Interfacing is such a crucial part to garment construction but I feel like we always forget about it! I asked on Instagram what were people’s questions on interfacing and my favorite response was “I’m awful with interfacing. It’s like going to Vegas. I just gable and pick one!” Interfacing can be so confusing so I’m here to share 5 tips for always choosing the right interfacing and tell you some important facts about interfacing that’ll help you pick the perfect interfacing each and every time.
Thermoweb sent me samples of a couple of their different interfacings and I thought it would be interesting to show a rayon fabric with each type to show the different drape of the fabric with interfacing.
From Left to Right: 1 | Heat n Bond Tricot Sheer Weight 2 | Heat n Bond Tricot Medium Weight
3| Heat n Bond Woven Soft Weight
Although each of these are suitable for this fabric, a rayon crepe from Style Maker Fabrics, each one gives a different feel to the fabric after it’s been interfaced. The Tricot Sheer Weight interfacing creates a hand very similar to the rayon with a little bit of support. The Tricot Medium Weight increases the body of the rayon, but still has the drape that the rayon originally had. Finally, the Woven Soft Weight creates more of a stiffer look. I am using this fabric to make a tunic and chose the sheer weight as it supported but did not alter the stiffness of the rayon fabric.
In addition to knowing the different types of interfacing that are best for garment sewing, I rounded up some of my favorite tips for working with interfacing.
One | Know what type of interfacing is best for your fabric choice
The experiment above ties into my first tip – know what type of interfacing is best for your fabric choice! I find that tricot sheer interfacing works best for almost 100% of my sewing projects, minus structured button downs and some jackets. Gabriella from Chalk and Notch recommends it for all her patterns and since then it’s my go to for all rayon and lightweight woven projects.
Two | Press versus Iron
It’s so important to install fusible interfacing the right way. Much like when you use heat transfer vinyl, you have to press as opposed to iron on the fusible. This involves pressing down on the fusible interfacing for 5-10 seconds and then lifting as opposed to pushing and ironing it on. This also helps make sure that it is truly bonded. You could even use a heat press like the Cricut EasyPress to fuse the interfacing.
Three | Use a press cloth
To avoid sticky interfacing from getting all of your iron I recommend two things – use a press cloth and place fabric down then interfacing and iron directly on top of interfacing. I use a spare fat quarter as a press cloth because I find quilting cotton to be perfect for a press cloth. No one wants to clean sticky interfacing off an iron, trust me!
Four | Sew In vs Fusible?
I’ve actually only ever used fusible interfacing as opposed to sewn in. I did some research online and there didn’t seem to be a ton of differences between the two other than ease of use. Sewn in requires an additional step of sewing it in. Additionally, sewn in supports the garment fabric while the fusible interfacing because it fuses to the fabric changes the drapiness of the fabric.
Five | Tricot vs Woven?
Tricot, or knit, interfacing has a slight stretch to it while woven, like woven fabrics, has a traditional grainline and does not have any stretch. Like I mentioned above, I tend to default for tricot interfacing for all of my sewing projects because of it’s ease. Also, most woven fabrics do have some stretch to them and using a woven interfacing takes that stretch out 100%.
Bonus! | Always keep interfacing in your stash!
I like to keep a couple yards of both woven and tricot interfacing in my stash at all times. This allows me to be prepared for any project but also if I’m unsure of the type of interfacing to use, I have a couple options on hand to figure out what amount of structure I need from it. The three interfacings I used above would be great additions to your stash. As you usually do not require a ton of interfacing for each project having 3 yards on hand should be plenty to last you a while!
Want to know what I was making with that pretty fabric?? Make sure to swing by later this week!
Thermoweb kindly sent me the materials for this post and compensated me in exchange for this post as part of their Ambassador program. But, as always, all opinions are my own. This post also contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links, but as always, all opinions are my own. Thanks for supporting my blog! See here for more details on affiliate links.
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