Sewing Tips and Tricks

What does GSM mean?

GSM stands for grams per square meter. It is a measurement used to indicate the weight and density of fabric. Essentially, GSM tells you how much a square meter of fabric weighs in grams.

Here's how it works:

  • Higher GSM: Indicates a heavier and denser fabric. For example, a fabric with a GSM of 300 is thicker and more substantial, which might be used for warm clothing or upholstery.
  • Lower GSM: Indicates a lighter and thinner fabric. For example, a fabric with a GSM of 100 is lighter and more breathable, which is often used for summer wear or lightweight garments.
  • GSM helps in determining the quality, durability, and suitability of the fabric for various applications.

 

Give and Stretch

  1. One-way Stretch:

    • Description: The fabric stretches in only one direction, typically along the crossgrain (horizontally). Opposite the way the selvage goes.
    • Usage: Common in fabrics like some types of jersey. It’s less flexible than other stretch types, so patterns need to account for this limitation.

  2. Two-Way Stretch:

    • Description: The fabric stretches in two directions—usually both across the width (crossgrain) and along the length (lengthwise).
    • Usage: Found in fabrics like some stretch velvets, cotton lycra knits or some interlock knits. Offers more flexibility and comfort compared to one-way stretch fabrics.

  3. Four-Way Stretch:

    • Description: The fabric stretches in all directions—across, lengthwise, and on the bias (diagonally).
    • Usage: Seen in fabrics like spandex blends or certain athletic wear. Provides maximum flexibility and is often used in garments that require high mobility, like leggings or swimwear.

  4. Pattern Design:

    • Knits vs. Wovens:
      • Knits: Patterns designed for knit fabrics often have fewer pieces and less shaping detail because the fabric’s stretch can accommodate fitting adjustments. The elasticity of the fabric can also make fitting easier and reduce the need for darts or seams.
      • Wovens: Patterns for woven fabrics typically require more shaping details and seams because woven fabrics don’t stretch. Accurate measurements and more structured patterns are necessary to ensure a proper fit.

  5. Folding Fabric:

    • Description: Fold your fabric perpendicular to the selvage (the finished edges of the fabric).
    • Purpose: This helps in aligning the fabric grain properly for accurate pattern cutting and ensures that the fabric stretches in the intended directions as specified by the pattern.

Understanding these stretch types and how to work with them can greatly affect the outcome of your sewing projects, ensuring that the finished garment fits and functions as intended.

 

How to Measure Fabric Stretch

  1. Prepare the Fabric:

    • Lay the fabric flat on a surface. If the fabric is folded, ensure it’s smooth and aligned.

  2. Mark the Starting Point:

    • Fold the fabric in half, with the fold perpendicular to the selvage (or finished edge). Ensure the fold is straight and parallel to the selvage.

  3. Measure the Unstretched Length:

    • Place a ruler or measuring tape along the fold. Align one edge of the fold at the 0-inch mark on the ruler or tape measure. Measure 6 inches from the 0-inch mark and note this starting point.

  4. Stretch the Fabric:

    • Gently stretch the fabric until it is taut but not overstretched.

  5. Measure the Stretched Length:

    • Note the new length where the fold has extended. For instance, if the fabric stretches from the 0-inch mark to the 7-inch mark, the total stretch is 7 inches.

  6. Calculate the Percentage of Stretch:

    • To find the percentage of stretch, use the following formula: Percentage of Stretch=Stretched Length−Original LengthOriginal Length×100\text{Percentage of Stretch} = \frac{\text{Stretched Length} - \text{Original Length}}{\text{Original Length}} \times 100
    • For example, if the fabric stretches from 6 inches to 7 inches: Percentage of Stretch=7−66×100=16.67%\text{Percentage of Stretch} = \frac{7 - 6}{6} \times 100 = 16.67\%

Understanding Stretch Percentages

  • 6 to 6.5 inches: 8% stretch
  • 6 to 7 inches: 16% stretch
  • 6 to 8 inches: 30% stretch
  • 6 to 9 inches: 50% stretch
  • 6 to 12 inches: 100% stretch

Measuring Along the Grain

  1. Prepare the Fabric:

    • Fold the fabric parallel to the selvage, aligning the fold as evenly as possible away from the selvage.

  2. Measure the Stretch:

    • Use the same method as above, but this time measure the stretch along the length of the fabric, parallel to the selvage.

  3. Calculate and Compare:

    • Follow the same steps to calculate the percentage of stretch along the grain. Note that stretch along the length (or grain) is usually less than across the width.

Measuring fabric stretch accurately helps ensure that your patterns and finished garments fit correctly and perform well, particularly with knit fabrics where stretch is a key characteristic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FIBER TYPES

Bamboo Rayon or Bamboo Viscose

Bamboo rayon, also known as bamboo viscose, is indeed a fascinating and versatile fabric with several notable characteristics. Here’s a comprehensive overview based on your description:

  • Bamboo Rayon/Viscose Fabric

    1. Source:

      • Plant: Bamboo grass, one of the fastest-growing plants on Earth.
      • Sustainability: Bamboo is known for its rapid growth and ability to absorb carbon dioxide while releasing more oxygen compared to hardwood trees. It also doesn’t require pesticides or herbicides for cultivation, making it an environmentally friendly option.

    2. Properties:

      • Softness: Bamboo rayon is extremely soft, often compared to the feel of silk or cashmere.
      • Anti-Odor: The fabric has natural antibacterial properties, which help to resist odors and keep the fabric fresh.
      • Temperature Regulation: It helps regulate body temperature by wicking moisture away from the skin and providing breathability.
      • Non-Irritating: The softness and smoothness of bamboo rayon make it gentle on sensitive skin.

    3. Fabric Types:

      • Bamboo Rib Knit: A stretchy, textured fabric with ribs, used for comfortable and flexible garments.
      • Bamboo Jersey: A soft, lightweight knit with a smooth surface, often used for t-shirts and loungewear.
      • Bamboo/Spandex Jersey: Combines bamboo rayon with spandex for added stretch and recovery.
      • Bamboo Stretch French Terry: A knit fabric with loops on one side and a smooth surface on the other, offering moderate stretch and comfort.
      • Bamboo Stretch Fleece: A thicker, warm fabric with a soft fleece backing, ideal for cooler weather.
      • Bamboo Fleece: A soft, thick fabric with a plush texture, often used for cozy garments and blankets.
      • Bamboo Interlock: A double-knit fabric that is soft and has a slight stretch, often used for activewear.
      • Bamboo Terry: A fabric with looped texture, typically used for towels and casual wear.
      • Bamboo Velour: A plush, soft fabric with a velvety texture, often used for luxurious loungewear.
      • Bamboo Thermal: A fabric designed for warmth and insulation, often used in base layers and winter wear.

    4. Blends:

      • Bamboo/Hemp Blend: Combining bamboo with hemp creates a fabric that benefits from both fibers' qualities. The blend can enhance durability while maintaining the softness and eco-friendly attributes of bamboo.

    Key Points:

    • Eco-Friendly: Bamboo’s rapid growth and low need for chemical inputs make it an environmentally friendly resource. Our bamboo fabrics have many compliance certificates from farming, to production to factory and working environments.
    • Versatile: Available in a range of fabric types, each offering different textures and properties suited for various applications.
    • Comfort: The natural qualities of bamboo rayon contribute to a high level of comfort and performance in clothing.

     

    Bamboo rayon fabrics are appreciated for their sustainability and comfort, making them a popular choice in eco-friendly and high-performance clothing lines.

 Wool

    1. Natural Characteristics:

      • Biodegradable: Wool is a natural fiber that decomposes back into the environment, making it eco-friendly.
      • Renewable: Wool is sourced from sheep, which are sheared annually. The fiber grows back each year, ensuring a sustainable supply.

    2. Properties:

      • Softness: Merino wool, a finer type of wool, is particularly soft due to its thin fibers, which can bend and flex more easily than coarser wools. This results in a comfortable, non-itchy feel against the skin.
      • Comfort: Merino wool is known for its excellent moisture-wicking and temperature-regulating properties. It helps manage body temperature and moisture by absorbing sweat and releasing it into the air, making it suitable for various weather conditions.

    3. Fabric Types:

      • Wool Interlock: A double-knit fabric with a smooth texture on both sides, providing warmth and stretch. It’s often used in base layers and activewear.
      • Wool/Spandex Interlock: Combines wool with spandex for added elasticity and recovery, offering enhanced flexibility and comfort.
      • Wool Jersey: A lightweight, stretchy knit fabric with a smooth surface, used for t-shirts and casual wear.
      • Wool/Spandex Jersey: Blends wool with spandex to add stretch and improve fit and comfort, ideal for activewear and fitted garments.
      • Wool Fleece: A thicker, warm fabric with a plush texture, perfect for colder weather. It has insulating properties and is often used in jackets and sweaters.
      • Wool Terry: Features a looped texture on one side, similar to towels, providing extra absorbency and warmth. Commonly used in loungewear and casual clothing.
      • Wool Rib Knit: A fabric with vertical ribs that provide elasticity and stretch, commonly used for cuffs and edges in garments.

    4. Blends:

      • Wool/Cotton Blend: Combines the natural properties of wool with the softness and breathability of cotton. This blend offers enhanced comfort and versatility.
      • Wool/Bamboo Blend: Merges the benefits of wool and bamboo, such as moisture management, temperature regulation, and softness. The bamboo adds an eco-friendly touch and extra softness to the fabric.

    Key Points:

    • Eco-Friendly: Wool’s renewable and biodegradable nature makes it a sustainable choice in textiles.
    • Comfort and Performance: Merino wool’s fine fibers and inherent properties make it highly comfortable and versatile for various types of clothing.
    • Fabric Variety: Available in multiple fabric types, each offering distinct textures and performance characteristics suited for different uses.

    Wool, particularly Merino, is valued for its natural benefits and versatility, making it a popular choice for both everyday wear and specialized garments.

 Rayon, Modal, Tencel

    1. General Characteristics:

      • Feel and Texture: These fabrics can imitate the feel and texture of natural fibers such as silk, wool, cotton, and linen. They are known for their smooth and soft hand.
      • Color and Dyeing: The fibers can be easily dyed in a wide range of colors, allowing for vibrant and diverse color options in garments.
      • Comfort: All three fabrics are cool, soft, and comfortable, making them ideal for warm and humid climates. They are highly absorbent, which helps wick moisture away from the skin.
      • Insulation: They do not provide much insulation, which means they are less suited for cold weather but excellent for hot conditions.
      • Care: These fabrics are generally easy to care for. They can be machine washed or dry cleaned, depending on the specific fabric blend and garment care instructions.

    2. Fabric Types and Their Properties:

      • Rayon:

        • Origin: Made from regenerated cellulose (often wood pulp).
        • Texture: Soft, drapey, and can mimic the feel of silk or cotton.
        • Uses: Suitable for blouses, dresses, and casual wear. It’s also used in home textiles like curtains.

      • Modal:

        • Origin: Made from beech tree cellulose.
        • Texture: Smooth and silky, with a slight sheen. It’s more resistant to shrinkage and fading compared to regular rayon.
        • Uses: Often used in underwear, loungewear, and t-shirts. Its durability and softness make it ideal for close-to-skin garments.

      • Tencel (Lyocell):

        • Origin: Made from cellulose derived from eucalyptus trees.
        • Texture: Extremely soft and smooth with a natural luster. It drapes beautifully and feels luxurious.
        • Uses: Used in high-quality garments such as dresses, blouses, and activewear. It’s also popular in eco-friendly clothing lines due to its sustainable production process.

    3. Blending and Versatility:

      • Blends: These fabrics can be blended with other fibers like cotton or bamboo to enhance their properties or achieve specific fabric qualities. For example:
        • Rayon/Cotton Blend: Combines the softness and breathability of cotton with the smoothness and drape of rayon.
        • Modal/Bamboo Blend: Merges the softness of modal with the eco-friendly and antibacterial properties of bamboo.
      • Texture Simulation: Rayon, Modal, and Tencel can simulate a variety of textures such as suede, leather, and silk, providing versatility in fabric design and application.

    Key Points:

    • Soft and Smooth: These fabrics are renowned for their luxurious feel and drapability.
    • Versatile and Dyeable: They take dye well, allowing for a broad color spectrum and varied textures.
    • Ideal for Warm Weather: They are well-suited for hot and humid climates due to their breathability and moisture-wicking properties.

    Rayon, Modal, and Tencel are valued for their comfort and adaptability, making them popular choices in both fashion and home textiles. Their ability to blend well with other fibers further enhances their versatility.

Hemp

Interlock:

  • Double knit fabrics are more stable and don’t roll as much as their lighter weight friends, making them easy to sew with. 
  • They are also a great choice when you want a crisp, structured look while still maintaining the stretch and comfort of a knit fabric. 
  • You can make a variety of beautiful garments to wear year around using double knits. 
  • There are a wide variety of double knits, including double pique, double jacquard, double jersey, and more. 
  • When it comes to double knits, common terms that you may come across are interlock jersey, Ponte di Roma, or just ponte.

Jersey:

  • If  you look at a basic T-shirt, it’s probably made of jersey. 
  • With jersey, every stitch is a knit stitch, so all the loops are drawn to one side of the fabric. 
  • The front of jersey fabric is smooth, and the back has a more textured appearance since it’s composed entirely of purl stitches, which create the appearance of a bar across the fabric. 
  • The edges of jersey have a tendency to curl, which can make sewing and hemming it rather tricky. 
  • Jersey does, however, take prints well because of its smooth surface.

Rib Knit:

  • Think back to that jersey T-shirt we were imagining earlier. The neck band is probably a rib knit.
  • Rib is made by alternating knit and purl stitches to form ridges on both sides of the fabric.
  • Rib knit lies flat and has more stretch in the width than the length.
  • Rib makes great neckbands and cuffs because of this elasticity.

Fleece:

  • The deep, soft pile of fleece is obtained by brushing the textile with wire brushes. 
  • This fabric structure allows fleece to insulate well without being too heavy. 
  • Fleece has a deep, soft nap or pile obtained by heavily napping with wire brushes or with a pile weave. 
  • Because of its excellent insulation properties, fleece is a very warm fabric and is often used in seasonal attire designed for colder climates. 
  • Some of its most common applications include blankets, sweaters, jackets, mittens, scarves and hats.

Velour:

  • Velour is a plush, knitted fabric or textile similar to velvet. 
  • It is usually made from cotton but can also be made from synthetic materials such as polyester. 
  • Velour is used in a wide variety of projects including sweatsuits, diapers, tops, blankets and more.

Thermal:

  • A knit with a waffle or honeycomb texture that's made to trap warm air between the yarns, making it the perfect fabric to wear during the cold winter months.
  • Stretchy and can be made of any fiber. Typically cotton.

Terry:

  • Terrycloth, terry cloth, terry toweling, terry, or simply toweling is a fabric with loops that can absorb large amounts of water. It can be manufactured by weaving or knitting. 
  • Stock this as french terry, baby loop terry, stretch french terry or double loop terry.

Can you use knits for woven patterns?

  • Patterns that call for a stretch woven fabric with 2-3% spandex often make perfect projects for double knits.
  • Eliminate any zippers.
  • Use a less bulky knit for the facing portion. 
  • Add a knit interfacing to the facing if you need more structure.
  • Keep seam allowances small. Trim the seams down as you sew.
  • Fit the pattern as you go to determine if you’d like the style to be closer fitted.

Needle and Thread:

  • Most stretch knit garments are seamed with overedge and/or coverstitch seam constructions because these stitches offer the best seam elasticity and coverage of the raw edge of the fabric. 
  • A quality problem that is common with stretch knits is excessive “broken stitches” or “stitch cracking” when the seam is stretch excessively. 
  • Generally the greater the elasticity of the fabric, i.e., higher Lycra or Spandex content, the more likely you are to have broken stitches if you do not understand how to optimize elasticity in the seam. 

Cutting the fabric:

  • My favorite method of cutting any fabric is to use a rotary cutter. 
  • To do this lay the pieces out onto your fabric – you can either freestyle this or use the suggested cutting layout diagram in the pattern instructions. 
  • Place any lines that say “place on fold” exactly along the fold of the fabric, and line up all the long grainline arrows so they are exactly parallel to the fold. 

Seams:

  • Sergers are great for sewing knits. You don’t need one.
  • A three- or four-thread serger stitch will give a quick, durable, professional finish to seams while maintaining stretch.
  • Adjusting the differential feed on the serger prevents seams from stretching too much and becoming wavy. 
  • Sergers and cover stitch machines allow you to duplicate techniques found in ready-to wear, such as the flat lock or double sided flat seam. 
  • With out a serger you can use a lightning stitch to give a similar effect.
  • It is important to use a ballpoint needle and good thread.
  • Knit fabrics willl typically not ravel or fray.

Common Mistakes:

  • Sewing too fast.
  • Not using correct seam allowance
  • Using incorrect foot.
  • Bad pattern choice
  • Not measuring the person garment is for.
  • Grainline
  • Incorrect needle
  • Not changing the needle often enough
  • Not using pattern directions
  • Failure to try new techniques.
  • Making something too difficult for sewing knowledge.
  • Not pressing or ironing.