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Question regarding silk fabric

Hello knowledgeable ones, I just recently finished a beautiful pair of 100% silk pull on pants. They fit just right, but the seamlines were a little wavy. Along with that issue, after the first time I wore them, the fabric has started tearing little holes where the stitches are in the seams.

I have also had this "tearing" problem with seams in Taffeta also. There doesn't seem to be any undue stress on the seams, and I used French seams all over. Any suggestions for future silk projects?

Thank you, Angie in Georgia

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It could be the weight of the fabric and the weave, not the fibre being silk. If it's a light weight fabric, but a loose weave, fitted trousers/pants may not be the best use for it. Whatever the fibre, fitted trousers need to be 'suit weight' fabric.

Felled seams rather than French seams may also help as they are flat and distribute thr stresses better.

Reply to
Kate Dicey

Thank you Kate. Sometimes I still have a difficult time judging fabrics, especially if the pattern calls for "laundered silks/rayons". I'm not sure what weight they are calling for.

Is there anyway to fix the tear> >

Reply to
AKirk

I flat-fell all my silk seams.

I do the felling by hand -- not a careful hemming stitch, just plain running stitch, trying to keep the stitches on the right side small, and using well-waxed ravelings of the fabric itself unless it's printed or black.

Joy Beeson

Reply to
joy beeson

Angie, are you using a fine needle? It sounds to me as though your needle is too big for your fabric. For a fine silk you won't need larger than a size 9 or

11 needle, and make sure it has a sharp (not ballpoint) tip.

You should change needles with every 8 hours of machine sewing, so if you haven't changed it recently you should do so.

Karen Maslowski in Cincinnati

Reply to
SewStorm

I wonder if what you're actually seeing is "seam slippage". This is a fabric (weave) fault, not a sewing fault... the fabric just comes apart at the seamline whenever it's stressed. To check for the possibility of seam slippage before you buy (fabrics with heavy weft are especially likely to have this fault-- failles, ottomans, satins, etc.) take a corner of the fabric and pinch it firmly between thumbnail and forefinger of each hand, thumbnails together, then start to pull your hands apart. If the weave distorts very easily, you've got a good chance of seam slippage. My personal cure is to leave it in the fabric store, but sometimes you can help things by totally underlining the garment with something like silk organza. Any tension on a seam on a fabric with seam slippage, and the fabric auto-shreds.

Kay Lancaster snipped-for-privacy@fern.com

Reply to
Kay Lancaster

Re: Question regarding silk fabric wrote:

Reply to
sewingbythecea

Thanks, I'll try that.

Reply to
AKirk

Cea adds to Kay's helpful info:

Wider seam allowances will help, too.

Glad you figured this out!

Karen Maslowski in Cincinnati

Reply to
SewStorm

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