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stabilizer for Pashmina shawl jacket

betty2252 | Posted in General Sewing Info on

On a recent trip to Europe, I purchased 100% cashmere Pashmina shawls. I would like to make a jacket out of this fabric.  What kind of stabilizer should I use to give the jacket body and to keep the fabric from stretching?  Any help I could get would be greatly appreciated.

Replies

  1. LindaG | | #1

    A Threads article last fall described making a Chanel-style jacket by machine quilting the partially completed soft boucle layer to a silk lining. I've tried that technique with a soft, almost lacy wool sweater knit to give the fabric some shape and stability without losing the softness of the fabric. The stitches -- both stitch in the ditch of the vertical seams and a few other verticals in between -- sank into the boucle and the knit and are not visible. Such a technique might work with the pashmina, but I'm thinking that deliberately wavy lines might be best on a solid color (I know that I wouldn't be able to get the lines to be perfectly vertical!). Good luck.

    Edited 4/15/2007 3:37 pm ET by LindaG

  2. user-51823 | | #2

    since you are making it out of pashminas, i would suggest making a swingy style jacket with overlapped seams and highlighting the characteristics of the fabric, rather than hiding them.
    if you want something more stable, why bother using the pashminas?

  3. Josefly | | #3

    I agree with the suggestions above. I think the Chanel "treatment" would be just the thing for Pashmina - creating a soft, luscious, comfortable cardigan-like jacket with a beautiful lining channel-stitched to the shell. Yum. Even if you don't want the close-fitting Chanel style, the lining used that way would provide the stability you need and give a little body without destroying the lovely soft drape and hand of the fabric.

  4. solosmocker | | #4

    Betty, I want to thank you for this wonderful idea. Being petite, my shawl totally overwhelms me. I checked it out today and I am small enough to carry of a Chanel type jacket. Thanks for the inspiration and the addition to my ever growing "wannado" list. I must prioritize that list, LOL!

    1. WandaJ | | #5

      I would like to know your ultimate decision about how you stabilized this fabric. My thinking was that on such a lightweight fabric the stitching would show through to the face side. If this was the route you took, what was the effect?

  5. jatman | | #6

    Hi Betty - I'm curious, too!  Have you made the jacket?  Or is it still in the planning stages?  In my travels I've also found some beautiful pashmina shawls that would be perfect for making something from but have hesitated to buy them because they are so pretty as they are that I just knew I would have a hard time cutting into them.  Let us know what you decided to do with them!

    JT

    1. betty2252 | | #7

      No, I have not made the jacket yet. It is still in the planning stage but I have had many suggestions from sewers.  One was to use a light weight fabric and treat it and the pashima as one and then quilt them to keep the pashima from stretching.  I would then make a separate lining for the jacket. It will be very scary to put the first cut into the fabric so I may keep this in the planning stage for awhile.

      Thanks for your interest.

       

      Betty2252

      1. jatman | | #8

        Hi Betty2252 - Someone else has made a jacket from several scarves and posted a picture under the topic 'What is your best garment?'  It is post 6573.36.  They did a nice job and got very creative with the lining, etc.  Good luck to you when you do get started - post a picture when you're done?

        JT

  6. starzoe | | #9

    It has been some time since you posted about making a jacket from a pashmina shawl. I'm with the person who suggested that you use other fabric for a jacket and use the pashmina in something flowing and soft. Have you noticed the bog jacket in one of the older Threads magazines? It would make up very nicely from a shawl and still be soft and drapey.

    1. betty2252 | | #10

      No, I haven't done anything with the pashema fabric yet.  I am still worrying over it and will probably shake alot when I make that first cut.  I have gotten many suggestions on how to treat the fabric - use a light weight underlaid fabric and treat it as one, then stich a diamond pattern to keep the fabric from stretching.  Then line the jacket with a static free lining.  Right now I am planning a Chanel-type jacket but that may change as I continue to worry.

      Thanks for your interest and I will check out the pattern you mentioned in Threads.

      betty2252 

      1. user-51823 | | #11

        i had also questioned why use the pashmina instead of a fabric already having the body you want.
        find some cheap remnant fabric, cut it to the size of the pashmina (to give you realistic limits on yardage) and try your methods out before cutting the real deal. best to experiment first.

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