# Edging Design

An edging is a piece of fabric that is added to a garments edge for decorative purposes. This includes ruffles, flounces, bands etc.

Garment Designer offers a unique way of creating edgings for your garments. You have the option to control the following:

Edging Location - Choose from neckline, top/skirt hem, sleeve hem, and bottom hem. These options are located in the Extras menu, and when a choice is made a new Style menu appears with your options.

Edging Attach - This controls the amount of gather or fullness between the garment edge and the Edging. You will see a series of ratios as your menu options. The first number represents the length of the edging (at the join side). The second number represents the garment edge. Thus if you choose a 1:1 attach, the joining side of the edging will be the same length as the garment edge it is being attached to. If you choose 2:1, the joining side of the edging will be twice the length of the garment edge and you will need to gather or pleat the edging in place.

Edging Flare - This style menu controls how much 'flare you are adding between the join (inner) side and the outer side of the edging. Thus, if you choose a 1:1 ratio, your edging will be rectangular. If you choose a 2:1 ratio, the edging will flare and be more circular in shape. If you choose to add a lot of flare, Garment Designer may need to break your edging into smaller parts and you will need to stitch these together prior to attaching them to the garment. If this happens, you will see the number to 'cut' appear in red on the screen.

Seamed At - This style menu allows you to choose where to place a seam for your edging. You have the option to seam at the center of the garment or at the side. This does not mean you must have two seams. If you choose to lay the pattern on the fold, you will only need one seam. For example, if you only want a seam at the center back of your edging, choose the Center option in the 'Seamed At' style menu, and then lay the pattern on the fold (at what will be center front). Stitch the edging together at the center back.

Edging Width - This style menu controls your edging width. You may choose your desired width, ranging from 1/2" to 6". The width of your edging will affect how much arc you can have before a pattern piece is broken down into parts, as discussed in the Edging Flare section.

Edgings and WYSIWYG

Edgings behave in a WYSIWG manner (what you see is what you get). If you have a full front displayed, your front edging will draft for the entire piece. If you have a half front displayed, the edging will draft for the half, and if you want, you can lay it on the fold. Designer will always draft the front and back or center-to-center pieces separately (the mode depends upon your seaming choice in the Seamed At style menu). You can join the paper pattern pieces, if they can be joined without interfering with each other (as in the case of a fully arced piece).

Joining Edgings

Designer will mark the point of the center (if seamed at side option is selected) or the point of the shoulder (if seamed at center) option is chosen. Use these as a guide when attaching an edging to the main garment.

Special Consideration for Necklines Edgings

If you are planning to create a ruffle for a round-style neckline, you must consider the fact that the neckline is already circular and a ruffle made with the same flare ratio as used on a straight hem will not have the same effect. For example, using Candice's sloper, we measured the neckline curve of the standard round neck from center front to center back as 8-3/8". If you create an edging with a 1:5 flare ratio, the outer edge of this measures 12-1/2". How do you know if this is even large enough to surround the body in a flat mode?

The following is a little trick:

1 Assume you want a 2" edging.

2 Select the neckline and choose the Add Band option in the Additions menu, (used by knitters), and set the band width to be 2".

3 Input a gauge, (Options menu)

4 Create the Shaping Instructions (Generate menu). This will tell you what the neckline measures at the backed-off 2".

Our neckline measured 13-3/8". Therefore, a 1.5 flare ratio is not even enough to cover the area. Experimentation with the different flare ratios yielded the following results.

Neckline at neck edge 8-3/8"

Neckline at 2" 'in' 13-3/8"

1.5: 1 flare ratio 12-1/2"

2:1 flare ratio 16-5/8"

2.5 flare ratio 20-3/4"

3:1 flare ratio 25"

Thus, if you wanted approximately a true 1:5 flare ratio that allows for the neckline curve, you would choose the 2.5:1 ratio.