Evening Wear Fabric

Which fabric for your evening look?

Our evening fabrics, grouped by the look they give.

What to make with it

• Evening gowns and bias-cut slip dresses
• Cocktail dresses
• Evening tops, skirts and pants
• Sheer sleeves, capes and wraps
• Statement jackets

Cutting

• Cut slippery silks and sequinned fabrics as a single layer, flat on the table: don't fold them and cut double.
• Satin and sequins look different from each direction, so cut every piece facing the same way. Sequins lie smooth one way: run them down the body.
• Use pattern weights, or pin only inside the seam allowance, as pins can mark satin.
• Use an old pair of scissors for sequins and beads: they blunt good blades.

Sewing

• Sheer and light silks: use a fresh, fine needle (size 60 or 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. French seams look the neatest on sheer fabric.
• Satins and structured fabrics (crepe satin, faille, dupion, taffeta, metallic jacquard): use a fresh needle (size 70 or 80) and a good-quality polyester or mercerised cotton thread. Silk thread is lovely for tacking and hand sewing.
• Stretch fabrics (stretch silk satin, stretch polyester satin, metallic knit): use a fresh stretch needle (size 70) and a good-quality polyester thread, which has a little give, so the seams stretch without snapping. Sew with a narrow zigzag or a stretch stitch, and let the fabric feed through on its own without pulling it.
• Sequins and beads: Clear the seam allowances: snip the threads holding the sequins or beads inside the seam allowance, slide them off and knot the loose thread ends so the rest stay put. Keep any beads or sequins that come loose, to sew back on. Use a zipper foot so you can stitch close to the embellishment, and sew slowly. Once the seams are sewn, stitch the sequins or beads back over them by hand. Put the zip in by hand, and line the garment so nothing scratches the skin.

Hems

• Chiffon and georgette: a hand-rolled hem; let the skirt hang overnight first, then level it.
• Sandwash satin, crepe de chine and bias-cut crepe satin: let it hang overnight, then a machine baby hem: press up 1 cm, stitch close to the fold, trim the allowance right up to the stitching, then turn it once more and stitch again.
• Dupion, faille and taffeta: a bound hem: turn up 4 to 5 cm, wrap the raw edge in a bias strip of silk habotai, and blindstitch it by hand. On a full or curved taffeta skirt, use a faced hem.
• Organza: a hand-rolled hem on floaty pieces, or a deep double hem on a structured skirt.
• Stretch fabrics: turn up once and sew by hand with a loose catch stitch, or use a stretch blind hem.
• Sequins: clear the sequins from the hem allowance, turn a narrow hem and slipstitch it by hand, then sew a few sequins back along the edge.

Colour matching

Colours look different on every screen, so we always recommend ordering samples before you buy, especially if you're pairing a sequinned or lace fabric with a silk.

Pressing

• Light silks and satins: a dry iron on the silk setting, on the wrong side, through a pressing cloth. Satin marks easily, so test on a scrap first.
• Dupion, taffeta and organza: the same, with no steam or water spray, as water drops can leave marks.
• Sequins and beads: never iron directly on them, as heat can curl or melt sequins. Press face down on a thick towel, on a low setting, through a pressing cloth.
• Metallic fabrics: a low setting, through a pressing cloth. Test on a scrap first.

Questions