I recently remembered a technique used in the clothing manufacturing industry that I thought a few others might appreciate.
I absolutely hate cutting out separate pieces of interfacing and then trying to place them in the right spots on facing pieces. Working with lightweight or slightly bias facing pieces makes it even worse.
This tip takes a tiny bit of planning but it saves a lot of time. Instead of cutting the interfacing pieces separately just fuse a block of interfacing to your fabric and then cut out the facing pieces. You need to figure out how much fabric the facing pieces will cover but it saves you from handling all those flimsy pattern pieces numerous times.
Replies
Good tip, Helen. This is even easier if you have a press and can fuse a fairly big area at once. Beware, though, that you should decide first if you're going to want interfacing in the seam allowances. If not, you'll have to cut the interfacing minus seam allowances and fuse separately.
Carol
I have never trimmed fusible interfacing out of the seam allowances. Usually the interfacing/facing is graded to 1/8" anyway. Do you often do that Carol and do you notice a big difference? On what type of clothing? I make mostly casual things, blouses, pants, skirts and unstructured jackets and vests. things that are hand-washable.
I actually don't usually trim the interfacing in the seam allowances, because lately I've been using very lightweight tricot fusibles. They don't add enough bulk to matter, I find. It would depend on the interfacing you're using, the fashion fabric, and where you're applying the interfacing. As with most non-reversible processes, using fusible interfacing calls for a test swatch to see how it affects the hand of the fabric. If the fabric is very light, I actually prefer to have the interfacing extend into the seam allowances to reinforce them.
I haven't yet had a chance to try the new skin-toned interfacings that were featured in a Threads article last year. What a great option for when you're interfacing a somewhat transparent fabric!
Carol
I think the stuff I use mostly is tricot too, "So-Sheer" its called. I also have some stuff that is an even lighter knit and stretches in all directions. Not sure what that one is called, but it's wonderful stuff. There is not much selection of interfacing around here. the latter I bought at a conference last year.
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