“A collection is a visual narrative of sorts. It is a way a designer is able to tell a story. This story is a tale of trims, and the details that create the ambiance in a room. Every chair needs the perfect trim, the right curtain needs enhancing and so on. Select, select, select. As designers, that is what we do. Get inspired, listen to the story unfold and allow yourself to be guided by it. Let the colors, the patterns, the textures speak – create your own fantasy. Here are some ideas to get you started, and there will always be more. Try something new… WHY NOT?”
“Piping or cord is one of the simplest trimmings and serves to outline and emphasize the overall shape of the piece. By using contrasting piping or cord you can further emphasize the configuration of your chair” or headboard.
Southampton Showhouse
Tassels, large or small, add flair to strategic points of upholstery, cushions, and bolsters, serving no other function than to decorate and entertain.
The Kips Bay Designer Showhouse
Why not wrap a cord necklace around the corner of your dressing table?
Or put two frogs on the face of a pillow that give the suggestion of a great silk evening jacket?
The French Designer Showhouse
A billiard room with all the details one might expect in a proper gentlemen’s club
In a library, cascading bullion fringe enhances the swag and jabot on the curtains. “Fringe can be simple, or ornately tasseled and made from a wide variety of fibers, multiple lengths and woven headings.”
Knotted ropes in the corners of pillows, tape trim on the edge of a chair secured with nail heads. A textured tape outlining an Italian chair where buttons are replaced by crosses of fabric, and a pinked leather trim with nailheads.
A serene city bedroom
“Gimps are flat woven trims, and braids are tightly woven flat bands that can also be used for accentuation of shape” and provide a soft contrast transition between upholstery and wooden frames.
Why Not?!
Why not take a fragment of leather and cover the arm of a chair?
Pearls… A girl can’t have enough…
Why not take a pair of tiebacks and embellish them with beads and medallions?
Why not build your scheme around your trim; a Fortuny tassel combined with double oak leaves intended for jewelry, an embroidered band removed from a Chinese robe, and gold metallic acorns found in a Paris market.
Why not use two rows of tape on a seat cushion and connect them with cord?
More is more. Velvet crisscrossed with open weave passementerie, leopard with a simple knotted cord and fragments of Chinese embroidery picture framed on a bolster and a square pillow.
Clockwise from Left: A loop trim sewn in the seam; A wide ribbon tape that looks like petit point, but its not; Glass bead trim in the seam of a curtain panel reflect the snow outdoors; And antique tiebacks found in England find a home years later on a bed in Aspen.
The same cascading bullion fringe gives a relaxed ambiance in a guest bedroom.
When selecting a fabric with a border, trim the selvage and apply accordingly; down the leading edge of a curtain and on the bottom of the valance.
Scrolling tape on the edge of a bed curtain…
In a living room tassel tiebacks on the main curtain and an open work braid on the inner curtain…
Fabricut, frogs, fringe, and more…
In my second collection for Fabricut fabrics, we have introduced a whole new collection of versatile trims; embroidered and woven tapes, narrow and wide, frogs, fringe and more.
From the first collection…
How will you use your trim?
Photographs from A Flair for Living, Charlotte Moss Decorates, Winter House and Design Inspirations.
