Cidell: Raincoating/Pre-Treating

I posted about this on my blog and Stitcher's Guild, but Marji suggested I post here too on my experience with pre-treating the B*berry raincoating fabric.



Leslie from Loohoo Originals had great results in pre-treating her raincoating from Michael's. I recalled Kathryn testing fabric and it came up softer and easier to ease. So, I took the plunge and washed three pieces (one from Michael's and two from Denver).


Two washed up perfectly. The last piece fell apart in the wash. It separated into two different pieces of fabric. I would NOT recommend washing these at home. I think I just got very lucky with my other two pieces.


The fabric is actually two layers with a waterproof rubberized material sandwiched in between and bonded. Because the two outer layers are cotton, they are more likely to shrink. But, the waterproof stuff inside won't.


So, to be safe, I recommend you just save this one for the dry cleaners.

Ann Steeves: Underlining Coating Fabrics

Hi folks! It is so inspiring to see what people are doing. I've been AWOL on this list because it's so busy right now, but I think I'm going to join in and sew myself a coat.

Marji asked me to talk a bit about underlining coatings. Forgive me if you know this already.

What is underlining?
Underlining is a layer of fabric that is attached to your coating shell fabric. It's cut from the same pattern piece and attached to the wrong side of your fabric. Those two pieces of fabric are then treated as one. Underlining provides support to your coating fabric, eliminating stretching, bagging and pulling. It also adds a layer of warmth. And if you have a loosely woven fabric like a bouclé, it reinforces that fabric at stress points. It also acts to conceal seam allowance show-through in certain fabrics.

Fabrics used for underlining
You can use lots and lots of different fabrics for underlining, depending on your desired result. The underlining can either match the hand and drape of your fabric, or you can choose an underlining that will alter the characteristics of your fabric. In the majority of cases, I recommend matching your underlining to the drape, weight and hand of your shell fabric.

I've used many different underlining fabrics in coats. One of my favorite underlining choices is a plain, firmly woven cotton batiste. I've found that it supports your garment without adding any weight. It doesn't change the hand of your fabric, and it doesn't grab your shell fabric. Another great choice for underlining is silk organza. Unlike batiste, it can change the hand of certain fabrics, though with coating it is not as much of an issue. I have had problems with organza and certain types of wools. Organza and crepey and "hairy" wools and fur fabrics tend to grab at eachother's fibers and cause some weird pulling. But it's a great underlining for many bouclés, silks and blends.

I live in Boston, which can get mighty cold and raw in the winter. I made a bouclé coat several years ago. You can see a review of it Here. This fabric, while luxurious and beautiful, does a bad job of cutting the Northeast winds that whip in off the ocean here. To shore it up, both structurally and from an insulating standpoint, I underlined it with a cotton flannel. The flannel makes the coat toasty warm, but not bulky.

Attaching the underlining
First - pretreat your underlining. Shrink it before you cut into it, so you don't have a disaster later. Also make sure you cut your underlining on the same grain as the fabric. For precision, use a single layer cutting layout for your underlining. After all, if you're taking the time to do an underlining, you might as well take the few extra minutes to get it perfect, right?

Once it's cut, I attach the underlining to the fabric by hand basting it to the body of the fabric. My basting stitches run parallel to the grain of the fabric. They are 1 to 1 1/2 inches long, and I catch just a thread or two of my shell fabric at each stitch, as you can see here:


This takes time, but it's far superior to basting only at the seamlines, because it structurally reinforces the shell fabric. This is critical for areas that will receive a lot of stress from being bent and sat on, like elbows and rumps. It helps your fabric retain its shape. It's really, really important if you're using a cashmere or fur fabric, which has a tendency to bag out.

Do I always have to underline?
Like I said above, certain fabrics really do need underlining to hold up to the stress the average coat takes. Bouclés, cashmeres, fur fabrics and blends? You bet. You'll be far happier with the results if you underline. Boiled wools, flannels and meltons? It's not a requirement. Here's how I determine whether I should underline a coating. Take an 8 inch square of fabric. Mess around with it. Drape it over a ham or other rounded object (your bent knee is good for this exercise). Pull it in all directions. Try to approximate things like the bend of your elbow. Give it a good workout, then see how it recovers. Press it and see if it retains its shape or not. That will give you a good idea of whether you need to underline. Also, think about the use your coat will get. Is it going to be THE COAT for winter? Underline it. If it's only going to get occasional use, and it's a very tightly woven melton, then you can get away without underlining. It's your call.

I hope this helps answer some questions you might have. I'm really enjoying watching the process. I hope I'll be able to join in!

Ann Steeves

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From the comments:

Marji said...

Thanks Ann,
Can you comment specifically on the cashmere blend (you have it in orange and fuschia at $18/yd) coating wool - is the cashmere content high enough on that coating to warrant an underlining?

Gorgeous Things said...

Hi Marji,

It's a pretty tight weave, and it should hold up without an underlining. If you want to underline a cashmere blend or cashmere like that, I'd use a cotton batiste.

HTH!
Ann

Sally: Great Fabrics at Baer, Lagging Behind

Hi All:

I am lagging behind I see - waiting for some fabric to be delivered, still dithering between two patterns, etc. I will get myself together this week!

I was just browsing the Baer Fabrics website (from Louisville, KY). They have some lovely wool on sale if you haven't selected yours a yet - they are hidden in the sale categories shown on the left side links.

Mardel's Coat

I have known which fabric I was going to use for this coat since I signed up. Since I also knew that I had the lining and collar fabrics, I was in no rush to pull it off the shelf, but I finally pulled it out last night.

The "fabric" is made from yarn that has been looped and fused or felted together. The basic plan is to make a long, relatively straight coat with set-in or modified set-in sleeves, and a long shawl collar that runs the entire length of the coat. The collar will be made out of the gray flannel at the bottom right of the photo. The matching gray charmeuse will be the lining. I will have to combine two patterns (at least) to get the look I want. However, as I have been looking at this, other ideas have occurred to me. I am planning to muslin my original plan, and perhaps one or two other ideas (there are other coats in my future so I am not worried). More details can be seen on my blog.

Linda (Danville Girl) Fabric choice made and ordered

I will be making the McCall's coat but I will not be making the red view. I want to change things up so will be making View A, blue one. I will also be making it in blue, a royal blue. I just ordered my fabric from Gorgeous Fabrics, taking advantage of her sale price. Gosh, I feel like I am making progress. My McCall's pattern arrived today. Hopefully once the fabric arrives I will be able to find the right lining fabric and color.

Later.

Special care when handling velvet

Adding to Marji's excellent article on sewing specialty and luxury fabrics:

There are many kinds of velvets, depending on the fabric composition, density of the pile and its surface finishing (crushed, burnout, etc). The velvet that I’m going to use is 100%cotton velvet which has been said to be the easiest to handle among velvets because it can be pressed (on the wrong side) and you can even make direct contact with the iron on the pile when you press a seam open. In spite of being the easiest to handle, this fabric requires special care and techniques. I will summarize them for you:

Storing the velvet before cutting: This fabric crushes very easily and it can gain permanent markings and crease lines on the pile side. For this reason, the best way to store it is using an empty roll of fabric and covering it with a muslin remnant to protect it from dust:

Pre-treatment: I’ve read somewhere that 100%velvet can be washed and dried by machine but I don’t do that, because I don’t take the risk of disturbing the evenness of the pile. What I prefer doing is steaming it with a hot iron (normal cotton heat setting and vapor set to its maximum), on the wrong side, applying very light pressure and preferably over a marble surface. The velvet shouldn’t be disturbed until it dries completely (and if you use a marble surface it can take some time to dry). This technique is also indicated if you need to revive old and crushed velvet.

Garments suitable for being made of velvet: simple style lines for fabrics with body, vertical seam details are preferable to horizontal seam details, avoid round seams, no topstitching. Facings may be omitted or sewn using another fabric like satin (when using cotton velvet this is not necessary).

Cutting layout: a single layer “with nap” layout should be used. I prefer cutting against the pile so the color becomes richer and darker.

Marking: Tailor tacks, thread tracing (using silk thread or thin machine embroidery thread), tailor chalk on the wrong side.

Fitting: Making a test garment (muslin/toile) is mandatory since it’s impossible to recover an already stitched/pressed seam; after unstitching it the pile will be creased permanently. Making sure that the fit is perfect and no more alterations will be needed BEFORE stitching the final garment is the only option when using velvet.

Underlining: There’s no need to underline a velvet garment unless you intend to add more structure than the velvet itself already has. Nevertheless, all the other tailoring techniques for supporting the fabric (interfacing, back and chest shields, tailor tape, shoulder pads, etc.) can and should be used.

Interfacing: This is probably the only type of velvet where it’s safe to use fusible interfacings, as long as the interfacing used has a little stretch lengthwise (thanks Paco for this tip). Lightweight sew-on tailoring interfacing can also be used with optimal results. I intend to use both for my coat.

Lining: I prefer full linings for velvet made garments. A bright contrasting lining is my preference for adding more interest to the inside of the garment.

Stitching: Always stitch with the pile; use double basting and/or pins, and a walking foot (even feed foot) if you have one. When pile is hold together against pile, the fabric shifts so one layer will pucker if you don’t use these techniques to prevent this from happening. I’ll use size 80 ballpoint needles, a 2.5 stitch length setting and cotton thread.

Pressing: Use a needle board, a velvaboard or a self fabric cover (with the pile up) on the pressing surface. Self fabric (or a needle board that bends) should be used on the seam roll and the tailor ham. Use paper strips on the underside of the open SAs for preventing imprints, apply light pressure and steam with the iron, using the fingertips to set the seams open while they are moisturized and hot.

Seam finishing: I will make little diagonal cuts along the SAs just to prevent the seams from puckering. If this fabric ravels too much I may zigzag the raw edges, otherwise I’ll leave them as they are. All seams will be pressed open (I think there are no darts on my coat but if there were, they should be cut and pressed open too). I may also tack down the seam allowances (NOTE: if using a free hanging lining, consider binding the SAs.)

Buttonholes: I will run some tests but I will favor bound buttonholes or hand stitched tailored buttonholes.

And this is all for now (I will update this entry with further information later, including pictures and book/website references)

Sally - Wool/Linen Blend?? And the beginning of a plan!

I just posted my potential patterns and fabrics on my blog at sallysews, if you'd like to look!

OK all you fabric mavens out there! I found a lovely fabric that is 80% wool and 20% linen. I've never used this combination before. Does anyone else have comments about it? How do you think it would work for coating? It is listed in the coating fabric section, but how does it actually look and behave?

Thanks for the advice!

Thoughts on Fabric

all material contained here is by MVZ and the Great Coat Sewalong and may not be reproduced without permission.

One word: WOOL
There is nothing that tailors easier, there is nothing that is so responsive and fabulous to work with.
Again, if this is your first coat, you want to choose a fabric that will make it a fun and pleasurable experience.
I would suggest a tightly woven wool tweed or solid wool flannel in a coating weight, (these are sometimes brushed so that the surface appears to be a bit fuzzy - and might be labeled "brushed flannel" "brushed coating".)
Other specialty fibers that are classed as wool and are wonderful for coating fabrics are:

• camels hair
• vicuna (let us know if you a. find vicuna, and b. what the cost is!)
• cashmere

A consideration when choosing fabric: 100% content of any of those fibers are going to be luscious but will also require underlining for support.
One of the coats (well, a coat so short it can be classed as a jacket) that I'm going to make for this sew-along is going to be of 100% cashmere. It is soft, and the fabric is a bit more fragile than most wool. By underlining it I'm going to protect it from some of the bagging out at the elbows and seat that could happen.

Fabrics that are blends will give the best characteristics of both fibers.
-A 50/50 blend of wool/cashmere is going to be soft, warm and lovely while strong and resilient and less susceptible to abrasion. See these fabrics that Ann at Gorgeous Fabrics has right now. (NAYY, I swear, it's just that she's got such a great selection and great pricing.)
-Many wool coating fabrics have 10% nylon content. This is again to add the strength of the nylon to the wool.
You may find coating wool that is "double woven". Both sides may be used as the right side, and in the case of double woven wools where there are two colors some really fun special effects are possible. Manhattan Fabrics has a fabulous assortment of double faced coating wools right now. Like this, and this.(I personally would save the two color double woven wools for a less structured, unlined reversible coat.)
Fashion Fabrics Club also has a wide selection of coating wool at comparable prices.
A search at Mood Fabrics for "coating Wool" returns 194 fabric selections but not all of them are coating fabrics, and not all of them are wool - so be selective in reading your online fabric descriptions, even after using the search function.

oh, I've been online browsing for coat fabrics and just found a true camels hair fabric at Textile Studios.

There are many other sources, and I suspect from reading the comments many of you sent when emailing me for the invite, that many will be shopping your stash.

I would not suggest a wool gabardine for a winter coat. Nor would I suggest wool gabardine for a first jacket project. It's a fabulous fabric, but it can be unforgiving to work with. IMO it's the most challenging of all the wool weaves to work with.

Next week: a discussion of underlinings, interlinings, and support fabrics.