How To Sew Difficult Fabrics: master lightweight fabrics
- julijadauc
- 1 day ago
- 6 min read
Some fabrics are more difficult to sew than the others, and among some of the trickiest to work with are very thin, lightweight fabrics, that like to get stuck in stitch plate. In this post, I want to share a few tips that will help you manage these fabrics with ease.
This post is created in partnership with Brother and throughout the post I'll show which techniques to use on different level machines - from advanced machines to beginner ones - so that you can successfully sew tricky fabrics using any sewing machine that you have.
This post is also available in video format, so click the thumbnail below to watch the video, or scroll down to read the tips!
HOW TO SEW LIGHTWEIGHT FABRICS
TIP No.1: use a straight stitch machine
Let's begin with a first tip, where we will also going to analyze why those lightweight fabrics like to get sucked into the stitch plate - and the tip is to use a straight stitch machine.
Contrary to most domestic sewing machines - that are capable of doing lots of different stitches, such as zigzag, buttonholes or decorative stitches - straight stitch machines only do one type of stitch: straight-stitch. And they do it perfectly.
One of the reasons why they are able to ensure high quality stitch, particularly when we're talking about lightweight fabrics, is that these machines have hole in metal plate that's just wide enough for the needle to go down - that's because the needle always goes down at the same spot.
Versus, compared to domestic machine that needs to move the needle to the side for zigzag, the hole on stitch plate is much wider.
So when you're sewing lightweight fabrics on regular sewing machine with wide needle hole opening on the plate, the needle may bring fabric into that wide hole and make fabric get stuck. Which is not going to happen with straight stitch machine where the hole is only big enough for the needle.
Stitch type is also reflected on the presser foot, too: straight stitch machines have very narrow presser feet with small opening for the needle, so it presses fabric from both top and bottom, leaving only enough space for the needle to go down.
While on domestic machine, when using regular universal presser foot with wider opening - which is needed for zigzags and other types of stitches - the fabric is pressing point is further from the needle, and thus it may cause very lightweight fabrics getting sucked under metal plate.
Straight stitch is the stitch you're going to use most often, and if you're sewing variety of different fabrics and want to get good stitch quality regardless of what project you're making - a straight-stitch machine may be a right solution.
But what if you have a different type of machine? The good news is that there are quite a few solutions that you can do!
TIP No.2: use a straight stitch plate
This feature is more common in advanced sewing machine and if you have one - it may have come with two stitch plates: universal one and straight stitch one.
The difference being in the hole opening: with straight stitch plate - same as with a straight stitch machine - we have a hole that's only big enough for the needle go down, giving you same benefit as in straight stitch machine.
The only downside is that straight stitch plates are not available on every domestic sewing machine model, but if your sewing machine has it - you can essentially get same benefits as in straight stitch only machine when using straight stitch plate, and still use variety of different stitches when using regular stitch plate.
TIP No.3: use a straight stitch presser foot
For best effect on domestic sewing machine, you can also use a straight stitch presser foot.
This presser foot has a very narrow opening compared to universal presser foot, so it presses fabric better at the point where the needle is going down, which is in particular important when sewing difficult tricky fabrics. For full effect, you can combine straight stitch plate with straight stitch plate and really enhance the stitching experience when sewing with lightweight fabrics. But you can also use it without straight stitch plate, on any domestic sewing machine that you have, even if it's a beginner sewing machine, and significantly improve the quality of the stitch.
Important note is that straight stitch presser foot can only be used only with a straight stitch and needle in center position, and before sewing full speed, manually rotate the handwheel to ensure that the needle doesn't hit the presser foot when going down!
These solutions work great and they solve sewing lightweight fabric issues long term.
But what to do if you don't have these and you need to sew the tricky fabric right now?
Of course I have a solution as well!
TIP No.4: use paper
As simple as it sounds, lots of tricky fabrics can be conquered with a simple thin paper!
The trick here is to slip thin paper between stitch plate and fabric. When you sew using the method, the fabric won't get sucked underneath the plate, because there's paper preventing that. Not only that, but it also makes the process much smoother and the fabric becomes so much easier to handle. Plus, you can start sewing at the paper only and then move to paper and fabric, so you don't have to start sewing at the fabric edge, which is the most tricky part to start the seam.
Now what paper to use? I've seen recommendations on social media of using regular paper, but I personally find it not a suitable option, because it's way too thick, hard to remove and may leave paper traces in the seam.
Instead, I find best results using either baking paper - which is very lightweight and easy to remove - or using tear-away or water soluble interfacings. These interfacings are super easy remove, a small piece goes a long way and because they are so helpful in difference sewing tasks, I always try to have it in my sewing supplies.
Using either one of these solutions will make sewing thin lightweight fabrics a much easier task and already eliminate the biggest issues when it comes to handling these fabrics. But if you want to fine-tune quality even more, I have a few more tips to share:
TIP 5: use suitable size needle and thread
When sewing lightweight fabrics, you should switch to lower size needle: if we're using size 90 needle for most medium weight fabrics, then for lightweight ones we should use size 80 or 75. Smaller needle will make a smaller hole in fabric, creating a stronger seam and better lasting results.
You can also pair smaller size needle with more lightweight thread: typically, universal sewing thread can sew well with size 80 needle, but if you're using lower size needle, try to look for more lightweight thread as well.
TIP 6: adjust pressure of the presser foot
This is a setting we're not changing very often, but if you're sewing very lightweight fabrics, increasing pressure of the presser foot will ensure smooth feeding of the fabric and help avoid seam puckering.
This feature is available on most sewing machines and typically you either find a knob at the top of the machine, or - in more advanced machines - suitable pressure is detected and adjusted automatically.
Here are all 6 tips I wanted to share on how to successfully sewing thin, lightweight fabrics. Want to learn more sewing tips? Here's a video where I share some of most underrated sewing tips:
Best wishes,
Julija
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