Bustier: Classic Underpinnings - Silk Organza

Silk organza is a very stable fabric that minimizes bulk in a project. A year ago I bought six yards of this fabric. I have been using it as an invisible layer for different aspects of sewing projects as I learn new ideas. 

Back in December I used it as sew-in interfacing for my Lilacs and Liberty shirt. Tonight I cut strips of silk organza on the straight-of-the-grain that I'll be using to stay the top of the inner shell of my  bustier bodice. The strips are intended to be 1 and 1/4 inches wide (mine are a little wider at this point in time). They'll be folded lengthwise (resulting in 5/8 inch wide strips). Then I'll cut them about 1/4 inch shorter than the width of each bodice piece, which I'll be easing to the strips with hand stitches. I'll stay each piece of the bodice individually.

Using silk organza makes me feel a little glamorous.  It doesn't actually cost much more than other interfacing and stabilizers,  and makes me feel like a real seamstress!

Silk organza keeps the enchantment in my sewing!

Tee Time Technique: Stayin’ Stable at the Shoulder

Having made a few tee shirts out of wiggly-jiggly-creeping-down-the-arm-over-time jersey-type knits, I was suspicious that I needed to learn more about stabilizing the shoulder seams. Here’s what I learned about that in class today.

Thanks Rhonda!

Technique

1)  Sew shoulder seams – front to back (maybe you like to sew them back to front, it’s your call :-)

2)  Cut a ¼ inch wide piece of fabric the length of the seam. IMPORTANT cut it the opposite direction from the stretch. If, say, the tee knit fabric stretches left to right (from selvedge to selvedge) then cut this piece top to bottom. As a matter of fact, the selvedge might be a great place, from which, to cut the strip.

3)  Sew this stabilizing strip right on top of the shoulder seam.

4)  Another good, supportive, idea is to topstitch on either side of the shoulder seam, either as the stole method of stabilizing or in addition to the stabilizing strip. 

Since knits don't ravel there's no need to finish the seam edges