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I'm making a scalloped satin hem and I was wondering if I need to interface it to give it more structure and if I'll need a non woven or woven sew in interfacing for this.

Elmy
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Deifira
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  • Welcome to Arts & Crafts! Please take the [tour] to see how this site works, it only takes a minute. I have removed the second question from your post, because according to our site rules each post should only concentrate on a single problem or question.You can read more about it in How do I ask a good question? – Elmy Dec 13 '23 at 12:10

1 Answers1

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There is no simple yes or no answer, because it depends on the drape of your fabric and which effect you want to achieve.

If your fabric is heavy and drapey, you probably won't need any additional interfacing. If your fabric is very thin and lightweight and like the way it looks, you don't need interfacing either. Only if you want to give it more structure than the fabric durrently has (maybe because the scallpoed hem is for a sleeve and you don't want the scallops to flop around with every move), then interfacing it can achieve that. The strength of interfacing should fit the fabric - thin interfacing for thin fabrics and thick interfacing for thick fabrics. Otherwise the interfaced sections looks so different from the not interfaced fabric that the effect is comical or just weird.

For this application a non-woven interfacing is slightly better than a woven one, because the interfacing will be cut into scallops as well you don't want to deal with 2 fraying fabrics.

There are iron-on interfacings that are very practical and avoid visible basting threads completely. If you insist on sewing in the interfacing, take tiny stitches in the direction of the long fibers of the satin (the smooth direction). That hides the threads better than sewing perpendicular to the long threads.

Elmy
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  • I'm sorry, I don't really understand what you mean by taking tiny stitches in the direction of the long fibres of the satin. I'm an intermediate sewer and I haven't heard that yet. Also, I haven't found non woven interfacing anywhere yet, do you have any ideas where I could find it? Thanks for your response – Deifira Dec 20 '23 at 21:56
  • @Deifira The most basic fabric is made by weaving over one, under one, over one thread and so on. All threads of the fabric have the same length. Satin is made by weaving over one, under several and over one thread. That exposes longer "floating" threads on the top of the fabric that give satin it's smooth feel and shine. running your finger over it in one direction should be extremely smooth, because that's the direction of the long fibers. But 90° to that you should feel a little more resistance and less smoothness. – Elmy Dec 21 '23 at 19:29
  • Sewing a tiny stitch in the smooth direction is far less visible because your sewing thread blends in with the floating threads of the satin. Sewing a stitch 90° to the smooth direction makes the stitch extremely visible. As for the interfacing, the iron-on type is much easier to use and it doesn't matter much if you use woven or non-woven iron-on interfacing. Sew-in interfacing usually only comes as the woven type. I find this YouTube video explains the differences very well. – Elmy Dec 21 '23 at 19:29