How to work with chiffon: we cut, we sew, we look after fabric

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Silk chiffon will never go out of fashion, because no other fabric creates such a feeling of lightness and romance. Following simple rules, you will learn to sew from this capricious material.

The finest silk chiffon is an ideal option for a summer, elegant or evening dress. This is one of the most expensive and delicate fabrics, so you need to handle it very carefully.
Chiffon with the addition of synthetic fibers or fully synthetic is a more affordable material, while it retains the characteristic graininess and airy lightness of natural chiffon.
The density of the pattern affects the transparency of the chiffon.
Regardless of which chiffon you choose - plain, with a pattern or decorated with embroidery - the dress will be amazing.

How to cut a chiffon

It is most convenient to cut chiffon and crepe chiffon with a disk knife on a special substrate for cutting, and pin the details of the paper pattern with thin tailor pins with an impeccable tip, since any notch can seriously damage delicate chiffon fabric. Alternatively, you can use special weights to fix the pattern.Details of the paper pattern can also be glued with thin glue strips or spray glue (for example, from Gold-Zack). To do this, you need to impose a pattern detail on a chiffon fabric, gently raise the edges of the part, treat them with glue-spray and press them to the fabric.
Since it is impossible to transfer the contours of parts and the marking to chiffon using burda carbon paper and a gear wheel, it is best to cut out all the parts with the same allowances for the seams.
Internal marking is done with basting stitches only with a thin needle and thin threads, such as silk or embroidery threads.

How to iron a chiffon

Silk chiffon is ironed only dry, because when moisture enters the fabric can wrinkle. The iron thermostat is in the silk position. Synthetic chiffon is ironed at the lowest temperature.
The surface of the iron should be perfectly clean and smooth, without a single scratch. To avoid damage to the chiffon fabric when ironing, it is best to use a flat iron.

Laying materials for chiffon fabrics

To duplicate the details of a chiffon product, a translucent woven nonwoven G 785 (from Freudenberg) or a low-temperature Vlieseline H180 are used. Any of these types of non-woven is ironed dry with a slightly heated iron. In addition, you can use organza or non-adhesive cushioning materials that are swept on the area of duplication. Be sure to design duplicate material and try ironing it first on a small piece of chiffon.

How to sew chiffon

Details of the cut from chiffon are sewn only with thin needles for silk (Sulky Stickerei / Embroidery or Microtex) No. 60, 70 or 75, with thin threads for machine embroidery or silk, with a maximum stitch length of 2.5 mm.
Seam allowances on silk fabrics are sewn on a sewing machine - a zigzag stitch is laid at a distance of 5 mm from the allowance cut, and then the allowance is cut close to it.

Or on an overlock with a three-thread or four-thread seam.
You can make a "French" (double) seam. Fold the parts of the product with the wrong sides to each other, grind the seam allowances along the line of their middle (deviating from the cut about 5 mm). Then iron the allowances, fold the same parts with their faces facing each other and lay the line exactly along the marked line of the seam, while the sections will hide inside.
The edge of the thin fabric (bottom of the product) can be sewn with a role seam on the overlock or a narrow zigzag stitch on a sewing machine.

Care for chiffon products

Chiffon and crepe chiffon made of natural silk are best left to dry clean. At home, silk chiffon is washed by hand, in warm water, using special means for delicate fabrics, is not wrung out and dried in a straightened form.
Photo: BurdaStyle; Julia Dekanova
Material prepared by Julia Dekanova

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