Clare tips Archives

The Hows and Whys of Underlining Fabric Explained

25 February 2020 by Heather Lou Leave a Comment

In our post on sewing a proper muslin, I mentioned underlining a few times and want to revisit the subject today. Underlining fabric is often a misunderstood concept, so I'd like to explain exactly what underlining is and what it does for your sewing projects (spoiler alert: a LOT).

Sewing jargon can be confusing, so it's not unusual to be mystified about the difference between lining, underlining and interlining. A traditional lining is likely something you've sewn before. It is a layer between the main fabric and your skin that hides construction, creates a smooth surface to skim over your body, and is attached around necklines and sleeves to create a completely clean finish from the inside. Most of the time it hangs free at the hem.

Underlining, on the other hand, is a layer of fabric that is basted to your fashion fabric so that both layers act as one. It doesn't hide or encase anything, so you still have raw seams that need to be finished in one way or another. An underlining doesn't replace a lining, and in most applications, you would need to still add a lining to create a clean finish. An interlining is similar to an underlining, but it's done primarily to add warmth (we have a full tutorial on interlining for warmth here).

PURPOSE OF AN UNDERLINING

There are SO many ways underlining will help elevate your sewing projects! Let this list convince you:

Helps add body and stability to loosely woven fabrics, and adds structure to fabrics that may be too drapey or light-weight for the necessary application
Helps make transparent fabrics opaque or shift the colour of the fashion fabric depending on the colour of the underlining fabric
Helps hide seam "show through" of seam allowances, seam lines and other construction details
Acts as a base for all construction marks so you don't need to mark your fashion fabric
Creates a solid base to stabilize details like welt pockets and other design features
Provides a layer to secure hand stitching to so these stitches are invisible from the right side of the garment (ie. catch stitching seam allowances in place)
Minimizes wrinkling since the fabric is bulked up
Can add warmth to garments by introducing a second layer
Adds strength and durability to garments and fabric, increasing the lifespan of your me-mades

TYPES OF UNDERLINING FABRICS

Many different types of fabrics can be used to underline; what you choose depends on the application. In general, you want something a bit lighter than your fabric, and you need to make sure the colour works with or doesn't show through your fashion fabric. Here are the most common types:

Silk Organza - silk organza is a miracle fabric and works extremely well as an underlining. Silk organza is lightweight, translucent and has a crisp but flexible hand, making it a great choice to add body to fabric. The crispness still has some fluidity to it so it will mold to the fabric and your body. Polyester organza should never be substituted since it doesn't have the breathability and flexibility and doesn't press as well, and you should also be mindful of quality, since some silk organzas are slippery and less stable. The best quality I've found can be found in Susan Khalje's shop. I suggest always having a few yards in your stash since there are so many ways you can use it (use the selvage to stabilize a neckline, as sew-in interfacing, to stabilize design details, or to use as a press cloth).
Flannel - soft and cozy, flannel is a great choice to add warmth to a garment or add a soft layer to your fashion fabric (great for drapey fabrics like silk)
Cotton batiste - lightweight, soft and semi-sheer, batiste is a great basic choice for most underlining applications
Cotton broadcloth or muslin - a bit stiffer than batiste, this is best when you need a more structured shape like in a jacket, or need to hide inner construction details like boning. If you used an appropriately weighted muslin fabric for your toile, you can actually use that muslin as your underlining, although you can obviously only do this if you don't plan on making the garment again.
Crepe de chine - helps beef up sheer, lightweight or drapey fabrics

When trying to decide what type of fabric to use as your underlining, cut out scraps of your fashion fabric and underlining and layer them together. How does it drape together? Can you see the underlining through the fabric? Does it have the structure and stability you're looking for? Testing a few different options will help you understand what your fabric and garment needs.

HOW TO UNDERLINE FABRIC

At its simplest, an underlining is essentially a double of your fashion fabric. If you're not sewing a couture garment, you can simply use your pattern pieces to cut out your fabric and underlining separately, with any construction marks transferred to the underlining only. Once cut, you'll then machine baste the layers together using a long stitch line just inside the seam allowance (this gets removed later). For basting, I highly recommend a walking foot since it will ensure the layers don't shift while sewing. To be extra accurate I also suggest hand basting along the length of the piece's grainline first, which can be removed later. You'll also want to note any hem allowances and trim the underlining at that point since you don't want the underlining to extend into the hem seam allowance. Give the pieces a good press and make sure both layers are laying flat against each other without any puckering or bubbling - if you see that you'll have to restitch the area.

Once your pieces are secured with basting, you can now proceed to sew your garment as usual; now with your beefier, and happily underlined pieces!

UNDERLINING THE COUTURE WAY

In a couture application, underlinings are almost always used. Since couture garments involve a lot of hand stitching (catch-stitching seam allowances, hand stitching in linings, etc) the underlining is the layer that holds those stitches so you can't see them. It also acts as the pattern or template when you're cutting out your fabric. As I mentioned in our last post on sewing muslins, in a couture project the muslin is often used as a basic pattern. Using transfer paper and a tracing wheel, all stitching lines and construction marks are then transferred from the muslin to the underlining, which is then cut out and used to cut out the fashion fabric. Silk organza is GREAT for this since it's transparent, making it really easy to see your fabric beneath, and by marking it instead of the fabric, you prevent overhandling of your fashion fabric.

Once you've completed your muslin and are ready to move on to cutting your fabric, the first step is to use transfer paper and your wheel to transfer all your marks and seam lines to your underlining. To start, securely pin the muslin to the underlining (in the photo below I've used silk organza). Pin frequently around the perimeter and also strategically through the middle of the piece so the two layers are stable. Once that's done, place the underlining on top of transfer paper (coloured side up) and use your tracing wheel to transfer all your construction lines.

You can now use the underlining as your pattern piece. Below you can see my silk organza layered over my fashion fabric - I've cut extra-large seam allowances I'll trim down later (this is one of the secrets of couture - a lot of it is rough! Cutting is actually pretty fast since you're not fussing around trying to be exact when cutting out seam allowances). Keep in mind you can use any type of underlining fabric for this step - since your grainlines are clearly marked, you'll use those to find grainline on the fashion fabric even if you can't see through it like you can with the organza.

Again, the interlining is securely pinned to the fabric before the fabric is cut out. If you were sewing a non-couture project, at this stage you would machine baste the layers together around the seam allowance, but because it's couture, the process is a bit longer.

HANG BASTING THE UNDERLINING

Hand basting is a key step in any couture project. Since couture is all about control (control freaks and Virgos rejoice!), machine basting isn't a good option since there are too many ways the fabric can shift and distort. Instead, you want to use a smooth basting thread to secure the layers together by hand. You can use silk thread, but I've tried a few things and this style of Japanese basting thread is the best. It doesn't snag, runs smoothly through layers and is thick enough to easily see on your pattern pieces. You'll want to use a longer needle like these ones since it makes it easier to pick up multiple stitches at a time. Since you may have to do a lot of needle threading, I suggest picking up one of these cute needle threaders to save yourself some squinting and poking.

Once your underlining is pinned in place, it's time to thread up that needle and start hand basting along your stitch lines. Yes, every single stitch line. It goes faster than you think since you're using nice long stitches, and by working at a flat table (very crucial to avoid distorting your fabric) you can pick up a few stitches at a time and make fairly short work of it. Susan recommends sewing right on top of the stitch line, but since you'll eventually be stitching on top of your hand basting with machine stitches, you end up spending a ton of time meticulously removing the basting thread with a seam ripper. Personally, I prefer sewing just inside the stitch line (less than a millimetre) to make it easier to remove. In the example below, I basted right on the stitch line and spent hours removing the basting thread before I changed my strategy.

What all this thread basting does is securely anchor your layers together everywhere it counts, making it really easy to assemble the garment with minimal distortion.

I'm currently working on another couture-ish project and I used thread basting to secure the fabric, batting and lining together for this quilted jacket. I did it really quickly and roughly since I'm planning on machine quilting all these layers together, but you can see how big my stitches are. This took less than ten minutes to do.

As with most sewing techniques, there is generally a "fast" and "couture" option. Whether you'll want to machine baste or hand baste your underlining is up to you, but these days I pretty much always resort to hand basting since it gives me the thing I want most in life: control. Regardless of whether you're down to spend some time with your hand sewing needles, I hope this post helped demystify underlining for you, and encourage you to try this technique the next time you need to add some body, stability or warmth to your sewing projects.

Have you experimented with underlining? How did it go?

How to Make the Warmest Coat Ever: Interlining with Thinsulate

11 January 2019 by Heather Lou Leave a Comment

Earlier this week I shared my Pendleton wool Oslo Coat, by far the warmest coat I own (seriously giving my North Face parka a run for it's money!) While the wool I used was quite thick, and I chose a flannel backed satin for added warmth, the true hero of this project was a Thinsulate interlining and in today's post I'm going to explain how to sew with product, perfect for our Clare Coat or any other coat pattern you may be using.

Editor's note: Since writing this post, we've opened Core Fabrics and now stock a much more eco-friendly interlining made from recycled wool and recycled polyester, so I highly suggest using that instead of Thinsulate, which is made from virgin polyester.

THINSULATE

Thinsulate is a quilted, polyester-filled batting that is engineered specifically for adding warmth to outerwear and sleeping bags. It also works well to fight damp conditions and is made with a blend of polyester and olefin.

The Thinsulate I used for this project is from Club Tissus. They offer it in four weights, ranging from 70 grams to 200 grams. Different weights are appropriate for different temperatures: 70 grams = -10C, 100 grams = -20C, 150 grams = -30C, 200 grams = -40C. Unless you live in the arctic tundra, I would suggest using the 70 or 100 gram weight for coat making. The 150 and 200 gram weights start getting a little thick and may add more bulk than you're willing to live with. Club Tissus sent me Thinsulate samples to test what thickness to go with, and this is what it looks like:

Thinsulate interlining in various weights // Sewing tutorial by Closet Core Patterns

To understand the thickness between these three options:

TIPS FOR INTERLINING COATS

Your pattern must be lined in order to interline with Thinsulate or our recycled wool interlining.
If the garment is close fitting, you may want to consider going up a size, since the batting will add bulk. Make a muslin to determine if this is necessary.
Order the same yardage that is called for the lining, since you will be interlining the lining pieces, not the body of the coat.
Make sure you are only interlining the lining pieces. Most coats have facings, and interlining these pieces will create way more bulk than necessary, and interlining the lining lets you avoid bulk around design details like pockets and darts.
If you have to sew a dart on your lining, cut the interlining away from the dart triangle.
To choose the right weight, determine how warm you want your coat to be and what kind of climate you live in. The 70 gram would be great for mild winters. Cold winter survivors should look to the 100-150 gram weight. The 200 gram is probably best reserved for sleeping bags and parkas.
This product melts VERY easily so avoid touching it with your iron. Using a press cloth is very helpful.

Thinsulate Alternatives: If you don't want to use synthetic material, you can also use wool batting or lambswool in the exact same way I outline below.

SEWING AN INTERLINING FOR WARMTH

When it's time to cut your fabric, cut the interlining using your lining pieces. Now align your interlining and lining pieces, and stitch together just inside the seam allowances; using a walking foot helps keep the layers together without shifting. If you don't have a walking foot, temporary spray adhesive would also help. The seam allowances for this project were 1/2", so I sewed just under (about a 1/16" less than 1/2") to attach them. This ensures when you go to sew all your lining pieces together, you won't see the stitch line. You may also choose to quilt the batting and lining together. It's a bit more work but adds a nice design detail.

One thing to pay attention to is the hems of the lining. You don't want to have the interlining folded at the hem of the lining because it will be too bulky. Once I determined where that hem fold would be, I trimmed the interlining along the bottom so it would just touch the fold of the hem, although I don't have a photograph for this step.

Sew the warmest coat EVER - Interlining with Thinsulate // Sewing tutorial by Closet Core Patterns

Once all your pieces are stitched together, it's important to grade the seam to reduce bulk (duckbill scissors are our preferred tool for grading seams since they prevent you from trimming the bottom layer accidentally). I suggest leaving around 1/8"; any less than that and the batting may fray.

Once your seams are graded, you can proceed to sew your lining as directed. The seams will be a bit thicker, but pressing with a clapper should help them lay flat.

This technique works for any interlining material, so you can follow the same steps using lambswool, flannel, or primaloft (another synthetic insulator).

Go forth and make those coats as warm as can be!

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Clare with Leather Sleeve (plus Exposed Zipper Instructions!)

13 December 2016 by Heather Lou 66 Comments

Full disclosure: I am about to talk about one of the most favourite things I've ever made, but have to confess the I made it almost an entire year ago and didn't for various reasons get a chance to take photos of it until now (ie. loaning it to magazine and then having a building fire in which I was separated from all my precious cargo for many months). But here it is! My new(ish) Clare Coat, complete with leather raglan sleeves and a big exposed zipper. Just in time for winter (or rather, the pleasant part of winter, because again, confession time, I've learned the only coat that sustains life in the withering frozen tundra of a Montreal January is a huge down parka that rustles every time I move my arms. Long drawn out sigh).

So, this baby makes me pretty happy. Completely and utterly inspired by all the army green coats with leather sleeves I've seen around the last couple years, I decided it would be a snap to do using my Clare Coat pattern. While I haven't seen colour blocked versions of Clare out in the wild, I think it really works - there is something appealingly graphic about the material change around those raglan sleeve seams. Also, I like that by just switching up a few fabrics you can make a slightly vintage silhouette feel totally modern and "on trend".

I went all out with this one. I used real lambskin for the sleeves, an absolutely stunning double faced twill from Mood (sadly now sold out), and a silk charmeuse lining (more on that later). It was definitely one of my more expensive projects at around $150 in materials, but I suspect would have cost three to four times that if I had bought it in a store (I by the way am firmly in the "sewing saves you money" camp, especially if you have natural fiber tastes on an H&M budget).

The leather was surprisingly easy to work with, although I deeply regret not spending a little more on a heavier-weight hide. It is slightly too thin for sleeves, and as a result is not quite as structured as I would have liked, although I'll be sharing everything I learned about sewing with leather later this week. It's a really interesting material to work with if it doesn't make you feel weird.

The exposed zipper is one of my favourite features (I have a well documented love of exposed zippers here and here and here and um, here). I wanted to experiment with having a zip continue throughout the length of the tall funnel collar and also provide an alternative to buttons or snaps for View B (why should View A have all the fun?)

I absolutely love it open around the face....

... and it's the ultimate wind shield/neck fort when done up all the way (at the bottom of this post I explain how you can add one yourself...)

As for the guts -- SO PRETTY. I've never used silk charmeuse as coat lining before because $$$, but I have to say, it's worth every freaking penny. Besides being so soft and slippery you feel like you're sinking into a warm cup of heaven, it is also LEOPARD PRINT. It is physically impossible for me not to be filled with a balloon of happiness every time I see this lining. Sewing is all about the secret pleasures.

I took time making this Clare, with lots of careful pressing, topstitching, and some seriously nice bar tacks along the pocket opening. I also made sure I included a leather hanging loop to prevent the neckline from stretching out when it's hung on a hook. It's basically my ultimate coat. I'm not sure how I'll ever top it (so much so that I'm a little scared to wear it and ruin it).

ADDING AN EXPOSED ZIPPER TO THE CLARE COAT

I thought i had taken a million great photos of how I did this but it turns out... I didn't. Rest assured if it's something you'd like to do yourself, it's relatively easy. You'll just want to sew in the zipper to the left side of your coat seam before you attach the lining, keeping in mind the 5/8" seam allowance at the top. Overlap your coat fronts at the center front notch and with your left side folded over the right, find where you should locate the other half of the zipper. Use a matching thread to sew the zipper tape to the actual coat. It will look something like this once they're both sewn.

So, do you like my new(ish) coat? Have I brought you over to the dark side of exposed zipper admiration? What does your ultimate coat look like?

Details: Clare Coat pattern, Ginger Flared Jeans, Firmoo prescription sunglasses

Underlining the Kelly Anorak for Added Warmth

22 November 2016 by Heather Lou 12 Comments

I've had a number of requests for tips on how to add a lining to the Kelly Anorak, so much so that we are going to work on a lining expansion pack for the spring. In the meantime, I realized that a fairly simple way to add a layer of warmth to this coat is by underlining it with cotton flannel, like I did with my recent red nylon Kelly. In this post I will explain how you can do the same.

INTERLINING VS UNDERLINING

When you underline a fabric, you are essentially layering two fabrics together and sewing them as if they were one layer of fabric; this is often done to add body to thinner fabrics. Typical underlining fabrics are cotton muslin, organza and flannel. Interlining is slightly different; rather than adding structure, you are adding an additional layer for warmth, and can use lambs wool, Thinsulate, fleece or flannel. Technically what I did with my red Kelly qualifies as both, since I used the nylon and flannel together to create a warm inter layer, but for the sake of this blog post I will just refer to it as underlining.

UNDERLINING THE KELLY ANORAK

To underline your own Kelly, you'll need to cut the back, sleeves, hood, front coat and front yoke from your underlining fabric. I suggest using a cotton flannel, but you may want to switch to something smoother at the sleeves; in my case I used a satin backed flannel fabric called Kasha, to make getting my coat on and off a little easier. You may want to widen the sleeves slightly since they do become a little more slender with the additional layer of fabric.

Once your underlining is cut out, baste it to your fabric pieces with wrong sides together, stitching inside the seam allowance. Below you can see how I basted the underlining to the front pieces.

One thing I found very helpful at this stage was a thin coat of temporary spray adhesive designed for fabric like this. When you are underlining two fabrics together, they often shift and get misaligned at the seams. I found the process so much easier and more accurate by temporarily bonding the layers together; I just gave a light mist to the flannel before lining it up with my coat body.

I also left the hems un-basted until it was time to hem them; you may need to trim them after you press the hem up, so it's best to leave them free for the time being.

It is not necessary to underline the back yoke - simply underline the entire back jacket and then sew your yoke onto your shell fabric as directed in the instructions.

Of course, it is important to keep in mind that without a lining, all seams are exposed on the inside of the jacket. I choose to flat fell all of my underlined pieces since my fabric was thin enough to allow me to do so. If your fabric is too thin, you should finish your seams with a serged stitch. Below you can see how I flat felled the hood seams; just think of your underlined pieces as one layer of fabric rather than two.

Since the kasha lining on the sleeves was a little too slippery to flat fell, I finished the sleeve seams with a serged and topstitched seam.

HEMMING THE UNDERLINING

As I mentioned, it is best to leave the underlining free at the hem when you are basting your pieces together. As you can see below, when I pressed body and underlining fabric up along the hem, the underlining was significantly longer due to the turn of the cloth.

To resolve this I trimmed off the excess flannel and then finished the hem as usual with a Hong Kong finish.

Underlining my Kelly added a few more steps to the process but really made a significant difference in the warmth of the coat. I love how it looks from the inside, even if the green kasha I used in the sleeves doesn't match at all whatsoever (who will ever see it?!)

Are you planning on underlining your Kelly or are you part of the "Please give us a lining" chorus?

Clare Coat: Tester Versions

20 November 2015 by Heather Lou 10 Comments

Curious about what the Clare Coat looks like on a variety of bodies besides mine? After a few requests I thought I'd share a few versions made by some of my pattern testers. I was quite happy overall with the fit on everyone; raglan sleeves can be pretty forgiving (but don't worry, I'll be covering how to make modifications if you have broad or narrow shoulders). I made quite a few tweaks after testing, including changing the grading on the sleeves so they are a little slimmer on the upper sizes, and modifying the collar on View A to stand up a little more, but this should give you a rough idea of Clare out in the wild.

I forgot to mention it before, but the two-piece raglan sleeve also has an elbow dart; you can see the lovely shape it gives to the sleeve in Camelia's version below.

Clare-Coat-Patter_Tester-version — Camelia

Clare-Coat-Patter_Tester-version-8 — Megan

Clare-Coat-Patter_Tester-version-7 — Sara

Clare-Coat-Patter_Tester-version-5 — Michelle

Clare-Coat-Patter_Tester-version-4 — Lindsey

Clare-Coat-Patter_Tester-version-3 — Katie

Clare-Coat-Patter_Tester-version-2 — Kathrin

There was some excitement about the potential for a View A/B hybrid. Rebecca attempted this during testing and I have to admit, I'm in love. I got so excited when I saw this for the first time.

Clare-Coat-Patter_Tester-version-6 — Rebecca

I'll be explaining how to do this during the sewalong if you'd like to make your own frankenClare!