Elegant Fabric Embellishments for Clothing

To me, spring and summer clothes should be light, airy and simple.  But when the weather gets cooler I want to bring out the more embellished, constructed and interesting clothing!

There are lots of commercial options for pre-made clothing embellishments out there.  You can find everything from fabric roses, elaborate braided trims and beaded fringes.  If you’d like to try making your own clothing embellishments, but aren’t quite sure how to start, I’ve got a few options for you.

image: Threads Magazine

Threads Magazine has a great how-to for making a faux fabric bows, using bias-cut fabric.   The trim gives the illusion of a row of fabric bows, when it’s actually a continuous strip of trim.

image: CraftStylish

Beaded fringe is a fun way to add instant drama to different sewing projects.  CraftStylish has a unique tutorial to create this gridded fringe, shown above.

iShimmy also has some different ideas for making your own beaded fringe as well.  I’ve sewn my own beaded fringe and highly recommend using a good-quality beading thread.  This is not the time to cheap out!  Ask at your local beading shop if you’re not sure what to use.

I’ve shared this link on how to ruche before, but it’s such a good one that I have to share again

Here’s one of my tutorials for creating flowers using mesh fabric, yarn and buttons.  Part one and part two.