Quick Tips for Sewing with Silk

Silk is such a luxurious fabric to wear, unfortunately, sewing with it is not so luxurious. In fact, it's a real pain in the butt if I'm being honest. So today, I wanted to share a few tips about sewing with silk (and other fine/slippery fabrics) that I've picked up in my time sewing with it, just in case you fancy making your Afternoon Blouse from it.

The major issue I've always encountered with silk is that because it's so slippery, it tends to move off grain during cutting. Unfortunately, you can muslin a garment as many times as you like to get the fit right, but if the pattern pieces slip off grain when it comes time to making it with your fashion fabric, chances are the final garment won't fit right. So...

1) Think about cutting one pattern piece at a time instead of folding your fabric to cut out 2 pieces. It might take longer, but generally, the pattern piece that is going to slip and go off grain is going to be the bottom piece. For pattern pieces that are placed on the fold, I would recommend re-tracing the pattern piece into one whole piece, and cutting in a single layer from that.

2) If you prefer to cut your fabric on the fold, try putting it between 2 pieces of tracing paper. Sounds weird I know, but the tracing paper has more grip than silk, which means it will hold those slippery pieces together. To do this, fold your fabric along the grain and pin your selvedges together. Place your folded fabric on top of a piece of tracing paper, and then put another piece of tracing paper on top of that. Pin your pattern pieces on top of the tracing paper, making sure to get all four layers secured, and cut your pattern pieces out.

3) Use silk pins AND pattern weights. For some reason, there is a mindset that you either need to be in one camp or the other when it comes to securing pattern pieces to your fabric, but this really is not the case, especially when it comes to cutting silk and other difficult fabrics.

Most people have their favourite way to secure patterns (mine is with pins) but use both if you have to. I use cans from the cupboard and weigh my pattern piece down in the centre (use as many as you like!), then pin the outsides of the pattern with pins (again, use as many as you like). It might sound a bit overkill, but if you've ever experienced the dread of ruining a lovely bit of fabric, you'll do anything to stop this happening in the future.

4) Which brings me to pins. If you don't have silk pins, and have no plans to buy any, ONLY PIN INTO THE SEAM ALLOWANCE! Pins will leave little holes all throughout your silk that are nearly impossible to make go away, no matter how hard you try to push them closed. And actually, even if you do have silk pins, I would still try to keep them within the seam allowance, just in case!

5) When it comes to silky necklines, you should think about stabilising the seam to give it a bit more structure. Silk is designed to flow, so if you have a neckline that needs to hold it's shape like the Afternoon Blouse, giving it a little extra love will help it to retain the original design lines.

Not sure how to stabilise seams? Check out my post here.

6) Take your time! You just can't rush sewing with silk - if you do, it will come back to bite you in the bum. Enjoy the process, listen to the fabric (fabric whisperer?) and you should end up with a lovely garment at the end.

If you have any more tips for sewing with silk, I'd love to hear them! I'm always on the lookout for ways to make it easier (and hopefully not ruin any more beautiful fabric!).

xx
J

Building & Wearing A Hand-made Wardrobe - Why We Don't Wear Our Hand-mades...

Welcome to the first post in my new series on how to build and wear a hand-made wardrobe. I wanted to start out by discussing what I think are the two main reasons why we don't necessarily already wear our hand-mades.

These two simple reasons ring very true for me and perhaps, once you give them some thought, they'll ring true for you as well -

• What you make doesn't fit into your everyday uniform
• They are uncomfortable to wear

Your Everyday Uniform

Everyone has their go to wardrobe staples. Whether it's jeans and t-shirts or dresses, your uniform is simply what you like to wear most often. It's probably your most comfortable outfit and you tend to have several colour ways and styles within your uniform. These colours and styles will also generally mix and match well so that you can create several different variations of your uniform for each day of the week. They are what probably makes up what you would consider your Wardrobe Basics.

Some beloved hand-made wardrobe basics worn during Me Made May 2013
- 60s Pink Wool Skirt - Red Circle Skirt - Blue Circle Skirt -

When I think about my personal uniform, it consists of skirts, dresses, cardigans and flats. Even though I have pants, I don't really wear them (in fact, I wore jeans for the first time in several years at Christmas when we spent the night on a boat in Doubtful Sound, NZ).

I also prefer relatively simple styles and designs in my uniform. While I'm happy to have a bright or patterned fabric, I like clean design lines and nothing too fussy. High waisted me-made circle skirts will always be a favourite - I wear one of these at least once a week and have 4 on regular rotation. They are easy to wash and wear, go with a host of different tops and they make me feel like I've made an effort to get dressed, even though I really haven't.

Your everyday uniform can also be different from your style. Personally, my everyday uniform and my style really do go hand in hand. But for others, while they may love the thought of wearing a full skirted 50's dress everyday, in reality, what they may wear from day to day is drastically different due to any number of reasons. What they do for a job, the climate they live in, whether they are running around after children etc. Practicality has to play a role in everybody's wardrobe.

More beloved hand-mades worn during Me Made May 2013
- Polkadot Billie Jean - Red Circle Skirt - Black Circle Skirt -

Also, while it's great to have special occasion pieces, if that's all you're sewing, then the reality is that most of what you make, you won't actually end up wearing. I wrote a little piece last year about my love for sewing the basics (or cake, as Tasia so lovingly put it). I love sewing them because it means I'll most certainly wear them. It means I've made good use of my sewing time.

Uncomfortable Hand-mades

Going back to my first Me Made May last year, like many people, towards the end it got quite hard as I was forced to pull out and wear those things that had sat in my wardrobe ever since I had finished making them. While I would have loved to wear circle skirts for most of the month (like usual), since I was photographing my outfit everyday, that would have got a tad boring don't you think?

So, I'd pull out a garment, wonder why on earth I hadn't worn it since it was made, put it on and then remember why it had been relegated to the 'not easily accessible' bit of our tiny wardrobe. Almost every single time, that garment was uncomfortable.

A garment can be 'uncomfortable' for many reasons, the most common are bad fit, an unflattering shape, bad fabric choice (or cheap crappy fabric) or all of the above. And I don't know about you, but I really don't have much time for wearing uncomfortable things! (Though funnily enough, I just don't have the heart to get rid of them yet!).

A few hand-mades that don't get worn much (for varying reasons) from Me Made May 2013

When I am wearing uncomfortable clothing, I tend to be extremely self conscious. I am so aware of myself that I spend far too much time wondering if people are staring at me while I fiddle with x, y & z on my garment. To be fair, most of the time people are far too fixated on what is going on in their own lives to notice the gaping on the front of my dress, or the wrinkles that just wouldn't iron out because of the crappy fabric I used, but it doesn't matter, I'm still uncomfortable.

Perhaps I care a little too much about what the stranger in the bus thinks about me, but if I'm feeling that uncomfortable in a garment, then I'm not going to wear it. After all, what you wear can have a huge impact on how you are feeling from day to day. If you're having a bad day but wearing something that makes you feel amazing, that bad day perhaps won't have as much an impact as it might have if you were also wearing something that made you feel frumpy, itchy, confined (or not confined enough!) and down right uncomfortable.

If you're one of those people who hates sewing uniform basics, I hope you'll look at them in a different light. And if you don't sew the basics because they aren't challenging to you anymore, then why not take them up a notch? Sew them with French Seams, try out a rolled hem, use a different fabric or put your zipper in using a different technique than you usually would. This way, not only are you up-skilling in the sewing department, but you'll have started to build a wearable hand-made wardrobe in no time!

So folks, let's go forth and start planning our comfy and wearable Hand-made Wardrobes! Yay!

Are there any other reasons why you don't wear your current hand-mades?

xx
Jen