How to Choose a Silk for Women's Trousers
If you want to indulge in a little luxury and sew yourself a pair of silk trousers, you need to choose the right silk fabric. Silk cloth comes in variety of weights, textures and styles, and picking the correct one is essential to making attractive and durable women's trousers. When you're looking for silk trouser fabric, follow a few guidelines to help you decide which variety of silk fabric best suits your sewing project.
Instructions
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Decide how you want your trousers to fit. Certain silk fabrics work better for different cuts. It's important for you to know whether you'll use the silk fabric to make slim, fitted trousers or more fluid, loose trousers.
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Look for heavyweight silk fabric if you're making tailored women's trousers. Four-ply silk crepe de Chine is excellent for trousers that have a little ease.
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Find silk dupion or silk tussah if you want to make slim-fitting trousers. These fabrics feature a rustic, nubbly texture, and unlike many finer silk fabrics, they're much easier to sew.
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Purchase silk chiffon or silk georgette for loose-fitting women's trousers. Although you may spend more time preparing this fabric for cutting and sewing, it yields lovely, flowing garments. You may need to line women's trousers made from these fabrics to counteract their see-through quality.
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Tips & Warnings
If you're a beginning sewer or you've never made a garment from silk, practice extra care when choosing fabric for your trousers. Many silk fabrics don't lend themselves to easy cutting or sewing. Choose easy-to-sew silk dupion or silk tussah for your first pair of silk trousers.
If you want to sew a pair of women's silk trousers from silk crepe de Chine or silk chiffon, sandwich the fabric between the pattern and a piece of double-thick tissue paper. Pin the fabric and paper into place with glass-headed silk pins before cutting out the pattern pieces.
Even if slubby, textured silk noil looks great on the bolt, avoid it when choosing a trouser silk. The fabric is prone to raveling, which makes it a mess to sew on a standard sewing machine.
