Linings

I like to just put the lining in it and then treat is as you would a single layer of fabric...........tailors will spin when I say this, but it is a great deal less trouble that way.

I'll intersperse my comments, coz I has a few! :)

The interlining and facing add strength as well as finishing off the inside. You will need to replace this with something if you are lining from a waistline down rather than using a pattern with a waistband.

Between them, slip stitching the lining to the zipper tape on the inside. Gives a much neater and more comfortable finish, and is less bulky. You sew the zipper to the skirt as if it were to be unlined, and then finish it off after sewing the lining and skirt together at the waist.

Use a hem on the lining about an inch deep, turned up to the 'outside', so the hem is between the two layers. The lining needs the weight of the hem to help to prevent it riding up. Make it a little shorter than the skirt, so it doesn't show at the bottom. If you stitch it to the skirt hem all round, you risk it all pulling out of shape - it will hang and look better separate.

If the skirt is very full at the hem, try rolling the edge of the lining fabric.

If this is a fitted skirt, and you want to avoid the lining drifting away from the outer fabric, anchor them at the side seams with a French Tack about an inch long, a couple of inches above the hem.

Use some pre-shrunk twill tape in there to add strength, and understitch on the inside.

Make your lining like an exact inside out copy of the skirt, darts and all! It should fit exactly the same way. Once made up, pop it inside the skirt, matching darts and seams. A good trick for avoiding bulk at the darts is to press the lining darts the opposite way from the fashion fabric darts.

Hi Karen: This is only my way of doing it - doubtless others have other methods. Hope it makes sense.

I strengthen the main fabric with fusible interfacing if necessary, and insert the zipper in the main fabric only. I finish and turn under the lining fabric and either slipstitch it along the sides of the zipper, or just slipstitch it to the bottom of the zip but allow it to float freely up the sides. This allows the fabric to slip up and down as you sit, so the lining takes the strain and not the skirt fabric. If you don't slipstitch all the way down the sides of the zip, you do have to be careful not to catch the lining in the zipper teeth when you do the zip up - a stiffish lining is best here, on a tailored skirt, and the gap around the zipper should be quite wide.

I normally hem lining and skirt separately, making the lining slightly shorter. This allows the lining to move freely under the skirt fabric - if you sew the two together, especially if they have different properties of stretch, stiffness, etc, it's hard to prevent either the lining showing, or the skirt fabric rolling under to the inside, especially when you sit down. You can bar-tack the lining to the skirt at the bottom of the sideseams to prevent the lining riding up too much, if you want.

Are you using a separate waistband? That will still need interfacing as normal - you just enclose both the lining and skirt fabric within the waistband. If you're not having a separate waistband you will probably still find you need interfacing, to create enough body - one layer of lining plus one layer of skirt fabric won't be enough to prevent rollover at the waist.

Yes, you need to dart the lining (or you could use pleats, but they're bulkier). You may want to move the darts slightly, so they don't quite line up with the darts in the skirt, again to prevent bulk. Yes, do it before inserting the lining - but don't overfit and make the lining too tight or it will 'walk' up your body - make sure you can move around in it. Also, be careful what fabric you choose for your lining fabric - nothing with static cling.

Re order of construction. I would construct the lining first, including darts, and check the fit - you should be able to slide two fingers inside at the waist. Be careful not to overfit - this is the skirt your body is actually wearing, the outer one just sits on top of it. Then construct the skirt separately, check the fit, then baste the two together at the waist. Make and add the waistband. Insert zipper (the order of this depends on whether you have a skirt button, or the zip comes to the top of the waistband...). Check fit again. Leave on the stand for 24 hours. Hem lining, hem main fabric.

Final tip: slipstitch satin, velvet or grosgrain ribbon to the inside of your skirt waistband - gives you slip or grip depending on what you want, and prevents rough wool from scratching you.

I should add, BTW, that I only make long, full skirts nowadays, but this method has also served me well for short, tailored skirts. It also works when you want a woven lining on a medium-stretch knit skirt. I usually make my lining a bright colour for a bit of pizzazz.

Hope some of this helps, anyway.

:) Trish

Interfacing where? In hems, it hangs much better with interfacing; with waistbands, interfacing keeps skirt bands from rolling and bunching.

There are a lot of considerations with how you handle lining, depending on the style, the weight of lining and face fabric, whether you intend to be able to alter it easily, etc., etc. Typically, linings fall free of the inside of the garment, attached only at opening (waist or neckline and armholes) and not at hems.

Linings are also typically shorter than the garment, as lining fabric tends to be a little more stretchy.

Typically on a skirt or pair of pants, I cut the lining several inches shorter than the finished garment, make it up as if it were a separate garment body, then baste it together with the face fabric at the waistband. Apply the waistband as if the skirt body was one. (makes it a pain to reline something, however). I usually tack the lining's zipper opening to the zipper tape in the face skirt by hand; hand sewing is a little more limber than a machine seam.

Note that with this method, you're going to see the seam allowances through your face fabric, since you say it's not opaque.

You might instead consider underlining it, joining "lining" fabric to the face fabric by basting at the edges, and treating the two layers as one. Or the slightly fancier method of putting face and lining fabric pieces together rightsides together, stitching around the edge, then trimming, turning right side out, pressing, and then using it as a single piece of fabric. This method is easiest when seams are straight (makes it really tough to clip curves!) and you know the garment has been adjusted to fit, and you can stand the extra bulk of the enclosed seam allowances.