Like many home sewers, I suffer from TGCS, or Too-Good-to-Cut Syndrome. Since I started interning at Mood, I’ve hoarded amassed some truly exquisite fabric. I have visions of swishy silk dresses, collarless jackets lined with charmeuse, and classic silk shells. I even have the perfect fabric for a ballgown. When was the last time you went to a ball?, you ask. That is strictly beside the point, reader. It should of course come as no surprise that I mostly sew cotton dresses. To put this in perspective, I own more silk than I do all other fabrics combined. Problem? Me?

When I heard Sarai Mitnick of Colette Patterns would be teaching a seminar on sewing silk at Mood, I was determined to be the first in line. Have you seen her silk makes? She sewed her own wedding dress out of bias-cut silk charmeuse. I got the vapors from typing that.

That’s Sarai on the right posing with a fan after her seminar on sewing with silks at Mood NYC.

Sarai let us in on a little secret: Sewing silk is not that different from sewing anything else. Lunacy! If you know how to troubleshoot your issues, you’re well on your way to a fabulous garment. Flyaway fabric? Use some spray stabilizer. Puckering French seams? A teeny zigzag stitch does the trick. In fact, the hard-to-tame fabrics, like charmeuse, give silk an unduly bad rap. Silk twills and dupioni are relatively unfussy and are a great gateway into the wild and wonderful world of silk.

The prettiest handout ever.

We also got a really nifty silk sewing guide. Under each fabric, there are cutting tips, suggestions for needle sizes, and hemming instructions. Superficially, this handout is too attractive for words. It’s certainly pretty enough to tempt me into sewing with silk.

Armed with my silk cheat sheet, I think I’m ready to try a few of Sarai’s tricks.  Who’s with me?

Shorten stitch length to prevent puckering. 2.5mm stitch on the left, 1.5mm on the right.

1. Shorten stitch length to prevent puckering It never quite occurred to me that stitch length—not tension, or needle size, or the position of the moon relative to Saturn—affects puckering. Armed with a fresh 60/8 microtex needle and Gütermann sew-all thread, I went at this piece of silk. It’s only slightly visible here, but the line of stitching on left was sewn with a 2.5mm stitch length and it. is. rippling. Like magic, a shortened stitch length gives a smooth look.

On the left, a wee zigzag stitch, and on the right, the turned out French seam.

2. A tiny zigzag stitch prevents pull on a French seam. Have you noticed that sometimes French seams can cause your seams to shrink a bit, lengthwise, so that your hem is uneven?  I used a .5mm-width zigzag stitch and voilà! Even hemline. Confession: this is cotton batiste from our store, but the tip works well, nonetheless.

Using a bit of muslin to stabilize unwieldy fabrics, like silk chiffon.

3. Placing an old sheet under unstable fabrics makes cutting a dream.  It does! It does! I constantly hear tips about sandwiching your fabric between tissue paper, but doesn’t that go against one of sewing’s cardinal rules?  Thou shalt not cut paper with your fancypants shears. Cover your cutting table first with an old sheet or other large piece of fabric, then place your slippery silk fabric atop of it. The sheet adds traction so your fabric doesn’t fly about and slip off your cutting surface. Care for an unsolicited tip from a brand-new silk cutter? Serrated shears make the job much easier, too.

How about you?  Do you have any tips or tricks for sewing with silk, or are you (like me) afraid to take a pair shears to it? Meg at Mood has some marvelous tips for sewing silk, and we’ve also shared the paper stabilizer trick.

Adding Instagram to Mood’s social media mix was a no-brainer for us. Being able to show you photos of the exquisite fabrics and trims we offer is the next best thing to shopping in our stores. Hopefully you’re already following us on Instagram, but if you aren’t, or haven’t tried Instagram yet, here are five reasons why you should:

1. Be the first to know about new fabrics in our stores and online. We share photos of new arrivals on Instagram first, so you’ll have the inside scoop if you follow us there.

2. See how our designer fabrics were used by the designers. On Instagram, we match designer fabric to the original runway shots so you can see how designers like Carolina Herrera, Marc Jacobs, Thakoon, Etro and more were inspired to use the fabric now in our stores and online. Think of these collage photos as visual aids to help you when you’re planning your own garment.

3. See how your favorite celebrities wear our designer fabrics. We search for images of celebrities wearing clothes made from the designer fabrics we offer and then post them on Instagram, so you can see what real people look like in them, such as Sarah Jessica Parker wearing a Marc Jacobs neoprene and lace top, above. (Well, as much as celebrities are “real people.”)

4. Get glimpses of the world’s most exciting fabric store. Too far away to shop often enough at Mood NYC or Mood LA? On Instagram we keep you happy with photos of the Project Runway designers and other celebrities who pop in, as well as providing you with many other shots of your favorite store in action.

5. And don’t forget Swatch. We know our fans love to see Swatch, Mood’s mascot dog, and we happily oblige you on Instagram with loads of photos of our Boston terrier in action. Do we mind that pictures of Swatch get more likes than our fabrics photos do? Well, maybe just a little, but he is a cute guy.

Do you follow us on Instagram? What other brands do you enjoy following?

Here are more of the fabulous Mood NYC staffers you’re likely to see on Project Runway this season:

Tarek

Angela

Wira

Nilsa

Ann

Jonathan

Noel

Katrina

Elias

Jennifer

Michael

Jeremy

Eric

Sharon

Deirdre

Swatch

I’ll be live-tweeting each episode of Project Runway, so follow us on Twitter (mood_fabrics). Don’t expect any spoilers from me, though, because I’ve deliberately sequestered myself in Mood’s offices while filming is going on upstairs—not a single clue as to who is in and who is auf’d. Here’s to a great premiere on Thursday night!

from the Metropolitan Museum: Wrap dress, 1975–76 Diane von Furstenberg (American, born Brussels, 1946) Green-and-white dotted cotton/rayon blend jersey

Thank you, DVF!
When Diane von Furstenberg designed her wrap dress in the 1970s she created both a flattering wardrobe staple and a classic piece for women to sew.  Women of all ages should consider having at least one wrap dress in their closets. You can buy wrap dresses from designers like DVF, Issa, Roberto Cavalli and Vanessa Bruno, or  you can sew your own unique wrap dress. Guess which option we think you should choose?!

Inspiration: DVF New Julian Two classic wrap dress, $365 USD.

Wrap dress patterns:
Basic jersey wrap dresses are easy to sew and can be successfully tackled by advanced beginners. Here are a few wrap dress patterns that are takes on the basic DVF style:

New Look 6674

Style Arc Kate Dress

BurdaStyle wrap dress #139 02/2011, plus size

Kwik Sew 3489

Butterick 5454

Vogue  8784

Choose your fabric:
DVF uses silk jersey for her iconic dresses; cotton jersey works just as well. Mood Fabrics has a wide assortment of jersey prints and solids, both in silk or cotton. Click here for prints and here for solids.

Colorful silk jersey print, $25/yd

Soft blue rayon jersey print, $14/yd

Tips:

• Depending on the pattern you use, consider binding the front neckline edge rather than using a facing.
• Stabilize the shoulder seams with clear elastic, twill tape, organza strips, or your own preferred stabilizing method.
• Use an overlock machine to stitch hems for a professional look. If you don’t own an overlock machine, use a twin needle. Take a scrap piece of your fabric and sew a test hem first. If you get dimpling or puckering, try interfacing the hem area with a lightweight, compatible fusible interfacing.
• If you’re serging seams for speed and a clean finish, check your fit first before stitching. You want to have a close-to-the-body look for maximum flattery. Make sure your sleeve caps are snug to the shoulder without any unintentional gathering at the top of the armscye.

Now get sewing! If you make a wrap dress with fabric from Mood, we’d love to see a photo. Send jpegs to me at meg [at] moodfabrics dot com. And if you have any ideas for future blog topics, send those my way too. Thanks!

And you thought we had a lot of fabric at our New York City store.

Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at Mood Fabrics’ massive warehouse in New Jersey, where we house all the fabrics, trims, buttons and notions that we sell online and in our NYC and LA stores. Imagine aisles and aisles of fabric, just like in the photo above, and you’ll get a basic idea of how much fabric we have. A LOT.

Rows and rows of boucle.

The minute a bolt of fabric is received in our warehouse, swatches are cut and filed so they're ready for customer requests.

A person could get a serious case of fabric overload here. And I'm only showing a couple aisles here in this post. We're talking HUGE warehouse space.