. Both of them looked good with the jacket, but they looked even better together! I decided to take them both home and work some magic.

Here are some trim possibilities: Patent leather or braided piping? Or how about both?

Transition is Key
Once I got my trims home, I threw them on my jacket and let them sit there for a while. I'd look at them and think about how I wanted to apply them. I had already made the decision to pair them together, but I wasn't entirely satisfied with the way they looked laid bare on the jacket. I needed a transitional step to go from the tweed to the leather. I thought about possibilities, like a complimentary fabric or silk organza. After more thought, I decided the best transition was the fabric itself. I cut test strips of the fabric, each 1 1/4 inches wide. The first I cut on the bias, the second on the cross-grain, and the final on the lengthwise grain. I wanted to test how each one would look with a fringed edge. I quickly eliminated the bias and the cross-grain strips; neither produced the kind of result I was looking for. The lengthwise strip, though, was perfect. It fringed exactly the way I envisioned, and it integrated the colors in the leather with the fibers in the jacket.

I cut fabric strips on various grains to experiment with fringing options.

Go for the Layered Look
To make this trim my own, I decided to layer both trims on the backing fabric. The only other question I had was whether to center the leathers in the wool strip, or to attach them at the edge and treat it like piping. I made two small test pieces to see which I liked best.

Make test pieces to try out different types of trim before deciding.

posted in: jacket, trim