Sunset Cami: Lace Trim Hack

Last week I showed you my version of the Bali Blouse by New Horizons- but that was only half of the package! The Bali Blouse also includes a pattern for sweet little camisole called the Sunset Cami, to keep you covered under the open back of the Bali. Since I closed up the back of my Bali Blouse (see my hack here), I didn’t need a cami underneath, but I thought it would make a great stand-alone piece in my wardrobe!

Of course, I had to hack it a bit, and include a stretch lace trim I picked up from Knitpop a while back. These stretch laces are quite popular in the sewing shops right now, but, like many things, I tend to buy them because they’re pretty, without any real plan of how I’m going to use them! When my scrap pack from Pretty Posh Prints arrived with this lovely wine colored double brushed poly, the trim immediately came to mind, and I came up with a plan.

Well, sort of a plan. The kind that I take pictures of as I go, hoping it will morph into a coherent tutorial, but don’t tell anybody about, in case it’s a total fail. Fortunately, it came out well enough for me to share with you, if you have some extra lace trim laying around! (and psst…knitpop is having a 50% off sale right now- code was sent in their newsletter, so if you don’t have any- you can grab it for a great price! #fabricenabler)

Want to make your own lacey Sunset Cami?

Grab your pattern, some stretch lace trim and let’s go!

To start, I cut the front of the cami into a more V neck shape, using my rotary cutters  at a diagonal to make a sharper point. I also cut my lace strips at a matching angle, and sewed them right sides together to make a “V”, just as you would if you were making a V neck t-shirt.

I positioned my lace on top of my cami, with both the right sides of the cami and the right sides of my lace facing up. I overlapped them by about 1/2″, with the scalloped edge of the lace hanging over the top of the cami. I secured the two together with washaway wonder tape, then stitched down. I used a simple straight stitch here.

I did the same with the back, but overlapped it more, as a matter of personal preference. I wanted to be able to see some skin peeking out from the lace on the front, but didn’t want this effect on the back. I used two lines of stitching, one along the top and one along the bottom for the back, since it was sitting on top of the main fabric more, and I didn’t want it to flip up.

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Once the lace was attached to the main fabric, I began attaching my binding. If you haven’t ever sewn double fold binding beofre, you can check out my video HERE. I used a different pattern and fabric in the video, but the method is the same. Note: The straps for the sunset cami are NOT cut on the bias. Follow the technique in the video for folding and sewing your straps, and cut according to the pattern.

I was careful to keep the lace even on both sides- it helps to measure the binding and attach the lace at the same point on both the left and right, so it doesn’t stretch out.

Once the binding is sewn onto the armholes of the front and back pieces, fold it over and enclose the raw edges of the lace as you sew it closed. I found washaway wonder tape (my sewing BFF) to be very helpful here!

That’s it! Continuing sewing your cami as instructed in the pattern, and enjoy your new lacey top!

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. They in no way compensate me fully for the extraordinary amount of time I spend sewing, but I do that because I love it, not to make money! Anything I do earn from these links is much appreciated, and goes into my fabric/pattern fund! Thank you!

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2 Comments

  1. Abigail on June 30, 2017 at 11:27 am

    I love this! LOVE! The fabric and colours! LOVE!

  2. Applique Bikini Hack! – Sewing with Sarah on July 8, 2017 at 11:46 am

    […] applique was sewn in much the same way as my Sunset Cami Lace/binding tutorial (see that here), so if there aren’t enough photos/explanation below, I encourage you to check out that […]

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