Sewing with Embellishments: Exploring a New Frontier

I wanted to thank you Guys for all of the nice compliments on my "Greek Goddess dress" reviewed in the last post. I think I made a good choice to use ribbon to embellish the dress in my last post.  I believe it was the trim that made my dress, because without it it was just a BORING white dress. Trust me it really was. But believe me before I came to that idea I had to take a quick and unsettling journey into the world of embellishments and trust me, I was holding my breath most of the way. From trims, to ribbons, to beads, to jewels............there's a whole world of embellishments out there.  

Originally I was looking for some jewels or stones I could add to the dress. This idea came from the pattern envelope. You can see it here.

The use of jewels seemed like a good option right? So I looked for stones and I was terrified at what I found. Now I'm sure if I had more time to look or even explored the World Wide Web I would have found some better options. But all I found at my local Jo-Ann's, Michaels, & Hancock's were acrylic jewels. Since my dress was white I wanted clear one's and the one's I found ABSOLUTELY screamed cheap. Immediately I knew I couldn't go the acrylic jewels route.

That's when I began checking out the ribbon and trims. I must have went through a few hundred before settling on the one I picked, and even then I wasn't completely sure it would work. I'm not very comfortable with the idea of using trims in my work. When I'm making my daughter's clothes I absolutely love to use trims, ribbons, bows, rick rack, etc. but never usually with my own. I tend to refrain from using trims and such for fear of taking my garment from gorgeous to gawdy.  I think it's a fine line between the two as far as embellishments are concerned---at least in my World.  Plus I'm a huge fan of printed fabric (particularly knits) and prefer to WOW my garments through the use of interesting fabric prints and/or really pretty jewelry. But I know with the right embellishment choices you can really beautify a garment. There are two types of embellishments that I'm very fond of that I don't use as often as I would like. They are fabric flowers and beads.  I have this book which has alot of great ways to make and use fabric flowers.

I have a beading book but can't think of it's name at the moment. I love beading but again rarely have a reason to use it and don't usually have the time it demands. I beaded a dress for a client a few years back and the small space of beading on the midriff of the dress took me 12 hours. It was crazy and alot of work!!! But ooooohhh so relaxing. I loved hand sewing the beads on. I love hand sewing:)

Now although I rarely use embellishments (especially for sewing for myself) I would like to change this. I'm interested in seeing what's out there. I have to rid myself of the notion that if I add trim to my clothes they'll all look cheap. Now I know I won't use embellishments in everything I sew---that's just not my astetic. But I feel more open to the notion now.  I'm currently on vacation and am making my rounds exploring fabric shops here in the Tampa, FL area.  I'll be keeping an eye out for some embellishments that I can add to my embellishment bin and possibly incorporate into a future project or two. My last project definitely warmed me up to the notion of using more embellishments.  So instead of going into the fabric store and only looking at fabrics, I'll be sure to check out the cute buttons, ribbons, trim, lace, etc. It's time I let my creative juices flow a little more.

How about you, do you normally incorporate embellishments into your projects? If so, where do you get them from? Anyone know of any great online sites? I'll do some searching and let you know what I find.