If you are working with trim, lace, piping, or similar decorations in Dressmaker, getting them to sit exactly where you want can be a little tricky. In this post, I will go through some of the things that helped me make trim work much easier.
The biggest thing I learned is that you should not try to place a huge length of trim all at once. Working with smaller sections and using pins gives you much more control, especially when you are working around curves, folds, cuffs, and other difficult parts of a dress.
So, if your trim keeps going wonky, clipping into the dress, or refusing to follow a curve properly, these tips should help you get cleaner results and make decorating your dresses much less frustrating.
Trim, Lace, and Piping Tips
Work With Small Lengths of Trim
Trim works much better when you place it in small lengths instead of trying to cover a large section all at once.
For example, place a few inches or centimeters of trim, then click to create a pin. After that, continue working along the dress.
The nice thing is that you don’t have to keep clicking to start the trim again. Once you have placed your first section, you can continue adding more.
Using multiple pins is especially helpful when you are working around curves and folds because the pins give the trim more points to follow.
How to Adjust or Delete Trim
If you want to change, delete, or adjust part of your trim, look for the red pins.
You can hover over the pins at the ends or in the middle of the trim. The game will highlight the section you are selecting in yellow.
Once the correct section is highlighted, click it and you can start working on that part.
This is much easier than trying to remove the entire piece of trim just because one small section isn’t positioned correctly.
Cuffs Can Be Tricky
Cuffs are one of the more difficult areas to decorate with trim.
What worked best for me was zooming in really close and rotating the camera as I worked around the cuff.
You want to be able to see the back and sides of the cuff as you place the trim. The process is basically the same as putting trim around the rest of the dress, but everything is much smaller and tighter.
Taking your time here makes a big difference.
Rotate and Zoom the Camera
You can rotate the camera while working by holding down your mouse scroll button.
You can also zoom in using the Z key or by using your mouse scroll button.
Being able to move the camera around is especially important when placing trim on areas that you can’t easily see from the front.
If you suddenly can’t rotate your dress anymore, there is a simple fix that worked for me: exit from the mannequin and go back to the shop, then return to the mannequin.
Fix Upside-Down Trim
Sometimes your trim may end up facing the wrong direction.
If your trim is upside down, try dragging it in the opposite direction.
For example, if you were dragging it toward the right, try dragging it toward the left instead. This can make the trim follow the opposite direction.
Stop Trim From Clipping
If your trim is clipping into the dress too much, try using the adjustment buttons to tilt the trim slightly upward.
A small adjustment can sometimes make a big difference and stop the trim from cutting through the fabric.
Raising or Lowering Trim
At the moment, I haven’t been able to find a reliable way to raise or lower the trim itself, such as making it sit deeper inside the dress or higher above the fabric.
This could potentially be changed or fixed in a future update, so it is something worth keeping an eye on.
Remove Parts of the Dress While Decorating
If you are trying to add detailed trim and something like the sleeves is getting in your way, simply take that part off.
You don’t have to keep every part of the dress attached while you are decorating.
Removing sleeves or other pieces temporarily can give you a much clearer view and make it easier to place small details exactly where you want them.
Fix Trim That Goes Wonky
Sometimes your trim will suddenly start behaving strangely or stop following the shape of the dress properly.
When that happens, don’t keep fighting with the same section.
Instead, go back to the point where the trim still looks good, place another pin, and continue from there.
There was probably a fold or curve that the trim was struggling to follow.
Think of it a little like working with real fabric. The trim can’t magically handle every change in direction, so adding a pin gives it another point to follow and helps it deal with the curve ahead.
Trim Is Sewn Automatically
One useful thing to remember is that trim is automatically sewn onto the dress when you finish the dress.
You don’t need to manually sew the trim yourself.
If you want to check how the finished trim will look without all the pins showing, click back over to the fabric tab.
This gives you a better idea of what the final dress will look like once everything is finished.
Working with trim in Dressmaker becomes much easier once you stop trying to place everything in one long section. I recommend using small lengths, adding pins around curves, and constantly rotating and zooming the camera so you can see exactly what you are doing.
If something goes wrong, don’t be afraid to remove a sleeve, go back to a section that was working correctly, or add another pin. Most of the problems with trim can be fixed with a little patience and better positioning.
Once you get used to these controls, you can start adding much more detailed trim, lace, piping, and other decorations to your dresses without fighting the system every step of the way.