tip of the day – sewing with velvet

I’ve done quite a bit of sewing in my life… I’ve sewn everything from horse blankets to my duppioni silk wedding.  I can make a tailored men’s dress shirt or a bed-size quilt.  There are still fabrics that challenge me…  I’ve come close to crying when I was sewing a faux-patent leather jacket (hint – use sheets of tissue paper on the seams, you’ll prevent sticking).  I’ve broken needles sewing stuffed animals with long-pile fake fur (hand-sewing is the way to go – if you can’t, trim the fur from the seams).  Velvet is one of those fabrics that look luscious, but (at least in my experience) is a pain in the tuckus to deal with!

There are a few things that can help…

• First of all, pin like you’ve never pinned before – every inch of the seams!
• Don’t cut it out without checking which way the pile runs.  Run your hand down a length of it – one direction should feel much smoother than the other.  Mark that direction on the wrong side or selvage.
•  Walking feet (if you have one for your machine) or Teflon feet can stop some of the shifting and puckering that is a common problem with velvet, especially with rayon blends
• Avoid ironing completed seams.  The fabric will permanently crease and you’ll see the seams marked on the right side.
• If you’re very careful with an iron, you can fuse the seams together, using 1/2″ wide seam bonding tape.  Just make sure to sew a wide enough seam allowance so they fusible doesn’t show through.
• Or, of course – you could just do what I’m doing and hand-sew the whole thing   Time consuming, but so much easier.