Silk Crinkle Chiffon

Why silk crinkle chiffon?

• Feather-light. At 5.5 momme it's one of our lightest silks, and floats with every move.
• It breathes. Silk is a natural fibre, so it's comfortable against the skin.
• A soft, textured look. The crinkle gives it movement and depth, and hides small creases.

Which lightweight silk?

These are our five lightweight silks. They're all 100% silk and 137 cm wide, but each one feels, falls and sews a little differently. Here's a quick look to help you choose.

New to silk? Crepe de chine is the easiest to start with, then habotai.

What to make with it

• Scarves and wraps
• Floaty sleeves and overlays
• Relaxed, layered tops and skirts

Cutting

• Cut one layer at a time, on top of a sheet of paper.
• Lay it out gently: don't stretch the crinkle flat, or the piece will shrink back after cutting.
• Lay all the pieces facing the same way, so the crinkles run in the same direction on every piece.
• Use sharp scissors or a rotary cutter, and pattern weights instead of lots of pins.
• Mark with tailor's tacks (a few loose hand stitches in a contrast thread) or a fine chalk pen. Avoid waxy chalk, which can leave marks.

Sewing

• Start with a fresh, fine, sharp needle (size 60 to 70) and a fine mercerised cotton thread. Polyester thread is stronger, but it can make fine silk pucker. Silk thread is lovely for tacking and hand sewing.
• Sew with tissue paper underneath, then gently tear it away.
• Let the fabric feed through on its own, without pulling.
• French seams look the neatest on a sheer silk.
• Sew with a short straight stitch, 1.5 to 2 mm, to stop puckering.
• Use a straight-stitch foot and a single-hole needle plate if your machine has one. If not, move the needle to the far left so the fabric is supported around it.
• Every so often, stop with the needle down and lift the presser foot so any ripple in the fabric can relax.
• Skip backstitching and topstitching, which can pucker chiffon. Tie the thread ends by hand instead.
• Don't use iron-on interfacing. Where a collar, cuff or zip needs support, add a layer of skin-coloured silk organza instead.
• Put zips in by hand, or back the zip seam with a strip of silk organza first.
• The crinkle gives it a little stretch. Where you want to control it, such as a fitted bodice, underline the piece with silk organza, and hand-sew a strip of fine tape along bias seams so they don't stretch.
• Finish necklines with a narrow bias binding, and use buttons with fabric loops rather than machine buttonholes.

Hems

A hand-rolled hem suits crinkle chiffon best: it's fine enough to sit in the crinkle, and you don't need to press a hem line flat first.

For a rolled hem, trim the hem allowance to about 3 mm, then roll it over to hide the raw edge and stitch by hand or machine. Keep a little finger pressure behind the foot so the edge doesn't stretch.

Pressing

Try not to press it flat, or you'll lose the crinkle. If a seam needs it, press just the seam with the tip of a dry iron on the silk setting, through a pressing cloth.

Steam isn't recommended. How firmly the crinkle is set varies from batch to batch, and every iron and steamer is different, so if you do want to try steam, test it on a scrap first.

Questions