If you don’t want to make a special table cover, you can start with a piece of canvas or denim, ironed flat and placed on your table – just be careful not to cut through it! Bias garments drape gracefully over the body, but this means the fabric will stretch a bit as it follows those contours. Using a straight stitch can stop the seams from gently stretching, so switch to a narrow zig zag to help the seams mimic the stretchy behavior of bias-cut silk. To finish these seams, I recommend a second row of slightly wider zig zags, as described in the machine sewing section above. Don’t stretch and sew

When sewing shifty silk by machine, select a slightly shorter straight stitch length than you would for a stable cotton. 2mm instead of 2.5mm works well to start with. Be sure the buttonhole area is interfaced well. If it doesn’t have interfacing fused in, a small square of silk organza works well for this. Look for a label like “extra-fine” or “fine”. The Dritz Extra-Fine Glass Head Pins are my go-to for all delicate fabrics. There’s such variety in silk fabrics that it’s worth testing a few different needle types before you begin your project. Some densely woven silks perform better with a microtex needle, but if you’re working with a delicate weave, a microtex needle is more likely to snag your fabric. There’s no single right answer here. If you’re more comfortable pinning pattern pieces to your fabric, just take your time, making sure everything lies smoothly and that your grain lines aren’t distorted. And use high quality pins to reduce the risk of snags.If instructions are unavailable, either wash your fabric on a cool, delicate setting in your washing machine, or gently hand wash it in a tub of cool to warm water with a bit of hand soap. Kat has been sewing since her feet could reach the pedals, starting with quilts she made with her mom and eventually graduating to garments. She now makes everything she wears, occasionally teaches classes, and shares her projects on social media. Highlights include her wedding dress, shoemaking, and a love for almost any fabric that comes in hot pink! Read more… I get asked a lot what my tips for working with silk are and honestly, I don't have that many. One thing I do every time I'm cutting silk, either for myself or at work, is cut it through paper. This is how I learned to cut silk in school and it was reinforced once I got out into the working world. If your company works with silk and you're too small to have it cut for you (most places use one of these two methods) then you're most likely cutting it through paper. The most I've cut at once is somewhere around 6 layers that included charmeuse, habotai and organza, but my boss remembers cutting upwards of 15 layers of silk when she started out years ago at a company in Chicago. Use a finer sewing machine needle (try sizes 60/8, 70/10, and 80/12), and try microtex needles. A good general hand sewing needle for silk is a “Between”.

With wash-in options, it’s always best to test on a swatch (and wash it out again once dry!) as some treatments may affect the “hand” of the fabric (“hand” is the word we use for the way a fabric feels to touch!) Sometimes lapped seams may be appropriate but these involve topstitching, which isn’t suitable for silks in many cases. In most silk projects, I use french seams everywhere I can, and bias bind the rest, but my wedding dress was a bit different. The seams on the skirt of my dress were cut on the bias, and I wanted to preserve their behavior. A french seam was more likely to constrict the silk gauze fabric I used, so instead I used a narrow zig zag stitch to sew the seam, and then a wider zig zag just inside the seam allowance to finish the edge. I then trimmed the fabric as close to the second line of zig zag stitches as possible. The resulting seam behaved well on the bias, and was nearly invisible which was important for my sheer fabric! If your silk fabric has a subtle nap, cut your pattern pieces in the same direction so the colors don’t look different.If your silk is quite delicate, you can add a single layer of tissue paper (the pieces leftover from cutting work well) underneath your fabric, on top of the feed dogs. This will add a small layer of cushioning between your fabric and the feed dogs, preventing fabric bruising and allowing you to control the flow of fabric through your machine more manually.