Crepe is an elegant drapey fabric that’s ideal for making garments such as tops, dresses,
skirts and even accessories like headbands and scarfs.
This fabric can be made with polyester, silk or wool, but if you’re a beginner you’ll
want to start with the polyester.
Not only is it more economical but a little easier to work with.
For this demonstration, I’ll be using poly crepe de chine that was generously provided
by Spoonflower.
Check out the description for a link to any of the fabrics used in this tutorial.
The biggest issues in working with crepe are:
The fabric can be slippery so pieces aren’t cut evenly or slip when sewing seams.
Seams can be puckered or don’t appear neat.
The fabric frays so the seam edges inside will look sloppy.
I’ll be providing tips so when you sew with this beautiful fabric, you can do so with
confidence and have great results!
Cutting out your fabric pieces accurately, ensures that you will have an easier sewing
experience but if the fabric is more on the slippery side, this can make it difficult.
One method for accuracy is to cut using a rotary cutter.
This will keep the fabric flat on your cutting mat and less likely to shift.
If you want to use scissors, make sure to use sharp fabric shears and lots of super
fine straight pins to prevent fabric snags
You could also keep the fabric more stable by pinning tissue paper underneath the fabric
to make it easier.
Or if you check the care instructions and the fabric is washable, spray it with spray
starch.
Here’s an example of untreated fabric and one that’s been starched.
You can see that one is a little stiffer.
After you finish your project, you can wash the starch out.
Let’s talk about needle and thread.
For the poly crepe, I recommend using a fine cotton or polycotton thread.
If your fabric is silk, you can use a silk thread.
Your sewing machine needle should be new and I recommend using a microtex needle size 60/8
or 70/10.
It’s very frustrating to do all your careful prep work and then you end up with either
puckered or wavy seamlines.
Here are some tips you can use to help.
Adjust your thread tension.
Sometimes puckered seams mean that your thread tension is a bit too tight so choose a lower
number.
You also might want to increase the presser foot tension so that it holds the fabric more
securely and keeps it from slipping.
If you’re still having issues, try placing a strip of tissue paper underneath the fabric.
The tissue paper not only works as a temporary stabilizer, but keeps the fabric from getting
sucked through the needle plate.
After you finish your stitch, simply tear the tissue paper off.
Also, if you used spray starch on your fabric, you should notice that it’ll be a lot easier
to sew because the starch also acts as a stabilizer.
If your fabric layers are shifting on you so that seam ends up uneven
You can use a walking foot when sewing and this will ensure that the layers are being
fed more evenly as it goes through the machine.
When sewing a regular straight seam, you’ll want to finish the raw edges because this
type of fabric will fray and look less neat over time.
If you don’t have an overlock machine, you can sew a zig zag stitch or overcast stitch
with your sewing machine on the raw edges.
Other ideal seams, for this type of fabric, are the french seam and the hairline seam.
Check our channel for tutorials on these two types of seams.
You want to make sure that your hem doesn’t look too heavy for such a fine fabric.
The ideal hem could be either the blind hem or the rolled hem.
We have tutorials on how to create these types of hems as well.
When pressing crepe, make sure that you use the correct iron temperature setting.
For polyester you’ll use the synthetic setting and silk will use the silk setting.
A really high heat setting could damage your fabric.
For added protection of your fabric, use a press cloth and iron on the wrong side of
the fabric.
Once you get the hang of working with crepe, there’s lot of lovely things, from casual
to formal, that you can make.
If you have any tips about working with this fabric, please leave a comment below.
We hope you enjoyed this tutorial.
Click on the playlist below to see the other tutorials we referenced in this video.
Also, make sure to check out Spoonflower’s YouTube channel for other inspiring projects
made with their fabric.
Thanks for watching!