More Horsehair Braid Techniques

A commenter yesterday mentioned not being keen on the top-stitched effect of my horsehair braid technique. No problemo! Top stitching is just one of several ways you can secure horsehair braid to a hem. The way I show it in this tutorial, the horsehair is acting as a facing. It finishes the hem and then gets stitched down. This is a pretty casual technique, and appropriate mainly for informal garments.

However, if you don't want your hem to show, you'll need to make use of an underlining. Silk organza is a lovely choice for underlining a full skirt in a fabric with some body.

The horsehair can be attached with the same facing technique as above but catch stitched to the underlining only rather than top-stitched through all layers. This is the technique I used with my yellow dress, which was underlined in a bright yellow silk organza. (I blogged the underlining process here.)

Here's the inside:

And the outside! The horsehair hem is undetectable.

But wait! There are even more options. You can also completely enfold the horsehair into a hem, rather than using it as a facing. That's what I'm doing with the coat I'm working on. Susan Khalje had some great tips for this process. The coat is wool flannel, underlined in silk organza. First, I started by basting the two layers together at the hem so they wouldn't shift.

Basting stitches from the outside

Basting stitches on the inside

Next, you place the horsehair braid so that the bottom is right on the hemline. Tack the horsehair to the underlining only with a loose running stitch.

 Next, pull the cord in the horsehair so it matches the curve of your skirt.

Catch stitch the horsehair to the organza underlining only. Your stitches should be big and fairly loose so that they can move with the coat.

 Fold up the hem and hand stitch to the underlining.

One more possibility: if your pattern has a hem facing, you could also nestle the horsehair within the facing.

So many options!

I really like the horsehair that Steinlauf and Stoller stocks (here's the product page). I've noticed a big difference in quality from place to place, and their stuff is the good stuff. Nice and sturdy. You don't want any of that floppy braid! You have to call or e-mail them to place an order. But don't be shy; they're awesome. All their info is on the site.