Date: 11/4/09 0:00 AM

I am making a formal suit for myself and may have gotten in over my head...

There are oh so many questions since I have never attempted to make such a tailored piece of clothing and have never used fabric this expensive (real silk, eek!!).

I noticed the comments about not using fusable interfacing on satin and I was wondering about using it on silk.

The fabric I am using is loosely woven 100% silk bought here in Tokyo. Since it is fabric originally for Japanese haori, the store owner said he couldn't give me much info on sewing 'western' garments with it. Hard to describe this fabric: it has multiple threads (eight or so) woven selvage to selvage into an aida (cross-stitch fabric)-like foundation. Althought this foundation is black and the woven threads are (alternatingly) maroon and blue, it can be seen through when held up.

The pattern, Vogue 1037, calls for interfacing on the front bodice and side front pieces. I was also thinking of underlining all of the main garment pieces with black batiste because, although it has no horizontal and very little vertical stretch, it is very stretchy if pulled along the bias. I am also worried about stressing the silk at the seams since I have two young children (2 and 5 y.o.) who will be with me when I wear the suit.

Someone mentioned using a sewn-in silk organza interfacing for the satin. Should I be doing something like this? Should I then have underlining in addition to the sewn-in interfacing (ie. sewing three layers of fabric at once for the front bodice and front sides) or is this overkill?

I really debated between this fabric and two-toned silk shantung, but ended up choosing this one because it has such great body and was such a rare find.

Thanks in advance for any advice!




-- Edited on 11/9/09 0:09 AM --

Date: 11/4/09 0:21 AM

I underline loose woven silks with sewn-in organza and then line the garment with silk habotai (china silk)
Linda

Reply to emkayloves2sew
Date: 11/4/09 3:08 AM

I don't know if I'm too old school or not, but I can't imagine using a fusible interfacing on a really beautiful piece of silk.
Depending on how tailored you want it, I could see underlining the silk, adding some interfacing especially in front and lining it.

What Linda said makes total sense to me.

Quote:

I underline loose woven silks with sewn-in organza and then line the garment with silk habotai (china silk) Linda

silk organza is very light weight and really doesn't add thickness and will give strength to all the seams.

For a tailored jacket I would go with a woven interfacing, but not heavier than the silk fashion fabric. It could even be cut on the bias to make it a little less stiff. A traditional tailoring interfacing is generally called hymo and comes in a variety of weights and is generally made of wool and goat's hair. I'm not sure if this would be appropriate for a tailored silk jacket. The fabric store may have other choices of a woven sew-in interlining that would go well with your silk. Also if you don't want too much structure a woven cotton could work as well. Depending on interfacing, it may or may not go into the seam allowance. One of the beautiful things about using an underlining, if needed tacking can be done to it and not the outer fabric.

Here is a link from another PR thread I found showing good pictures of adding interfacing to a tailored jacket with traditional tailoring.
Paco Peralta tailoring method

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Martha

Date: 11/4/09 12:15 PM

I agree for a tailored jacket I would think sew-in interfacing is preferable. Not that I would know first-hand!

That being said, I took a Silk Experience at Houston Quilt Festival last month and learned about a product called Sheer Delight. We fused it to silk charmeuse for making wall hangings. Ginny Eckley, one of the instructors, sells it on her website Sheer Delight (NAYY) and said someone in bridal couture introduced her to it. I have no idea who makes it or where else it might be obtained. Note this is not the same stuff sold as Sheer D'light at thesewingplace.com. It's more like a really lightweight fusi-knit.

Our class projects started with charmeuse that we hand-dyed in a water-intensive process, so there was no issue of the colors reacting in any way odd to the steam-ironing we did to it to fuse the interfacing. It did work beautifully on our hand-dyed charmeuse, but of course I would test it on anything new I wanted to use it on.

Edited to take out hot-link to Ginny's site. It didn't work?
-- Edited on 11/4/09 12:16 PM --
Edited again to do the hot link correctly - senior moment!
-- Edited on 11/4/09 12:22 PM --

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Tess

I'm really a Fabric Collector. Sewing and Quilting are just excuses to collect more fabric...

Date: 11/4/09 1:22 PM

I don't know if this helps, but in the handweaving community (I'm a weaver) the recommended practice for treating handwovens is to fuse a very light fusible knit interfacing to the back of the fabric. This helps stabilize the fabric without affecting the "hand" too much. Handwoven fabric tends to be looser than regular fabric and if it is loosely woven even for handwoven fabric it probably does need stabilizing.

Test a swatch first, of course!

Date: 11/4/09 4:20 PM

A dissenting opinion on the suggestion to fuse the entire piece of fabric: Sewing With Handwovens

I'm familiar with the fabric you describe and concur that an underlining of silk organza is called for. I would also consider a pattern with lots of vertical seams (princess style, or at least a center back seam). With handwovens, the more vertical seams, the less potential for sagging.

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Stephanie Corina Goddard

Date: 11/4/09 4:46 PM

I guess I don't see what's dissenting about the article; it specifically mentions fusing the entire piece of fabric as one of the three options. Nonetheless, there are certainly alternatives to fusing, I didn't mean to suggest there weren't. I've used organza, too.

I'd recommend testing swatches before sewing up the entire garment, either way. Handwoven fabric is way too precious to ruin!

Date: 11/9/09 0:08 AM

Thanks everyone for your kind responses and ideas.

As suggested, I tested some fusible on a scrap of the fabric and it didn't work well so I decided to use underlining on all the pattern pieces and fuse the interfacing to the underlining for those where it is called for.

I went to the fabric store to buy some silk organza or charmeuse to use as underlining, but had trouble with the sticker shock--about USD30 per meter!! Since I needed 5 meters of each for the suit, after consulting with the salesperson, I decided on a fine silky polyester for the interfacing and Cupla (Bemberg?) for the lining. I will consider the silks once I feel more comfortable sewing this type of tailored outfit and when I have time to make it to the more reasonable fabric stores on the other side of town.

I found out a tip from the salesperson, who was very helpful and seemed knowledgable: To prevent the polyester from causing static, add a little fabric softener when pre-washing.

To Stephanie: I never thought about sagging, that's good to remember. Luckily the pattern has princess seams (front, side front, side back and back pattern pieces) and also has a center back seam.

Thanks again everyone! The suit is cut out and half-way sewn. I will try to update with a photo once its finished.

Date: 11/9/09 2:57 AM

Hi emkay, I'm in Japan too...but a lot closer to Nippori !

If you read Japanese, there are a couple of books you can get on Amazon about fusible and sew-on interfacings....I started sewing again fairly recently, and find that this area has changed so much since I started sewing decades ago that I can barely understand all the options.
This is the book I've got, on interfacings and linings.

If your fabric is dark, lightweight fusible knit (some are really gauzy thin, soft and flexible) might be OK, but with a light fabric, I've had the dots from solu-dot interfacing show through on the front after a few years.

So...you're aiming to sew something for graduation or entrance ceremony next Spring? Join the club! I'm thinking dress + jacket, found a beautiful length of handwoven silk/wool blend rainbow tweed in Nippori, but can I really justify the expense?
-- Edited on 11/9/09 3:00 AM --

Reply to Dotmoll
Date: 11/9/09 5:03 AM

Thanks Dotmoll!

I actually was stuck at Nippori for a few minutes this morning on the way to work and debated getting off the train (since the train mess had made me so late anyway!!) and doing a bit of shopping. Ha!

Thanks for the link. I will have to check it out.

Actually the suit is for 7-5-3 (children's celebration/blessing) and, if it survives, also for nursery school graduation/entrance to elementary school ceremony for my son, so good call on that one!!

BTW, I got the fabric at the silk shop in Nippori (turn left at the Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ bank and go down to the next light).