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Transcript:

Helen: We are recording today on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the Coast Salish and Kwakwaka’wakw peoples, including Tsleil-Waututh, Squamish, Musqueam, and K’ómoks first nations.

Hello, and welcome to Love To Sew. I’m Helen, the designer behind Helen’s Closet Patterns and Cedar Quilt Co.

Caroline: And I’m Caroline, the owner of Blackbird Fabrics.

Helen: We’re two sewing buds who love to sew our own clothes and want to encourage you on your sewing journey, too.

Caroline: Join us for today’s topic: Garment Guts.

Helen: Ooh.

Caroline: Hi, Helen.

Helen: Hi, Caroline. How are you?

Caroline: I’m good. How are you?

Helen: Good. Feeling goofy as always, you know?

Caroline: Yeah. I think I’ve had too much coffee today.

Helen: That’s me every day.

Caroline: It’s so sunny, too, outside. Like, the sun is just streaming into this room…

Helen: Oh, yeah.

Caroline: …and it’s absolutely wonderful.

Helen: If I get any extra time today, I’m gonna go dig in my garden. Just gonna…

Caroline: Ooh!

Helen: …dig and dig and dig until I’m covered in dirt.

Caroline: That sounds amazing. I love that. I dunno how to segue from that.

Helen: What is a garment guts? This topic title makes me think of greasy grimy gopher guts…

Caroline: Ooh!

Helen: …which is, like, from a, remember, like, a campfire song that kids sing at camp?

Caroline: Not familiar.

Helen: Oh, great. We’ll link it in the show notes for anyone who’s interested.

Caroline: Perfect. I’ll go check that out.

Helen: Okay. Before we get into today’s topic, which is very intriguing, we have a couple of listener questions to start with, and we actually have some voicemails from y’all. So we’re gonna start with a voicemail from Jackie.

Jackie: Hi, Helen. Hi, Caroline. This is Jackie. I live in Palo Alto, California, and I’m calling about silk. I know you have an episode on silk, but I had two quick questions. So I recently picked up some upholstery fabric that has a little bit of silk in it. So my first question is how much silk is needed to consider something a silk blend or a linen blend? So this one is 63% cotton, 19% viscose, 12% silk, 6% flax. And would that mean it’s a silk blend or a linen blend, or is it just a cotton blend? I would love to know what they do in the industry and how they classify things.

My second question is I, knowing it was silk, I hand washed it. And then drying it, it was really wet, so I ringed it dry, like, in my hands, and then I laid out some towels and rolled it up in the towels to get as much moisture out as possible, and then I just hung it to dry. But I was curious with the ringing something to dry, does that mess up the weave? And is that recommended for something like silk? Fabric is pretty sturdy, but I was curious about the ringing aspect and if that will hurt the weave and, kind of, get things off grain and if that should be something to look out for.

Thanks so much for listening and thanks for all you do. I love the podcast. Bye.

Caroline: Thank you so much for calling us, Jackie. These are both really great questions. And I think the way that we talk about fabric, like, in the sewing world and in the fabric industry is maybe a little different than what the legal guidelines are that sellers have to follow.

So if you were to say a linen blend fabric, that would tell me that the primary fabric in the fabric is linen. But there are some guidelines that sellers have to follow. So at Blackbird, we would follow the guidelines from the Canadian government, but the US guidelines are similar. If you’re curious, we can link those up in the show notes.

You have to have accurate information about what makes up the fabric on the bolt and on the listing page. We also include this info on a tag attached to the cut pieces we send to customers. And on this label, the fibres in the blend have to be listed along with their percentage by weight in order of predominance.

So the highest percentage is listed first, the second, highest second, et cetera. And if a fibre makes up under 5% of the fabric, by way, it doesn’t have to be listed. Of course, when sewists are talking in an informational way, in person or online, they don’t have to follow these rules. It’s, kind of, the wild west out there when we talk about fabrics.

But it sounds like the fabric that you bought was following these guidelines because you know all of the content that’s involved.

Helen: But is it a silk blend or a linen blend?

Caroline: I would say. Like, I probably wouldn’t, if I were just talking about it conversationally, I wouldn’t list every single fibre. If you wanted to, sort of, simplify it, if I’m remembering the content correctly, it was primarily linen and cotton. So I would probably say a linen-cotton blend. I wouldn’t say a silk blend, if the silk is only, like, 10% of the fibre content, conversationally.

Helen: Yeah. Yeah. Okay. And then to your second question, we would say, yes, ringing after hand washing can change a fabric. It depends on the fabric, of course, but in general, if it’s too delicate to machine wash, it’s too delicate to ring. Ringing can stretch the fibres and throw off the grain of the fabric.

The best way to get extra water out of fabric is to squish it and press it. You can press it against the side of the sink or bottom of the tub. You can squeeze it between your hands and try not to stretch or pull the fabric when you’re doing this. And of course, that’s not gonna get enough water out of your fabric to be able to hang it to dry quite yet, and that’s where the towel part comes in that you talked about.

If you have a lot of fabric or a fabric that holds a lot of water, you might need several towels. But usually, you’ll lay the fabric over the towels, roll it into a burrito, and then stand or press on the burrito. If the towels get totally soaked, you do it again with the dry towels. Usually, one round is enough to get it to a point where you can hang it to dry.

But with all that said, based on the fibre content of the fabric you talked about, I think you’ll be fine to wash it on a gentle cycle in the machine and air dry. But it does depend a bit on the weave. If there’s only a little silk and a lot of washing friendly fibres, I would guess that machine washing would work. But of course, you know, we say do a test swatch.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: Be careful. Yeah. But yeah, it’s a great question about the ringing. It’s so tempting ‘cause that’s the easiest way to get water out of anything, and it does put a lot of torque on the fabric

Caroline: Yeah. Generally speaking, I don’t really recommend ringing any type of fabric. It’s just not a good risk to take because you just never know. Fabric when wet is often just, like, more vulnerable.

Helen: Yes.

Caroline: Okay, here’s our next listener question.

Braniyah: Hi, Helen and Caroline. My name is Parnian, and I’m calling from Vancouver. I’m a huge fan of the show, and both of you. I actually started sewing after taking a course at Blackbird Fabrics on a whim after a few drinks. Uh, my question is, when do you guys think is the right time to buy a serger? I’ve been sewing on and off for about three years now and have some, some whirlwind fabric projects. And because I’m not as good at sewing and just generally lazy, I mostly finish my seams with a zigzag stitch. But the seams then start to fray and, and they just don’t look very good after one wash, or even just a couple of washes. Would love to hear your thoughts on this. Thank you. Bye.

Helen: Hi, Braniyah. Thank you so much for your question. We love that you learned to sew at Blackbird. That really warms our hearts.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: Especially for you Caroline, I’m sure. You got to be a part of that. Amazing. I love it. Honestly, we love our sergers. Caroline and I are big serger fans. If you can afford it, I think any time is a great time to buy a serger, even for beginners if you’re interested in sergering, obviously. It saves time because instead of sewing a seam, trimming a seam, and then finishing a seam. It can do it all in one step, especially if you’re sewing knits. You can just go right to the seger and skip the sewing machine for a lot of the steps, which is really fun.

If you have kids and do a lot of kid sewing, that can really speed up the process. If you don’t have the funds or space for a serger right now, you can learn a couple of seam finishes, so your clothes will last longer, and you can get things finished. And we have a whole episode about seam finishes that will link up in the show notes.

I would say the most versatile seam finish is zigzagging over the edge of the seam allowance, but it’s maybe not the most beautiful seam finish. There are other options like French seams or bias bound seams that you can use for a prettier finish if you’re interested in beautiful garment guts.

Caroline: Mm-hmm.

Helen: But yeah, I love my serger. Caroline, what do you think?

Caroline: Yeah, I think, I mean, we’ve talked a few times on the show about how you don’t need a serger to have a nice finish on your clothes. And that’s true, but I also think it can be pretty life-changing.

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: If you have the means to get one, it really does, kind of, up your sewing game. It gives you an opportunity to sew more with knits and have more secure seams with your knit garments, and then it just creates a really nice finish. I’m not a French seam girlie. I’m not, like, a bound bias binding on the seam person.

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: So I just love my serger. It’s fast, it’s easy to use. Threading it is not that intimidating. You just gotta try it a few times…

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: …and follow the instructions and…

Helen: Yeah, totally.

Caroline: recommend if you are able to, do it.

Helen: Yeah, and I think that sometimes one of the things that holds people back from getting a serger is, like, this idea that you need to be a certain level of sewist to be allowed to have a serger, which is absolutely not the case. If you’re a beginner and you want a serger, you get a serger like…

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: …you go for it. It’s gonna make a difference in your sewing practice, and you are totally allowed to have one, even as a beginner.

Caroline: Yeah, we give you permission, so now you’re allowed. Well, that was pretty apropo because we’re gonna be talking about garment guts in this episode.

Helen: Yeah. So what do we mean exactly by garment guts? Well these are, like, the hidden parts of a garment that can give it shape, structure, and functionality. Some are there to give it volume, like crinoline under skirts.

Caroline: Some can help to hold the garment up, like an inner corset or waist stays.

Helen: And some give structure to drapey fabrics, like interfacing.

Caroline: Garment guts are attached to a garment. Some of the things we talk about in this episode can also be made or bought separately, like bustiers or petticoats.

Helen: And making these elements a part of your garment has some advantages. You can make an internal bustier in the shape of your garment. You don’t have to worry about your bra peeking out because it’s actually an inner layer that’s attached. And if you’re making a strapless dress, an internal corset or bustier can both hold up the bodice and support the weight of the skirt and make you more comfortable overall.

Caroline: And if you make an integrated under skirt rather than a separate petticoat, you won’t need an extra waistband. So there’s less bulk, and you can also make it just the right length for your skirt.

Helen: On the other hand, if you have separate undergarments, you can wear them under a bunch of different clothes. So it’s definitely more practical and less work than making internal support systems for every single one of your me-made garments. And that’s probably why it’s mostly seen in formal dresses.

Caroline: Yeah, and whether or not you integrate these elements into your garment, remember to pay attention to how your undergarments change your silhouette. So measure your bust and waist after you put on your bra or bustier layer. Choose your garment size based on those measurements.

This is why when you go wedding dress shopping, ask me how I know, they always tell you to wear a bra and any, kind of, like, shapewear that you intend to wear on your wedding day, or at least something similar because it really does change the shape of your body. So to make sure that you’re getting the right fit, you wanna be making sure that you’re wearing those underlayers.

Helen: Yeah, and this can go for measuring yourself even to make a t-shirt in your sewing room…

Caroline: So true.

Helen: …you know, wear the bra or no bra that you plan to wear it with, that t-shirt.

Caroline: Yes!

Helen: And as you can probably tell, we are gonna be talking a lot about formal wear in this episode, and that’s natural because adding volume, structure, and support to garments takes a lot of work. And most people don’t wanna spend all that time on something they’re gonna wear to the grocery store. But you can definitely add great guts to your everyday garments, too. So we’re gonna be sprinkling in examples, such as…

Caroline: Interfacing a semi-casual blazer properly will give it the structure it.

Helen: And you could add boning across the upper edge of a square neck top to keep it from collapsing in the middle.

Caroline: Horsehair braid can make the flouncy hem of a sundress extra bouncy.

Helen: And even if you can’t see them from the outside, garment guts can transform the whole look of a garment. If you’ve ever seen a red carpet look, hello, the Oscars, and wondered, how did they do that? The answer is probably the right guts.

Caroline: I am loving this episode because I’m gonna be making my wedding dress this year.

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: And it’s really getting my wheels turning, even though I do wanna keep it pretty simple. That’s my style. I still think that, like, a well thought out garment gut, in this situation, will just make me feel a little bit more secure on the day, and it’ll make the garment feel really special and tailored to me. So I’m excited to learn more about this alongside you, Helen, and then…

Helen: Yes!

Caroline: …hopefully, apply it to my wedding dress sewing journey.

Helen: Same. I mean, to be completely honest, we’re both a little out of our depth here. Obviously, Lisa has helped us with the research for this episode, and we understand the concept of a lot of these things, but Caroline and I don’t have a ton of personal experience doing a lot of these techniques, so it’s really exciting to hear about them. It’s definitely inspiring. I would love to make a formal wear gown one day and incorporate some of these ideas.

Caroline: Okay, let’s kick it off with netting, tulle, crinoline, and organza. These can be used to add volume to your garments. Tulle and netting can be soft and drapery or super stiff with a lot of body. They don’t need to be finished or hemmed, which is nice.

Helen: Organza is another fabric that’s great for adding volume. It does need to be finished and hemmed though ‘cause it can fray, and it’s typically softer against the skin than tulle, netting, and crinoline.

Caroline: Crinoline is a plain weave fabric made specifically to add volume to underskirts. It does need to be finished and hemmed. It’s stiffer than any of the other options, and it doesn’t look as pretty. So it’s not really the kind of thing you wanna let peek out.

Helen: Yeah. And if the fabric you’re using is rough or scratchy, it’s a good idea to consider a lining layer for against your skin. You’ll definitely thank us later.

Caroline: Underskirts or petticoats are one way to add volume to a dress or skirt, and there are a few different methods you can use to get different silhouettes.

Helen: A classic underskirt that makes an a-line shape starts with a single layer of soft fabric going from the waist to the first tier, and then at that first tier, there are two layers of stiff fabric. The next tier has two layers attached to each of the first tier layers, making it four layers and the increasing layers build volume as the skirt goes towards the floor.

Charlie of This Blog Is Not For You has a tutorial for making a petticoat that includes an illustration for how a classic petticoat is constructed. So we’ll make sure to link that up in the show notes. I love this concept of, sort of, doubling every tier and just adding and adding and adding. I wanna do this on a tiered dress.

Caroline: Yes! You can get so much volume. Another option is to simply sew a tiered skirt. Dixie DIY used cotton crinoline to make petticoats that have a lot of volume without a lot of layers.

Helen: An under skirt with a few layers of fabric gathered at the waist will give more of a bell or a dirndl silhouette because all of that volume is actually up at your waist instead of tiered down below.

Caroline: And you can draft your own under skirt to go with the shape of your dress. So for example, you can give a mermaid dress more oomph by making a long underskirt from lining fabric and then sewing a tier of stiff fabric to the lower edge.

Helen: Ooh. Caroline, are you going mermaid? Is that happening?

Caroline: No…

Helen: No…

Caroline: It’s not really my jam. I’m not a mermaid.

Helen: How do you dance in a mermaid dress?

Caroline: Exactly.

Helen: You can, you have to do, like, Elaine Benes dance and just kick your legs out at the knees.

Caroline: I definitely need to be able to dance at my wedding, so…

Helen: Yeah. If you wanna make your petticoat a part of your dress, you’ll need to know when to add it in in the construction. So you’ll have a separate lining layer under your underskirt. It’s like an underskirt inception. You can baste the top edge of your underskirt to the top edge of your outer skirt and treat them as one layer when you’re constructing your final dress. And you’ll sew in the lining layer later.

Caroline: And if your underskirt is the lining layer, sew it in after the outer dress is constructed, and then you can hide the seam allowances and make everything on the inside look really neat.

Helen: Yes, and you can hand sew it in so there’s, like, no visible stitching at all.

Hemming or trimming your underskirt should be your last construction step, even after hemming your outer skirt. Make sure to only mark the hem of your outer skirt after everything else in your garment is done, and that way you’ll know exactly where the hem falls with the underskirt on. You can trim or hem your underskirt so that it’s an inch or two shorter than your outer skirt, or you can have it the same length, so it, kind of, peaks out for a cute look.

Caroline: Yeah, and the same material you use to add volume to a skirt can be used to add volume to sleeves. You can underline a puffy sleeve to help it stand up. Organza is a great choice for this kind of underlining.

Helen: And you can even add a separate piece to the sleeve cap that will help a sleeve puff stand up. Isabella from Bella Loves Patterns has a piece like this for her Vita blouse. It’s made of an oval shape. It’s synthetic organza that’s folded in half and then gathered and sewn into the sleeve cap. She has a very detailed tutorial for how to add this.

And you could add something like this to an existing top with a poof sleeve if you, kind of, finished a project and the volume is not what you were expecting ‘cause maybe the fabric choice wasn’t right. You can get more volume by adding this little piece into the shoulder and voilà, boom.

Caroline: Shoulders!

Helen: Boom!

Caroline: Horse hair braid is a notion that you can use to add volume and bounce to your hems. It was originally made with actual horse hair. Now, it’s usually synthetic. It’s a stiff but flexible netting that’s sold in strips. And if you sew it into your hem, it’s gonna give the hem body and the skirt volume, even without underlayers.

Helen: A couple of things to know about using horsehair braid, though it usually comes with loose thread woven into one end. If you have a curved hem, pulling on the thread will help you to ease it into those curves. And it’s a good idea to enclose the cut edges of the braid with a bit of binding. Otherwise, the braid could scratch you or unravel. ‘

Caroline: And sewing in horsehair braid isn’t much more difficult than sewing a regular hem. Megan Nielsen has a tutorial for it, and we’re gonna link that up in the show notes for ya.

Helen: I’ve used horse hair braid once before in a project, and it was actually in the collar of the Closet Core Clare Coat…

Caroline: Ooh.

Helen: …which has quite a standing collar, and it’s made of wool, and you don’t want it to collapse. So I put horsehair braid in there, and that worked a treat, and it was really fun to get to use it ‘cause it’s, like, this specialty notion, and I got to go to the fabric store and buy this thing I’d never got to buy before and then use it. It was just great. I had a, I had a blast.

Caroline: I love that. Yeah. That is a really cool coat with a lot of structure. Yeah. We’ll have to share some pictures of yours in the show notes.

Helen: Yeah. Padding is another tool that you can use to create shape in your garments. We probably think of shoulder pads when we think of padding, and that may seem a little outdated, but really it isn’t. Today’s blazers may not have the over the top shoulders of the eighties power suits that we think of, but you better believe there’s still some padding in there to give it soft structure.

If you shop ready to wear blazers, you just feel around and you can feel it in there. If you’re making a blazer or jacket that doesn’t call for shoulder pads, you may wanna try some out to see how it looks. Closet Core has a free pattern for shoulder pads and sleeve heads if you want to make your own. Sleeve heads are pieces that are attached to, you guessed it, the heads of the sleeves to keep the sleeve cap from wrinkling under the shoulder pad.

But yeah, there’s a lot of, a lot you can do with shoulder pads and especially if you don’t have very strong shoulders and you’re looking for a stronger silhouette in your shoulders, shoulder pads can get you there.

Caroline: Another type of padding that’s good to know about is sew-in bra cups, they can give light support and create a smooth silhouette, and you can buy them already made or make your own from cut and sew bra foam.

Helen: Yeah. And a great hack for any close-fitting knit pattern is to add a shelf bra with foam cups. It can be more comfortable than wearing an underwire bra, and the foam provides some shape and creates a buffer between your boobs and the world. Christine Haynes has a tutorial for how to add a shelf bra to the Dune Tank that would be good reference for adding a shelf bra to any top or tank top.

And on the Helen’s Closet blog we have a tutorial for adding foam cups to the Sandpiper Swimsuit that will show you how to do that part as well. It’s actually pretty straightforward, so yeah, incorporating that foam structure into your garments is a fun way to maybe get around not wearing a bra, maybe get around wearing a bra.

Caroline: You can sew foam cups into close-fitting woven garments as well. Basically, you take your cups, place them where you want in your bodice, and then tack them to the lining at several points you wanna tack rather than sew them, because the cups will have more give than the woven fabric, and you want them to be able to stretch a little bit.

Another option is to do a stretchy stitch, like a catch stitch. On A Beautiful Mess, they have a tutorial for putting cups into your woven garments that’s pretty helpful. They even have an example using an old bra that they cut into. That would actually be a great way to upcycle a bra where the band is all stretched out, but the cups in underwire are still fine.

Helen: Ooh, good point. Okay. When I initially read this part of the outline for this episode, I was imagining cups sewn onto, like, a boxy top. I was like, why would you want that? They would just be dangling in front of your body. But of course, we’re talking about more fitted garments in this case.

Caroline: Yeah, and I think if your bodice is lined, you could even have the cups like in between the layers so that you don’t have the, like, foam right against your skin, and you feel like it’ll probably look a little bit more finished that way, especially if you’re making a more formal garment that you want to be, like, really fancy and special.

Helen: That’s true. You can actually hide it away in there. But speaking of which, we are about to talk about bras and corsets and bustiers.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: And Dior was famous in the mid-20th century for their foundation layers. There’s a great article in Threads where Kenneth D. King shows the insides of a few Dior garments from that era. They had entire corselets made from cotton bobinette mesh, boning, underwires, and padding. And in this article, you can see the interior of a lot of these dresses, and this beautiful exposed cup situation that’s happening, and it actually just looks really cool. It’s almost, like, a fashion skeleton.

Caroline: Yes. So cool. Inner bustiers do a few things. They provide support for your garment. Some garments hang from the shoulders and their weight is supported by the shoulder seams or straps. With a smaller bustier, the support is spread over the ribcage and waist, and this means you can lose the fabric at the shoulders altogether and go strapless or have small decorative straps. The bustier can also support the weight of a skirt, even a pretty heavy one.

Helen: Secondly, bustiers provide support for your bust, and this one is pretty obvious. And lastly, they provide shape. Obviously, our bodies are squishy, and adding a bustier can firm it up so that you can fit a garment with very little ease.

Caroline: And we have a few resources to recommend to you related to inner corsets and bustiers. Listener Mara, @PrancingOnPins on Instagram, made her own wedding gown and used the Orange Lingerie Esplanade Bra as her internal bustier. Her final bodice has five layers: foam cups, silk habotai lining, two layers of bra tulle, and appliqué lace. Her gown looks amazing, y’all. And we will add a picture into the show notes so that you can go see.

I think the Esplanade pattern is a good choice for home sewists that want to make an internal bustier, and I can’t say enough how absolutely gorgeous this gown turned out.

Helen: Stunning. So beautiful.

Caroline: Amazing job, Mara. Goals. Goals.

Helen: There’s a thread on the Pattern Review forums called “Sew-Along: Strapless Bodice with Boning, Padding and Inner Closure” where professional dressmaker Catina shows her method for fitting a muslin, making the internal support layers, and then attaching them to the dress layers. You have to sign up for the free membership to Pattern Review to read it, but it’s definitely worth taking those extra steps because it’s so thorough.

Caroline: And there are a couple of books that cover this topic that you may wanna check out. Birth of a Bustier by Kenneth D. King is all about creating internal support for your garments. He covers both bustier construction, which ends at the waist, and corselet construction, which goes down over the hips. And he also talks about high faced waistbands, which are another option for support. You can get the PDF of this book on his website as well.

Helen: Ooh, nice. Bridal Couture by Susan Khalje, past guest, isn’t only for brides. It’s good for anyone who wants to learn how to make couture formal wear. It includes information on fitting a muslin and creating those internal support layers. Ooh, Caroline, this one might be good for you.

Caroline: Yeah, I was just thinking I need to see if my library has this book.

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: That is, that sounds awesome.

We’ve already mentioned boning, but let’s get into it a little bit more. Boning is thin, rigid strips that add stability to garments. Plastic boning is flexible and lightweight. There’s fabric covered boning, which you can sew down without having to create your own channels. And there’s boning without covers if you wanna make your own channels. There’s also sew-through boning. Rigilene is a well-reviewed brand of plastic boning. We’ve even seen DIYers use plastic zip ties for boning.

If you cut your own boning, you might want to round off the edges by filing them down so that there are no sharp edges to poke you or push through the fabric. And there are also caps that you can buy to cap off the ends of the bones.

Helen: Yeah, I put boning once into the side of a swimsuit I was making, and I didn’t realise that you should add those caps. And it definitely, like, ripped a hole in the fabric and stabbed me in the side all day…

Caroline: Ouch!

Helen: …and then I had to mend it and put the caps on after. Lesson learned.

There’s also spiral steel boning. It’s flexible and lightweight, but super strong. Susan Khalje recommends this spiral steel boning. It’s less likely to buckle than plastic boning, and it’s used by a lot of professional corset makers. You can buy spiral steel boning in lengths that you need, and these will come with caps on the ends.

You can also buy it in a long length and cut it yourself, and then you’ll need to buy the caps separately and crimp them on. It all depends on how handy you wanna get with your wire cutters and pliers. I mean, this is really sounding like quite the adventure…

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: …making a corset. You get to use all these different tools. I’m into it. I’m intrigued.

Caroline: That’s the thing too, right? If you’re spending so much time making a really special garment that includes this kind of a foundation, like boning, like why not go all out and grab those wire cutters and pliers and really make it your own?

Helen: There’s also something called spring steel boning, which is lightweight and flexible, but not as flexible and lightweight as the spiral steel. So maybe a little research needed if you wanna explore which boning to use.

Caroline: And reed boning is made of reed plants. It’s mostly used by historical sewists because it’s a material that was actually used hundreds of years ago as an alternative to whale bone. Fun fact. Did you know that the whale bone in historical corsets was actually baleen? That’s the stuff in a whale’s mouth that filters in the food. They’re not really bones or teeth. It’s made out of the same stuff as your fingernails: keratin.

Helen: Yeah. That’s so crazy. Like, if you feel, like, your fingernails, you can get a sense for how the structure of boning, like, that is sort of what it feels like.

Caroline: Mm-hmm.

Helen: It’s, like, this flexible, pliable, plastic-y feeling. I didn’t know that. I thought it was actual whale bones.

Caroline: Yeah, me too.

Helen: I will admit it.

Caroline: Cool, cool, cool.

Helen: Cool, cool, cool. We’re on the same page.

Okay. We mostly think of boning as being used in corsets and bustiers, but you can also use bones in your body. No, I’m just kidding. You can also use boning in collar stands, side seams, across the front of a square neck top, we mentioned that earlier, and in many other places where you might wanna add a little structure.

As I said, I added some boning to the side seam of a Reno Swimsuit that I made because you know, there’s that point, on my side at least, and I’m sure many people can relate where, like, your boob meets your back, and it creates, like, a dent and…

Caroline: Mm-hmm.

Helen: I think fabric just gets sucked in there.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: Like, bra fabric and stuff. So this swimsuit, I was having that issue where it just was collapsing into this, like, tighter spot, and so I added the boning so it, kind of, spread it out over the side, and it worked a treat. It was awesome.

Caroline: I love that. Yeah. I have not worked with a ton of boning, but a lot of these things that we talk about in, on the show, like, are things that I’ve done in school. I definitely had to make a corset in school and do the whole…

Helen: Oh, really?

Caroline: …boning and trimming and casing and all that stuff, and it’s really fun and really satisfying ‘cause you just get this structured thing that, kind of, stands on its own, and it just feels really, I don’t know, kind of, badass.

Helen: Yeah. That is cool. Yeah. And corsets often, like, lace up the back, or you can put little, like, hooks and eyes and things like that. And last week we were talking about sewing for a changing body. And while they’re stiff garments, they actually are, kind of, flexible because they have those flexible closures, so it’s not necessarily something that you need to worry about not fitting you in a year or whatever. Like, it might be something that could last you longer. So it’s, kind of, a cool project.

Caroline: Yeah. And if we’re talking about that listener who asked the question about what are some advanced projects that they can take on?

Helen: Oh, yeah.

Caroline: I feel like tackling a corset, that feels pretty advanced to me.

Helen: Pretty amazing. There are some of those corsets that will go, like, not just to the waist, but all the way over the hips. Those are crazy looking.

Caroline: Oh, yeah! Yeah. Yeah.

Helen: Very cool.

Caroline: So if you get boning that’s not covered with fabric, you’re gonna need to sew the casings yourself. For a quarter inch boning, you should make your casing three-eighths of an inch. And use a tightly woven fabric. Susan Khalje likes silk organza. We’ve seen couture bodices where the boning channels are made from grosgrain or petersham ribbon sewn over the inner layers. And you can use a different fibre for your casing than for your other layers. Just make sure to pre-wash your fabric before you use it to make the casing.

Helen: And you don’t necessarily need to make separate casings. If you have two or more layers of fabric, you can sew rows of stitches to make channels for the boning.

Caroline: And you can find boning and related supplies online at Farthingales in Canada, or CorsetMakingSupplies.com in the US.

Helen: Okay, next thing we’re gonna talk about is waist stays. I feel like that’s a difficult thing to say quickly. Waist, waist stays.

Caroline: Waist stays, waist stays, waist stays.

Helen: This is another couture technique that provides support to your garment and keeps it in place. Waist stays basically are, like, a firm inner waistband. They’re usually made of grosgrain or petersham ribbon because they’re strong, they don’t stretch at all, and they keep the bulk super low.

Waist stays are sewn in at several points across the inner layer of a dress, and you can tack them to the seam allowances at the side seams and on darts or princess seams. And if you have boning, you can tack it to the boning casing.

Caroline: The waist stays meant to pull in the fabric at the waist and stabilise it. It’s fitted to the body, not the garment, and that’s why it, kind of, stays separate. Instead of being sewn in a seam at the back, the waist stay connects with hooks and eyes.

I’ve actually sewn a waist stay into one of my favourite dresses that I’ve definitely mentioned on the show, the dress that I made to wear to my sister’s wedding. And I think it’s great for those dresses that don’t necessarily fit super snug in the waist, but you want the waist to stay in the right place.

Helen: Mm-hmm.

Caroline: So in that particular case, it wasn’t tight, tight to my waist, but the skirt of the dress, almost, like, misshaped the waist seam, because it was so drapey. So it almost, like, made it fall a little bit lower than my waist, and I wanted it to sit right up my waist and get, like, a little bit of almost, like, blousing in the top so it didn’t just hang straight down. And that achieved that fit for me because it allowed me to have the waistline sit exactly where my waist was.

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: And then the skirt draped really beautifully down from my waist, and I got a really nice, kind of, blouse-y effect with the bodice of the dress. Um, so it worked really well, and it was very fun to do. And techniques like this just make you feel like a sewing superstar.

Helen: Yeah. Sewing wizard for sure.

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: Yeah. And I feel like waist stays is a nice simple one that you can definitely add to a dress pretty easily…

Caroline: Yeah.

Helen: …and it will totally make you feel like a badass. If your dress is more fitted at the waist, it also has the added benefit of taking the pressure off your zipper so it’s not pulling right on that zipper at the midpoint at the back because the waist stay is holding that tension.

Caroline: It’s so true ‘cause there, that is a real spot of tension where when you’re moving around, moving your arms and shoulders, bending, twisting, you might see, like, the zipper almost, like, pull apart a little bit in that area.

Helen: Yeah.

Caroline: So a waist stay is gonna just give it that extra security. Yeah, that’s a great point.

Helen: Okay. You can also add silicone to your makes to help them grip your skin and stay up. You may have seen this along the top edge of some strapless garments. Bra straps sometimes have this or like, what am I thinking of, those tights that only go up to your thighs. I don’t know what those are called, but they often have, like, a silicone strip at the top so they stay up.

You can actually use a hundred percent silicone caulk from the home improvement store to make your own, the kind that, like, construction workers use.

Caroline: Mm-hmm.

Helen: Yeah. A Thread’s reader named Jodi made silicone ribbon for her daughter’s strapless homecoming dress. You just take a small bottle of that silicone caulk and squeeze out a bead across the ribbon. Then, wet your finger and smooth that bead down, let it dry, and it will be nice and flat and ready to use, and you can even sew over it.

Caroline: I love, like, a unconventional tool or supply in the sewing room.

Helen: Right?

Caroline: Just grab that caulk from your garage.

Helen: I feel like the hardware store is full of stuff that you can use in sewing.

Caroline: Yeah. Interfacing is a kind of garment gut that we’re all familiar with. We’re not gonna cover everything about interfacing because we already have a whole episode about it, but we definitely recommend listening to that one if you’re feeling lost about interfacing options and techniques. This time we wanna cover a couple of extra interfacing techniques.

Helen: Yes. Tailored jackets have unique kinds of interfacing. The classic kinds are canvas and felt. To shape the canvas, tailors use a technique called pad stitching, and this can give a curve to the canvas over the chest or make, like, a lapel fold go just the right place every time. It’s really cool to see just how much can be achieved with this pad stitching technique.

Our former guest, Emilia Bergoglio, has a few tutorials on their Patreon that may be worth checking out. And Julia Bobbin on Instagram also shares her process for making tailored blazers complete with absolutely gorgeous demonstrations of pad stitching. So cool.

Caroline: Yeah, I love following Julia. She makes some really chic, almost, like, couture style garments.

Helen: Definitely.

Caroline: …that are so fun to see. The big resources for this kind of interfacing seem to be Classic Tailoring Techniques for Menswear: A Construction Guide by Roberto Cabrera and Denis Antoine and Classic Tailoring Techniques: A Construction Guide for Women’s Wear by Roberto Cabrera and Patricia Flaherty Myers. So we’ll link up those books in the show notes if you wanna build your sewing library. Or maybe just go to the library and take them out.

Helen: And we wanna give a shout-out to spot interfacing. If you need a little bit more structure in a certain part of your garments, you can add interfacing even if the pattern doesn’t require it.

So for example, if you’re using a drapey fabric, but you want your gathered sleeve cap to stand up, you could fuse interfacing to just the sleeve cap. This is a technique that Susan Khalje used in her Threads article “How to Support a Dramatic Sleeve Cap.” And in fact, she used two layers of spot interfacing, plus an organza underlining.

She didn’t use two layers of interfacing that were the same size though. She used one layer that was roughly the same shape as the sleeve cap, and then placed another oval of interfacing towards the top of the sleeve cap. Layering the smaller and larger shapes can keep the interfaced part from becoming too blocky. And you wanna have a smooth transition from the firm fabric back to the drapey fabric.

Sometimes you have to be careful with interfacing. If you add it, it can change the appearance of the fabric. So doing some tests, if you’re gonna do spot interfacing is a good idea.

Caroline: I love these tips. I really wanna have a dramatic sleeve on my wedding dress, so I wonder if I’m gonna need to add some kind of stiffness with an interfacing or…

Helen: Yeah. The organza underlining seems like a really great way to get that fabric to have more volume and a great way to make it feel super fancy ‘cause there’s organza in it, which is the fanciest fabric…

Caroline: Organza! Eleganza.!

Helen: Extravaganza!

Caroline: Oh, we covered so much in this episode that we’ve never touched on before, and now I’m feeling pretty gutsy. Maybe enough to make some amazing garment guts. How about you, Helen?

Helen: Yes, I am. I’m adding a corset to my list of future makes. I would like to try that.

Caroline: Fabulous.

Helen: Fabulous.

That’s it for today’s episode of Love to Sew. You can find me Helen at HelensClosetPatterns.com and Caroline at BlackbirdFabrics.com. And we’re recording in beautiful British Columbia, Canada.

Caroline: Go to LoveToSewPodcast.com to find our show notes. They’re filled with links and pictures from this episode. And if you’d like to get in touch with us, leave us a message. We love getting your voicemails. You can call us at 1-844-SEW-WHAT. That’s 1-844-739-9428. Or send us an email at hello@LoveToSewPodcast.com.

Helen: If you love Love To Sew and want more, you can sign up for our Patreon. For $5 a month, you get a full length bonus episode and weekly behind the scenes pics. For $10 a month you get all that plus a mini episode focused on sewing techniques and 15% off codes for Helen’s Closet and Blackbird Fabrics. Patreon is the best way to support us so that we can keep making quality sewing content. Go to patreon.com/LoveToSew for more info.

Caroline: And you better believe I will be updating everyone on my sewing wedding dress journey on Patreon.

Helen: Oh, yes. Monthly updates for sure.

Caroline: Thanks to our amazing podcast team. Lisa Ruiz is our creative assistant. Jordan Moore of the Pod Cabin is our editor. And Margaret Wakelee is our transcriber. And thank you for listening. We’ll talk to you next week.

Helen: Buh-bye.

Caroline: Buh-buh-buh-boning.

Helen: Buh-buh-buh-boning.

 

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