How to sew thin silk fabrics
Because of its excellent softness and unique silky characteristics, it is not an easy task for people who are new to silk clothing production to make silk fabrics into the desired clothing, especially sewing. We should make these preparations before sewing:
Pre-shrinkage, interlining, sewing machine debugging.
1. Pre-shrinkage
The shrinkage rate of silk fabrics varies between 5% and 15%. It is best to pre-shrink the fabrics before sewing. If they are not pre-shrinked, after making clothes, there is probably no other choice except dry cleaning. When shrinking, you can add some silk wool cleaner or neutral softener to the water, which can not only clean the fabric, but also reduce the generation of static electricity.
PS: Silk fabrics must be soaked in cold water. When shrinking, it is best to soak each piece of fabric separately to avoid mutual dyeing between different colors. The fabric will generally have a little floating color when it is first put into water, and there will be no more after pre-shrinking.
2. Interlining
In order to prevent the silk fabric from being pulled and deformed during processing, and to facilitate operation during cutting, it is necessary to interline the silk fabric.
There are two types of interlining that are commonly used, one is called water-soluble interlining, and the other is special interlining for silk. Water-soluble interlining is soluble in water, and is generally used to increase the tension of the fabric during cutting or sewing, which can make cutting and sewing easier. When making silk clothing, special interlining for silk is more commonly used. For example, silk lining is generally required at the waist, chest pleats, and sewing areas of silk cheongsam, which can increase the thickness and toughness of the fabric and prevent the phenomenon of pulling out during wearing. When sewing thin silk fabrics, sewing masters will not only add silk interlining, but also put a piece of white paper under the fabric and sew it together with the fabric, which can also increase the thickness of the fabric. After that, just tear off the white paper gently.
3. Sewing machine debugging
Choose the right needle. Not all silk fabrics need to be sewn with the thinnest sewing needle. For thin silk fabrics, such as silk georgette, silk chiffon, and electric spinning, choose needle No. 11, and for elastic fabrics, choose needle No. 11-14.
After choosing the right needle, adjust the tension of the bottom and top threads. Test it with a piece of waste fabric. Only when the bottom and top thread stitches are the same size can you operate on the finished product.
The needle size of silk fabric is smaller than that of other fabrics, 4-5 needles per centimeter. If it is too sparse, it cannot be sewn, and if it is too dense, the fabric is easy to be damaged. The needle size of elastic fabric should be slightly larger, 3-4 needles per centimeter (because silk and elastic fabrics are also thicker, so I can't make a conclusion, it's best to try it before doing it).
During the operation, gently pull the front of the fabric with your hands, and your hands and feet should cooperate well, otherwise it will also affect the flatness of the fabric.
PS: If you don't know how big the needle size should be, you can go to the mall to do a survey to see how the same fabric is made. How to master the needle size is also an experience.
Do a good job of preliminary preparation, let's do it officially!
1. Cutting
Choose the pattern you like, and you can start cutting after making the pattern according to the actual body size. Be sure to iron the fabric flat before cutting. You can add silk lining in advance before cutting. It is not recommended for beginners to start with thin silk fabrics, such as silk georgette, silk chiffon, silk organza, etc. You can buy silk plain crepe satin, silk double crepe, etc. with a thickness of 16 momme or above to practice. As for heavy satin and heavy crepe, wait until you are more skilled.
PS: If you don't know how to make a pattern, please read the previous articles of the editor, which will definitely help you!
2. Locking and curling
Silk fabrics often involve locking and curling when they are made. The texture that is too light, thin and soft often gives many novices a headache. Here is a little trick: if you can't lock the edge once, try twice. Use the universal presser foot for the first lock, lay the edge of the fabric flat, and sew quickly with a zigzag stitch; then change to the curling presser foot, because the edge of the fabric has been sewn once, the tension is greatly increased, so curling becomes much easier. You can easily roll out beautiful edges by following the curling method of ordinary thickness fabrics.
If you need to wrap the edge, you can scrape it with a thin starch paste, iron it with an iron after it cools down, and press out a sewing line (starch paste: first, adjust the starch with cold water, then brew it with boiling water, stir it well, and there should be no grains. Another simple method: scrape it with rice paste is also good).
Basically, the operation of silk sewing is like this. Here are some tips for sewing in actual combat.
● Reduce the pressure of the presser foot. You can adjust the presser foot screw or ask the master to adjust it.
● You can put a thin piece of paper under the fabric and then remove the paper.
● For children's shoes who are entangled in choosing the needle size, the No. 9 German needle can be the first choice. Because this needle will not break the fabric when sewing thin silk, there will be no thread pulling. In addition, there will be no needle eye when knitting thin fabrics. These are places that other imported needles cannot reach.
● It is very important to choose the right sewing thread. When making silk, sewing thread is also very important. No. 50 and No. 60 imported silk threads (polyester filaments) are very good sewing threads. It is much thinner than ordinary polyester sewing threads, but its tensile strength is very good, and it is not easy to break when sewing.
● The key to adjusting the feed dog: Taking the old machine as an example, it is better to adjust the feed dog to 0.4mm. The height of the feed dog of the old machine needs to be adjusted according to the fabric.
Silk fabric: feed dog height is about 0.4mm
Medium thickness fabric: feed dog height 0.75mm
Thick fabric of woolen material: feed dog height 1.2mm
The commonly used height is 0.7mm
● Adjust the shuttle skin pressure of the bobbin case. Counterclockwise is to loosen, and clockwise is to tighten the tension of the thread. Hold the thread end with your hands and shake it gently, the bobbin case will gradually fall down, and this pressure is more suitable. Finally, adjust the tension of the bottom thread to make the bottom and top thread stitches consistent. When sewing, the stitch size should not be too small. Pull the garment piece flat with your hands, follow the feed dog to move it, and naturally pull the garment piece forward.
These practical sewing skills for silk fabrics need to be practiced frequently. The more you use them, the more you will become proficient. This is the so-called "nothing special, only practice makes the hands more skilled".
