5 Dec 2013

Sewing tip: the grainline of skirts affects the flare!



Having a couple of nightshifts right now, these are the days when I tend to focus on sleeping, working (and a bit of reading or knitting) instead of being active doing other things. The darkness outside doesn't help either. In the morning there is still dark when I bike home and when I wake up in the afternoon there is usually getting darker. Anyway, I decided to reveal the Vogue skirt and my Top Honours jumper (when finished) together. In the meantime I have an interesting sewing trick for you:

While I wasn't making a circle skirt I've found interesting information while browsing through my fav. pattern-making book: 'Pattern making for fashion designs'.
did you know... 
..that grainline matters when sewing a (circle) skirt?
The following information + the illustration below are borrowed from the book 'Pattern making for fashion designs. The line-drawing below is made by me, based on an illustration in the book:
Flares tend to fall gracefully whenever the grainline is on the bias. Changing the grainline can control where the bias and the flare fall.

  • grainline 1: 
flares fall toward the side and side front - straight grainline
  • grainline 2:  
flares fall to center front and toward center side seam - placed between front and side seam
  • grainline 3:  
flares fall at center, side seam and in between placed 3/4 inch from center


You can see the grainline-difference not only on circle skirts but on other flared skirts as well. An example of grainline 2 is my Lonsdale dress where the flares are distributed quite evenly and of grainline 3 the Ceylon dress, where there is more flaring towards the sides:
   

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