Working with velvet

Once upon a time I was making a velvet bridesmaid dress and ended up sewing most of it and overcasting by hand. Other than that, I haven't made anything else with velvet and don't have any plans to do so. Good luck! Barbara in SC

Boy oh boy, talk about jumping right into the deep end! Since it's poly fabric, you could go ahead and use (shudder) poly thread.

As for the nap, IMO just let the chips fall where they may. You've got lots of pieces in that block, and you will have enough other things to make you crazy without worrying about nap. Anyway, it might add a nice surface motion.

Poly fabric is meant to be wrinkle free, pretty much, which means it doesn't take a crisp press. You might also want larger seam allowances

-it would be a pity if the seams started to fall apart after all that work. I'd go for dressmaking allowances of at least 5/8". Hmm

-considering the bulk of velvet, maybe there's some way you could shave off the pile from part of the seam allowance, short of trimming with nail scissors. Maybe try a few judicious dots of water-soluble glue to keep the seams where they belong.

Even with the walk>With the recent loss of my companion/therapy dog, I'm on quite the

NO FAIR! You can't make comments like those to a non-quilter and a relative newb without explaining them. Why are we jumping into the deep end? DW has done quite a few cotton quilts, some totes, hangings, and just finished a dupion I designed for a nephew. We thought this starter project made much more sense than jumping right into the six color velvet lap quilt, the double lap quilt, or the queen size, and what's the deal with poly thread? Aren't you supposed to use the same kind of thread as fabric?

No guts - no glory (or so they say) Chance favors the prepared mind (or so Louis Pasteur said)

Dr. Smith ("Oh, the pain... THE PAIN..." I said)

Sounds like you are on the right track. I generally prefer a roller foot for velvet, but since you are doing a pattern that is straight lines a walking foot should be fine.

Since you are using poly velvet *shudder* poly thread should be fine. Excuse the shudder. Not only am I a fabric snob, but I am completely convinced that polyester is an invention by the devil for the torment of seamstresses and their ilk. I have around 15 yards of velvet in this house at the moment, and none of it is polyester. No idea what thread to suggest for embroidery on poly velvet.

The following info is based on useing silk-rayon velvet. I would assume that it mostly applies to poly as well.

Fray check or serged edges are definitely called for during the working. I always finish with enclosed seams for velvet because I dont trust fray blockers to last forever. Thus I usually use half inch seam allowances (or thereabouts) to allow for the enclosing. This is actually a little less than is usual for garments, but considerably more than for quilting. If you decide to enclose, adjust according to the method you decide on. With silks and velvets I usually opt for french seams as being easiest and least intrusive on the design. They can be trimmed diagonally just like a regular seam, you will want to go through and seal those wee areas of raw edges. With poly a soldering iron and a delicate hand (and practice on test samples) might be fastest and easiest. If you feel that would be ill advised, then a tack will do.

Probably the most important thing to note embroidering on velvet is the grain. Whether or not you adjust the pile, it will have a tendancy to lay in one direction over the length of the fabric. If you sew a few pieces in backwards with regard to grain few will notice, but if your embroidery is done without taking it into account then the grain will really stand out. I most often chemically burn out the design before embroidering on velvet, with poly backing and pile that is not an option. A lot of the poly velvet I have seen has a longer pile than the silk velvet I use, sometimes almost halfway to a short plush. If you have the longer pile velvet you will probably want to modify it in the area to be embroidered. Do not be tempted by DIY sites that tell you how to burn out poly velvet with heat and metal! Such techniques usually have a long learning curve and go through a lot of velvet before they are mastered. You can shorten the pile in the areas to be embroidered with embridery scissors (the bent variety works best) or a razor blade, or you can flatten the pile with a gum or starch solution manipulating it so that it all points in a suitable direction for embroidery. For the second option scraps of Solvy dissolved in water makes an excellent solution. I usually use a silk painting frame for embroidering velvet. With standard hoops usually just wrapping both hoops with like fabric will go a long long way to preventing hoop burn on slks and velvets. I highly recomend reviewing the chapter "Embroidery on Silk and Velvet" in "The Encyclopedia of Needlework" by Therese de Dillmont. If you don't have a copy your library should, and if they don't Project Gutenberg does.

A rough guess having never met your fabric, you probably want between

NightMist

On Mon, 13 Jul 2009 06:18:17 -0700 (PDT), "Dr. Zachary Smith" wrote:

I really must compliment you, Nightmist, on this excellent velvet tutorial. I am constantly amazed by the depth of your knowledge (I am getting used to your breadth of knowledge).

I am not planning to work on velvet (after I made my own velvet wedding dress!!), but I can most certainly appreciate your expertise. It is so great that you share it with us like this, especially considering the time it must have taken for you to write.

Thank you. . In message , NightMist writes

You're gotten lots of good advice so far. I would add that, for me, the easiest way to deal with the fraying of the cut edges is to just either put it through my serger or zig-zag the edges. The "shudder" from folks about using poly is because it doesn't press nicely or take a good crease. It can cause fits when used in a quilt with 100% cotton if you aren't prepared :-). You are correct in your assumption that it's best to use thread that is the same fiber content as your fabric. I would recommend that, before you begin to actually start sewing your pieces together, you take a bunch of scraps and try sewing them together. This will give you a feel for how your velvet will act when you work with it. As others have said, velvet has a mind of its own and each piece of velvet, once it's cut from the "mother cloth" thinks differently than all the other pieces!!!! Also, even with a needle board, when pressing velvet DO NOT put your iron directly on top of the velvet without a pressing cloth. Hold the iron just above the surface of the fabric and steam it well. Then if you still need more pressing, you can use a pressing cloth and GENTLY lay your iron on that to get a firm press of the fabric. Carefully consider nap. If you don't care if the nap goes different directions in your finished piece, then don't bother with it at all. BUT -- be aware that nap going in different directions WILL make your velvet pieces look different in color. You could end up with pieces looking quite different from each other and that might be a good thing depending on what YOU want. You also didn't say if you would be doing hand embroidery or machine embroidery. For machine embroidery, the easiest way I have found to deal with working on velvet was to use a very fine tulle ON TOP (bridal illusion veiling if available) to help control the nap. Choose a color tulle that is the same as your velvet and then simply cut away (using fine fingernail or embroidery scissors) the bits of netting that are visible after the embroidery has been finished. If you look closely at some high end embroidered velvet items, you can often see just a teensy bit of the netting along the edges of the design. If you get a netting that closely matches the color of your velvet, your eye doesn't even see it's there once the excess is removed. Whatever you do, keep us posted, OK? Sounds like an interesting project and a challenge to boot :-). CiaoMeow >^;;^<

Dr. Zachary Smith wrote:

Well, I did say that poly fabric could use poly thread! I purely hate the stuff myself, it has such a scrinchy feel. Kind of like chalk scraping a blackboard, just sets my teeth on edge. Pardon the prejudice.

I used to love velvet, even made a dress for myself (back in the Dark Ages when I was thin) that was a simple A-line with a magnificent rose embroidered in corsage position. Those were the days before Quilting, when I was not consumed with obsession and had time to do fiddly hand embroidery. I mention this to establish my creds as an experienced seamstress, one who even earned a living for a while sewing in a costume shop. (We made lots of padded doublets out of upholstery velvet :-p)

So when Quilting came along and took over my life, I had no 2nd thoughts about making a velvet and corduroy quilt, large double-bed size. Bought remnants, all cotton, deep luscious colors. It was a log cabin, copied from an old one I saw in a show. so far, so good. Then I discovered there was no way I could quilt it (we're still talking a long time ago, and I lived in Denmark where nobody had ever heard of a long-arm machine.) So it was tied. No batting, because it took serious muscle to even lift as it was. And then nobody would sleep under it

-too heavy. About like having a dinosaur camped on your chest. And even without washing, my lovely straight quarter-inch seams started to pull apart. And we haven't even mentioned the ankle-deep layer of lint it produced during construction.

I freely admit it would have been smarter to do as you are about to do, start with a small project. But I thought I knew from velvet, based on previous dressmaking.

I'm sure you will have fun with this, s>>> Boy oh boy, talk about jumping right into the deep end! Since it's

And I enthusiastically second Pat's compliment!

First, a BIG Thanks to Everyone for their input.

If I had a choice of velvets, I may have opted for other than poly - we wouldn't use any other poly for anything else - however that's all the locals carry, and even the onlines that folks here suggested had more limited color choices than the locals. The *only* silk velvet I found was black - $80/yd. (45") The cottons were all upholstery velvets, and while more reasonably priced, felt more like velveteens (that sandpapery texture). No-one had silk/rayon or acryllic. We did the best we could.

While there is no embroidery planned (yet, but not carved in stone) for this first project, the later ones will be embroidered on the formerly mentioned Bernina. The plan is to use (I *believe* but don't quote me on this) some kind of soluble filmy stuff on top that will be torn away and then dabbed to hide any visible borders. Hoop burn will be handled by using fusible stabilizer on the back, and clamping the

I considered the quilting carefully, and for several reasons decided to chicken out and SITD. There've been a lot of cautions about "weight". I'm not terribly concerned. The second project is a lap quilt that will answer any questions about that. DW is one of those people with no blood. She can be sitting under 3 blankets on the couch with a heating pad on high while everyone else in the room is complaining about the heat. It's summer now, and while I've got a fan blowing on my side with no covers, she's wearing flannels with 4-5 blankets on top. Worst case: if the lap quilt suggests the others will be too heavy, I have enough pseudo-CQ designs to account for the rest of my velvet/CQ stash... :-)

Thanks again to everyone for the input, and by all means please keep it coming! I'll post updates as things progress...

Doc

I had a great-gramma who favored lace making, a gramma who dressed dolls and took in sewing, and another gramma who did knitting and crochet, they all did embroidery of various sorts, and they all did "utility sewing". They all also knew my mom was a total tomboy who was as inept with a needle as she was in the kitchen, thus they all felt duty bound to educate me in womanly pursuits. Then I learned to read. You could probably call it inevitable. lol

NightMist

NightMist, you have been so blessed with a wonderful family. Almosts makes me cry.

Donna in WA

FWIW, and those who are/were interested... I'm told the current(? Aug/ Sep) issue of Quilter's Newsletter has an article on working with velvet...

Doc