Sewing With Silk Chiffon

How to Sew Silk Chiffon

  Silk chiffon works best for loose tops, flowing dresses and pants. Make sure that you are in control when you work with silk chiffon. This fabric is sometimes hard to handle.  

Pre-shrinking the Fabric

Pre-shrinking is not necessary when you work with silk chiffon. When sewing with this fabric, hold onto top and bobbin threads when you begin sewing to prevent it from pulling down into bobbin. Let fabric feed in naturally.  

Washing Silk Chiffon

Completed garment can be dry-cleaned.   Fabric Tips and Tricks

• When choosing the thread, use silk or polyester thread.
• Press with a dry iron on silk setting. Make sure iron is clean. Steam can cause water spots if your steam iron leaks.
• Test your stitch length on scraps of your fashion fabric cut at the same angle as the seams you will be doing.
• With some fabrics, and especially with fully bias-cut garments, it is best to use a very tiny zig-zag stitch to sew your seams.
• Use directional sewing:  sew from the hem, up to the waist.  If you sew down a seam you sew into the grainline, and stretch it.  If you are using French seams, be sure to use directional sewing for both seams.
• Carefully guide your fabric through the machine.  Make sure not to stretch it as you sew.
• Use French seams on lightweight silk garments.  This help stabilize the seams, and helps keep them from warping.

OTHER REFERENCES

Sewmentalmama: Sewing with chiffon sewmentalmama.blogspot.com9/9/12 This was my second time sewing with silk chiffon and I was surprised at how much more confident I was. ... The dress is also lined in silk, which I sewed separately to the chiffon, then joined at the armholes, neckline and zip. Sewing With Silk Chiffon | Power Sewing www.powersewing.com4/30/11 Silk Chiffon has a mind of its own. Do not attempt to work on this fabric when you are under time pressure. You and the fabric will end up in a standoff!

Sewing Tips: Silk Chiffon Fabric

Fabric Tips: Sew on Bias of a Silk Chiffon

Sewing can be a bit tricky and hard especially for thin and lightweight fabrics. Even the best seamtress would become crazy if these fabrics are not prepared properly. Here are some tricks to sew on the bias of the grain, either with a bias cut garment, or with a skirt cut with multiple A-line panels, especially for silk chiffon fabric.

Cutting Silk Chiffon Fabric

1. Make sure that you have enough work space to work your fabric. Make sure that your space is big enough so that you won’t have to move it to cut out all your pieces.
2. Lay your fabric piece over tissue paper to cut then cut the fabric and the tissue as one. This helps keep your fabric from shifting and warping as you cut it, and means you will know exactly what size the piece should be.
3. Use fabric weights to keep your fabric in place and prevent it from moving.
4. Cut each fabric individually.
5. Use serrated scissors or a rotary cutter to cut your fabric. These cut without as much slipping.

Preparing the Fabric

Pin and Baste. Use fine silk pins. While basting can be time consuming, it saves you from having to redo.  

Continue SEWING SILK CHIFFON...

 

What is Silk Chiffon?

Definition: Silk Chiffon

Silk Chiffon fabric is a very lightweight, sheer, flat-crepe textured silk with a dull, soft finish. Often seen in overlays for evening gowns. Excellent for shawls or scarves where a floaty look is desired.

Image via Flickr

Because this fabric is lightweight, it is necessary that a layer of tissue paper is applied when sewing two pieces together. This will keep the fabric together and in place. After sewing, the tissue paper can be easily removed. As a general rule, sewers should work slowly and steadily with this fabric, taking care not to run it through a sewing machine too quickly or it will bunch and gather.

Sewing Silk Chiffon for Pants

When sewing silk chiffon for pants, the garment should be one-third to on half larger than your hip measurement and one quarter to one third larger than your bust measurement. If your hips are 40 inches, full pants need to measure 53-60 inches. for a 36-inch bust, the garment should measure 44 to 48 inches. When sewing with this fabric, hold onto top and bobbin threads when you begin sewing to prevent it from pulling down into bobbin. Let fabric feed in naturally.  

Sew with Poplin

How to Sew Poplin Fabric

Poplin is one of the most versatile fabric you can play with. It can be made from cotton or polyester and while it is thin, it is very durable. This gives you the freedom to do almost anything that you want from it.

Being wrinkle-free, it has high demands for uniforms, outdoor uses and even as table skirt! Poplin fabric is easy to sew because you do not need any special thread or needle to do the job.  

 1. Lay your fabric flat on the table. Smooth out the fabric and get rid of any wrinkles. 2. Pin your pattern pieces to poplin fabric. It would be easy to do so since it will not slide around. 3. Follow your pattern's directions for sewing your garment.  Iron any seams according to the pattern's directions. 4. Try on your garment. Make any adjustments to the fit as necessary. Poplin looks best when tailored well with crisp, clean lines.  

Other References on How to Sew Poplin

Spoonflower blog - Fabric Project Ideas http://blog.spoonflower.com/Sep 24 Layer the poplin, backing, and batting together in one "sandwich" in this order: Batting on the bottom, then backing with right side facing up, then poplin with right side facing down. I used 2 yards of Spoonflower cotton poplin printed with my daughter's choice of Heidi Kenney's Bunny Bunch design. Gertie's New Blog for Better Sewing - Pink Floral Wiggle Dress http://www.blogforbettersewing.com/May 29 First, it's made from this really lovely pink floral cotton poplin, marked Ascher Studio in the selvage (just like this other floral dress I made). I just sewed two pieces of fabric into a rectangle, leaving a space to turn them right sides out. Then, I closed up the hole by hand sewing.

How to skirt a table using poplin

  For best table skirting, you need to prepare poplin fabric, table skirt clips, and table topper. Here is how to do it:

Steps how to do table skirting

1. Empty the table with anything and place your table topper.
2. Put the clips over the edge and topper. Place one foot in between clips.
3. Attach your skirt to the first clip. If you have a plain poplin fabric, you need to use a different clipper like thumbtacks or pushpin. Slowly work your way around the table and attach the skirting to the remaining clips.

 

Video References on Table Skirting

How To Skirt a Table. This video will show you how to skirt a table with a tablecloth if you do not have a table skirt How to Make a Table Skirt for Decorative Tables Worry-Free Decorator Tables Here: www.readytocover.com Proudly Made in the USA Learn how to make your own table skirt with this 10 minute instructional video from a 22 year master seamstress. Features ReadyToCover.com decorator tables Blissful Events and Weddings: Special tiered table skirt ourblissevents.blogspot.com9/17/12 Special tiered table skirt. So excited, had my auntie sew this table cover for us, it was a success!! Love it, so girly & fun. Used it for a baby shower, mom to be is having a baby girl of course! Posted by ourblissevents at 4:36 PM ...

Polyester Poplin Fabric Characteristic

Poplin Characteristics

The 100% polyester poplin is an extremely functional material. It features a bit rigid drape and horizontal ribbing. This fabric is easy to iron as well as wrinkle-resistant.

Image via Flickr

The ribbed surface makes poplin heavy and durable. The term poplin originates from papeline, a fabric made at Avignon, France, in the 15th century. Because of the fabric characteristics, it is often used in medical and professional uniforms, for pants, shirts, pajamas, sportswear, upholstery and other home decor.  

Poplin Fabric Care

To care for poplin fabric, machine wash in warm water, tumble dry on a medium setting, then remove promptly.  

Other Useful References About Poplin

Dressed Up & Down featuring Townsend Smith - Shorts - TheStyleBlogger http://www.thestyleblogger.com/

Again sticking to lightweight fabrics here with a linen herringbone jacket, unlined chambray shorts, gingham poplin shirt and silk knit tie. Fabric swatches are great because you can hand pick from endless colors and patterns and they are free from just about any fabric shop. Pocket Square is a sample Fabric Swatch.

  FairyFace Designs - Little Apples Stained baby quilt http://fairyfacedesigns.blogspot.com/ The other thing I learned when making this quilt was not to use lightweight cotton/poplin for sashing. The yellow is much lighter than the Little Apples fabric, and this did cause me some problems piecing the blocks together, and particularly when basting, it stretched like mad in the strangest of places.

What is Poplin?

Definition: Poplin

Poplin is a textured polyester and is medium weight and FR NFPA 701 (Fire Retardant). It has several uses such as banners, table and chair covering, table skirting, choir, graduation and judicial robes, lighting projection, party, event exhibits, backdrop, ceiling and wall drops as well as curtains or draperies.

Image via Flickr

Traditionally, poplin fabric consists of silk warp with a weft of worsted yarn. Today, there are several varieties that can be found such as those made with wool, cotton, silk, rayon, or any mixture of these, though originally made from silk. Shirts made from this material are easy to iron and do not wrinkle easily.

Other Useful Readings About Poplin

Poplin half Cullen Mirren strapless dress, in a summer party or in hot ...
  hardmoneyu.com
9/12/12
 Women as its main design clothing wholesale dress, throughout history. Classical style more than the popular clothes, because historically, women wear clothes nearly all of the time. karen millen online Although women may ...

  Preppy Red Poplin Shorts (and a dash of #fail) « Miss Celie's Pants
  missceliespants.com
7/19/12 Meet my super preppy red stretch poplin shorts made from the June 2011 Burda magazine. Man. It's hot as Haiti here. I took photos before 8 a.m. and it was already pushing 90 degrees (32 C). For this pair, I was inspired by an ...