Sheer and slinky fabrics make absolutely dreamy garments. From formal wear to summer garments to intimate apparel, these gorgeous fabrics such as chiffon, charmeuse, georgette, voile, organza, and others can be both a blessing and a curse. I refer, of course, to the challenges present in sewing on such delicate and slippery fabrics. But we will persevere! Below are some of the common challenges with sewing with delicate fabrics, and some tips for working around them!
The Problems of sewing with delicate fabrics:
- Fabric bunches and gathers along the seam as you sew
- The fabric sinks or gets pulled into the needle plate
- The delicate fabric snags or tears during the process of cutting and sewing
- It is hard to back stitch (starting and ending seams) on these types of fabrics
The Solutions for sewing with delicate fabrics:
- For cutting, use sharp, serrated scissors with a blunt tip (these scissors grip the fabric without snagging it). Layering a piece of tissue paper against the fabric will also help stabilize the scissors when cutting, as will a fabric stabilizing spray (but check the ingredients to make sure nothing will stain the delicate fabrics!).
- Keep your design as simple as possible: Try to choose flowey, simple patterns and avoid patterns with lots of darts and pieces. When cutting, try to minimize the number of pieces but cutting as much as possible from one piece of fabric (for example: if you have two mirrored pieces, fold the fabric in half and cut instead of cutting the two pieces individually).
- Be sure you are using a very sharp needle (#65 or 70). You will fare best if you use a brand new one for your project.
- Use a Teflon or walking foot to glide more easily over the fabric.
- Use shorter stiches (1.5 – 2 on your machine), which will leave less room for the fabric to be sucked down into the needle plate.
- Place a layer of tissue paper under the seam to stabilize it while sewing. When you are finished, simply tear the paper away from the seam!
- Place a narrow strip of lightweight, nonwoven fusible interface along the edge of the fabric. This serves the dual purpose of preventing fraying along the edge, while also giving you something a little more substantial to backstitch on to start and end your seam! Just be sure to use your lowest iron setting with no moisture to secure the interfacing!
- Alternatively, you can use a simple rolled hem to finish raw edges.
- Starting and finishing seams: Since backstitching is so tricky on sheer fabrics, try leaving enough thread at both ends to tie off by hand.
I hope this is helpful! Find us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter to let us know any special tricks you might have for working more easily with these gorgeous fabrics! As always, finish off your projects large and small with a beautiful, customized woven label. With these fabrics especially, a custom care label would be a worthy inclusion so that the new owner takes proper care of it!
