Preventing Fraying

If only I had thought of this years ago I might have been more adventurous in my choice of fabrics when dressmaking.

This is a dupion silk skirt in its early stages.  I know from nerve-wracking experience that silk will fray as soon as you have cut it, and I didn't want to lose great chunks of the seam allowance every time I breathed in its general direction.

The solution was to lay, rather than pin, the pattern onto the fabric, and then draw the outline of the pattern with tailor's chalk.  I used a ruler and a tailor's curves to keep the lines neat.

Then I cut a little over half an inch beyond the chalk line and ironed on a strip of fusible interfacing.  I put the inner edge of the interfacing directly alongside the chalk line.

I made sure that I marked the notches...

...and the tops of darts.

The inevitable fraying will be stopped short once it reaches the interfacing, so I can now get on and sew the darts and insert the zip at my leisure.

When the time comes to sew the side seams, waistband and hem, then I shall cut along the chalk lines immediately before sewing.

Suddenly the whole project has become a lot less stressy.

Linking up to Connie's blog Freemotion by the River for Linky Tuesday