What are good seam finishes for silk satin? I have a serger, but it always seems to leave hard edges on fine fabrics and I'm not always pleased with the overall look of serged seams. I would also appreciate any advice on seam finishing the China silk lining!
My first choice, especially for seams *inside* a lined area, is pinked edges. However, I *cut all pieces out* using pinking shears, so this is not an additional step for me.
Second, would be to hand-overcast...time consuming, but very couture.
Third, where possible, I'd make French seams.
Fourth, ir ravelling is a real issue, would be to three-thread serge or zig-zag the edges.
Fifth, just straight stitch 1/8" inside the edge of the fabric along each cut edge.
I'm with Beverly on pinking the satin since that is less likely to leave a ridge on the outside when pressed. If it were me, I'd cut the China silk so I could french the seams if it was sheer. If not, I'd either zig zag & trim them or pink.
Beverly & Phae have covered most of it. I'd only add that I HATE cutting out with pinking sheer, and never do it! :)
I'd only bother to finish the seams if they were exposed: where something if fully lined, like a jacket, I wouldn't bother. On dresses and skirts, you really only need to finish the skirt sections below the zip.
I often use a 2 thread serged edge on firmer silks, and serge seams together on finer ones. On sheers I use a rolled seam - like a rolled hem, but longer stitches so it isn't as stiff.
On very ravelly silks, cut your seam allowances a bit wider, especially in high wear or exposed areas.
You got that right. My hands always ache after the rare occasion when I pink anything but I was attributing that to the old age of my pinking shears. :)
I recently bought a new pair of "featherweight" Ginghers. They are lousy at making little snips--- you know, with the last cm tip of the scissors. For that I use my regular Ginghers. But otherwise, I really like them. They are so light and easy on the hands. OTOH, I cut out almost all my patterns with rotary cutters these days.
I do the top-stitching by hand, because it's hard to find silk thread that matches well enough, and if I did find any, I wouldn't trust it to continue matching after some of the dye washed out, so I sew the fell down with ravelings.
I've had some success with using #100 silk for topstitching wool (haven't made a silk garment since obtaining it), but it's very hard to get it to run through the machine properly -- paradoxically, it seems to encounter *more* friction in the tension disks than thicker thread -- and though the thread doesn't show, it pulls the wool down into a very visible crease.
InspirePoint website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.