I'm so excited!

Hurray! Hope you bought up all the hair canvas. I have a feeling that you'll be needing it. Hope they get more.

I bought the entire piece and had them wrap it back onto the board. The clerk made a note of the inventory info, she said they would order more. This piece will do me for awhile, but I probably will need more eventually.

Beverly

Is this a case of different names for the same thing each side of the pond? I have this mental picture of something quite coarse and scratchy being used as a lining. Thoughts perhaps of the hair shirts worn by monks of old.

Not this time! :) Hair canvass is a wool or wool/linen blend canvas woven with horsehair to make it springy. It's used in tailoring in things like men's jackets to support the fabric and help to give it shape and structure. There are many different sorts for the different parts of the jacket... Collar canvas is stiffer than chest canvas, which stiffer than body canvas... And they all also come in different weights for use with tropical weight wools, coatings, and silk suiting as well as the traditional men's suiting weights that we see all over the place. Guess who just had a deep conversation about all this and a whole set of lovely samples sent to them by Bernstein & Bailey's, suppliers of linings and interlinings, hair canvass, pocketing and etc. to the bespoke tailors and couture wedding gown makers of London? :D Damn - they smell good! And I thought I'd given up fabric sniffing...

Interlining means that it will be used to mount the outer fabric and give it support. There will be a fashion fabric and a lining between it and the outer world or inner body.

Ah, thank you for that. This NG is a constant source of information and knowledge. I learn more every day!

What Kate said. ;-) The *lining* is a beautiful purple bridal-weight satin. Each pattern piece of the velvet will be mounted to a corresponding piece of hair canvas, then the combined pieces will be assembled to make a vest which both beautiful and strong.

Beverly

Sounds like everything is falling right in place for you with the vest. Have fun! Juno

Wonderful!!!!!!!! I'm thrilled you were able to get such a great bargain on the hair canvas. Especially since that's not something you can find just anywhere. :)

I'm doubly thrilled to hear that your hand is doing better! Take it easy though. Don't go on a cutting marathon or anything.

Happy dancing with you!!

Sharon

I am really looking forward to this project. The color is so yummy!

Beverly

Yeah, it's not like I was going to find it at TSWLTH! ;-}

No risk to the hand, I'm right handed. Mostly I was stalled because I had to keep an ice pack on my left hand, making it awkward to do anything which required two hands.

Thanks!

Beverly

Missed your FSA* meeting again? Shame on you, Kate!

U. ;-)

*Fabric Sniffers Anonymous

"BEI Design" ...

Hello Beverly,

good to hear that you're better and that your project is turning out so well. I've got a question about this interfacing (the hair canvas is what you'd call an interfacing, right?). If you cut it, do you cut it with seam allowance or without. I just thought that, since the material is rather stiff, it might influence the way the pieces go together.

U. - eager to learn from those with more experience.

Hi Ursula! ;-)

Yes, it's "interfacing", although it is mounted to every piece of the vest as an *underlining* would be. A traditional interlining might be applied to only the center front, and perhaps the shoulder area. The hair canvas is there to give additional strength to the fashion fabric, in this case cotton velvet. Since this vest is made for competitive dancing it needs to withstand quite a bit of strain, and the hair canvas provides that additional strength/body. I will cut each piece of hair canvas the same size as the velvet, then roll each pair of pieces over a large dowel (to simulate the round body which will eventually be in the garment) and baste the two pieces together at the 1/2" line, trimming the small excess hair canvas on each piece. Then when I join the pattern pieces together at the 5/8" seam, the hair canvas is secured a second time and takes most of the strain, because it is slightly smaller than the velvet. Make sense?

I used to have a web site with pictures of the silk organza underlining I did on DD's wedding gown, but I think Comcast has eliminated it. I'll check.

Beverly

Sorry for replying to my own message, but I did find the pictures I was think about:

don't show the technique for rolling the two pieces over a dowel, but it's in my description. After the two are rolled, the underlining protrudes past the fashion fabric just a bit, and I trim it off before basting the two pieces together.

Beverly

Never mind the pics, if one has to do it, it's all a matter of trial and error until the hands have learned how to do it properly. I guess it's the old horse-to-water thing. ;-) However, the whole thing makes sense: If you have two pieces of exactly the same size and you put them around the same round form (e.g. body of bride) then the one closer to the body has a smaller radius and will thus protrude at the sides. Hah, that's geometry, I used to be quite good at that (the only part of maths I was good at, actually).

I'm a little confused about 'underlining' and 'interfacing', though. What is the difference? I didn't find any translation for underlining, only one for interfacing. It seems that there is no difference between those two in German, but then, there must be, right? After all, good tailoring is non-verbal and international. ;-)

U.

I'm not sure whether your question is asking the difference in *fabric* or *technique*. I'll give you my best guess.

In the case of *technique*, for "underlining" one can use almost everything from silk organza (for delicate fabrics, like underlining bridal satin) to hair canvas (for giving

*shape* to men's tailored jackets, and in my case, additional *strength* to a dancer's velvet vest). Underlining is applying an additional layer of fabric to an *entire garment piece*, sometimes accompanied by "padding stitches" to create curves and shaping, for instance to the roll of a lapel.

There are some illustrations and information here:

's+padding+stitch&source=web&ots=yy-iFChssi&sig=l-zWLXkOX4erCoMG3okDmj_eA5c&hl=en"Interfacing" is called for in particular areas of a garment, to provide body under buttonholes, additional body to hems, necklines, etc. Interfacing is usually a specific fabric, woven or non-woven, often but not always, bondable. 'm sure Teri will be able to provide some better definitions. my sewing was learned over many years of trial and error, I've never had professional instructions, and never learned the technical names for many of the techniques I use.

Beverly

I wasn't, either. Sorry, it's just that I'm such a small light when it comes to sewing and here I am, trying to play witht he big girls, and not even in my native language. This accounts for many a stupid question. Unfortunately (or fortunately, since I like you all very much), I haven't found anything similar to this group in German, at least not on the usenet.

I will mull your reply over carefully, just as I do with the sloper blocks and may come back some time for more info. Or perhaps I'll just make you check if I understood correctly. Anyway, thanks a lot for the trouble you took explaining. And I really love to lear, it's just that with a teething baby and the occasional migraine it takes a little longer to sink in. I hope you're not cross about my delayed response.

U.

You do extraordinarily well in English, my German is non-existent in spite of my German-surname-by-marriage. ;-}

Ah, see there is no such thing as a "stupid question". Not knowing something is not stupid, refusing to learn is. And the best way to learn is to be willing to ask questions. ;-)

You're very welcome, and I'm not the least cross, I understand very well the complications of having a small child to care for, and of life jumping in and interfering with plans. Take care,

Beverly