newbie question

It's not hard to handle, but it does fray, particularly across the weave. You may also find that stitching leaves a permanent mark if you have to re-sew a seam. My tips: line fully if possible. Serge exposed cut edges with a two thread stitch, and make a toile/muslin first for fittings! Have a look at what I did with something similar on my web site (URL below), with the pink Bridesmaid dresses. Use silk thread for all seams, hems and hand stitching.

I'll add to Kate's advice by advising you to underline with silk organza. It makes a lightweight addition to the dupioni, and reduces wrinkling greatly. Plus, it eliminates the need for interfacing in many cases, which eliminates the need for fusing. Overpressing dupioni is a no-no.

And speaking of pressing, be super careful not to press any wrinkles into this fabric; they're almost impossible to remove. But once the dupioni is pressed it stays nice and crisp, especially if you've underlined with silk organza.

Good luck!! Karen Maslowski in Cincinnati

DO NOT press seams before the final fitting! Can't repeat it often enough!

The organza is good of that's what you need, but again, experiment a bit to see what gives the result you want,

Thank you Kate and Karen. I am new to sewing so now I have a few more questions.(hope you don't mind) I do not have a serger but my machine has a overcast stitch. Will that work? Also where would I find silk organza? Would they have it at joann's? How would I go about lining it? About fittings I don't know how to go about that.Mabey if you could recomend some books it might be easier then ansewering all these questions. Kate You do wonderful work. I hope someday to be able to do half as well. Thank you

The over edge stitch night be a bit tight and obvious from the right side of the garment: do a bit and press it to see on spare fabric. If it shows, you might like to go back to the old couture finish and overcast by hand!

Silk organza may not be available at Joanne's - they seem to be very hit and miss! BUT a quick google search for a supplier will bring you an on-line source very quickly.

Silk organza is a plain woven silk (you do NOT want poly crystal organza for this! 100% silk is a must!) that is very stiff and springy for it's weight. You lay the fabric and organza out together and cut and sew as one (this is called 'mounting' the face or fashion fabric on an interlining). The lining is cut and sewn separately, then put inside the outer garment with the two lots of seam allowances together. You don't need to neaten the edges of the parts of the garment that will be fully lined, but you do need to baste the fashion fabric and organza together to stop them slipping and warping the garment. If you neaten the edges that will be hidden by the lining, you risk having the neatening show through the garment as a ridge on the outside. However, if your garment fabric is very liable to fraying, consider a hand sewn overcast stitch in a fine silk thread. This will have minimal show through.

Dig about in your local second hand book store and see if you can find an old 1930's home sewing manual: these often had very good instructions and illustrations for this sort of thing that are left out of the modern books. Sometimes hand finishing is the ONLY way to go, and sometimes it just looks so much better that it's worth the extra effort.

The real trick to remember with these older techniques is NOT TO PULL THE THREAD TIGHT!

Probably not. You'd be lucky to find anything silk there.

I'd look online, or if you have a nicer fabric store nearby. Someplace that specializes in bridal will usually have it. Personally, I buy mine from

They ship on a roll instead of folded, and givediscounts for quantity. Excellent resource. You can also get silk organza from G Street Fabrics, which will do mail order. They no longer sell from their website directly, but you can find contact info there: Hope this helps! Karen Maslowski in Cincinnati

Oops, replying to my own post because G Street's website now says "We no longer do mail order". My apologies, but that's too, too sad.

Karen Maslowski in Cincinnati

Locally, (Portland, OR area), Fabric Depot carries it, though it's probably not listed on the website.

Dharma Trading carries some that's okfor underlining, etc.

If white will do, you can get organza fairly reasonable at Dharma Trading:

They sell black fabrics too, now, but I haven't checked tosee whether organza comes in black. I've got to think up an excuse to buy a few yards of their black satin!

Joy Beeson

And if white won't do, it's fairly easy to tint it a different color. I was making a pink silk skirt and top, and wanted my organza to be a little less bright white. So I threw the yardage in with a wash load of red things. Voila! Pale pink organza. Did the same with a load of black clothing, which dulled the white to a pale grey.

Easy, peasy, and no messy dye to bother with.

Karen Maslowski in Cincinnati