I love this way of finishing necklines and sleeves and they are easy to do as well.

1. Get the pattern ready, mine is a crossover modified otto top.


2. place picot edge elastic and fabric panel, right side together aligining them at the edge. then VERY SLIGHTLY stretching the elastic, serge/sew the picot edge elastic to the fabric.


3. this is the stitching close up, you want to get as close as possible to the top edge (the deco trim part).


4. flip it to the wrong side, topstitch, steam/iron and you are done.


5. for sleeve edges, this is a matter of preference. i like finishing edges this way aka sewing binding to form a tube because uneven edges/seam is one of my pet peeves and i can eliminate it this way. i cut the picot edge and sew it to form a tube. then repeat 2 - 4 above.
**the easier way to do this especially on sleeves edges that are too small is to sew the picot edge on the sleeve edge, flip and topstitch, then sew the sleeve seam shut. but this way is just my preference.



6. this pic shows the sleeve seam and how there is no uneven seam on the picot edge.


7. same method of applying sleeve picot edging can be applied to sewing picot edging neckline as shown here.


thanks! and hope this helps someone.