interfacing for jacket

My first choice for a well-tailored jacket would be a good hair canvas, sewn with hand padding stitches. For a woman's jacket, for which you might want a less tailored look, knit fusible is another option, but test swatches to be sure you get the "hand" you're looking for. I have not used either sewn in or fusible Pellon (or other non-woven) interfacing for many years, it just does not ever give the desired result. Hair canvas is often difficult to find (clerks at TSWLTH will probably not know what it is), although I have a local fabric store which stocks it. You can find it online:

?prod=5407HC110%2DYDThere is some really excellent information here about interfacing a tailored jacket:

Beverly

Dear Nancy,

You need to experiment. The tricot you have can be used as an underlining for the entire jacket. However, if the jacket has lapels, you need something more supporting. If you decide to use hair canvas for the lapel and collar, cut off all of the seam allowance, and attach it by hand with all-over turkey stitches. If you can find it, fusible hair canvas is great, but I haven't been able to find it the last couple of years.

Throw away the Pellon, or use it for costumes worn once. It's terrible, and should never be used in a tailoring project. You can experiment with some of the woven interfacings as well. Some of them seem to be flimsy, but have good staying ability. I think what I'm describing is called weft insertion.

Something else I did for the last couple of jackets I made. I finished them the way menswear is finished. As you know, the collar is sewn to the front facing. The undercollar is sewn to the back neck of the jacket. Instead of fighting all of this under the needle, I pressed under the seam allowances on the lapel facing and upper collar, then hand sewed the under collar to the upper collar. Sharp corners and perfect lapels were the result. I'll always do this now.

Teri

Teri: Can you give us some brand names or other specifics? I have just about given up on fusibles, because all of the ones I can buy at either Hancock's or JoAnn's seem to pucker terribly, even though I am careful to pre-shrink them first. As a result, I am using either sew-in interfacing, or simply using various fabrics as interlinings.

Olwyn Mary in New Orleans.

Dear Olwyn Mary,

The only brand name I can think of offhand is Fusi-Knit. This is the tricot stuff. And maybe the way you're preshrinking or attaching your interfacing is the problem. To preshrink, I hold a steamy iron over the interfacing, not touching it, and let it shrink from the heat. I then attach it with lots of steam, ten seconds at each spot, overlapping the spots til it's completely attached. I never have it bubble or detach. I never use nonwoven interfacing, such as the Pellon types.

Teri

Dear Teri: So how do you cut it if you preshrink as you are attaching it? Do you cut it a certain amount larger to allow for this?

Olwyn Mary in New Orleans.

Dear Olwyn Mary,

I cut the interfacing the same as the outside. The shrinkage that occurs is not sufficient to have to cut a different size. You'll see it draw up as you steam it; when it draws no more, it's ready to attach. It will be just inside the original cut lines. Fusi-Knit is thin enough that it won't cause a ridge.

My all time favorite, though for tailoring is fusible hair canvas. It's a little lighter in weight than regular hair canvas. But alas, I haven't been able to find it for a couple of years now. For this, I cut off the seam allowances, and add an extra layer in the lapel area, a tad smaller than the first piece attached to the entire front, except along the roll line. By cutting right to the roll line, it replaces the turkey stitch and twill tape used along the roll line. All I have left is tiny scraps that I use for my doll hats--makes them non-crushable.

Teri

I use the HTC fusibles Connie Crawford sells, and have found them to be very suitable for most fabrics, and to fuse and handle well:

other vendor of interfacings that I trust is Louise Cutting -- shehas a sampler kit, there are two different schools of thought representedhere: Connie says "don't preshrink, use a wet press cloth and hot iron".Louise says "do preshrink". I can only report that I've used Connie's interfacings for years and they work well, staying on during harsh laundering and drying conditions without shrinkage, orange peel or bubbling. AndI've seen beautiful garments that have been laundered or drycleaned andmade with Louise's interfacings. I gave up on fusibles about 11 years ago when I got back into sewing in a big way... all the interfacings I was finding at local stores were fusibles, and every last one of them bubbled, shrank, or orangepeeled. I went so far as to try to get real numbers on melt temperature, pressure, and amount of moisture from the manufacturers of the ones I'd tried from fabric stores, and got nowhere (I was prepared to embed thermocouples in the ironing board to monitor temperatures, and construct a variable temperature press -- but never could get non-squishy numbers from the manufacturers (sorry, "wool" is not a temperature). I was persuaded to try the ones Connie was selling about 9 years ago and torture tested them on scraps before committing to using one in a garment. They held up, and I've been using them since.

Whatever you use, DO NOT MOVE THE FUSED FABRIC UNTIL IT IS COMPLETELY COOL. Yes, room temperature cool. Not even to fuse another section.

The hard part about picking a fusible (for me anyhow) is the realization that unfused fusibles feel *so* light in comparison with sew-ins that I was picking interfacings too heavy for the fabric. For awhile I wouldn't commit to fusing a pattern piece until I had fused a couple of test swatches. Now I've got a better range of experience, I can go from experience + judgement.

BTW, I'm rather smitten with the fusibles supposedly designated for sheer fabrics... they also do a great job in hems, patch pockets, etc.

Kay

AHA! Dear Teri, I will try your method of preshrinking. The only fusibles I have in stock are lightweight knits, ever since you told us all not to use the nonwovens, all those years ago on the old aol boards. I had been preshrinking by the "drop them in hot water, leave until cool then drape over the shower rod" method and it obviously did not work for me.

I finally managed to straighten out my studio yesterday - haven't done anything in there except the occasional urgent mending job ever since I got sick in June - so before I start any construction I will dig out a number of fabric scraps and samples of the various interfacings I have on hand, and try them your way.

Olwyn Mary in New Orleans.