Seamingly Badass

Learning to Sew: Interfacing (The Special Fabric)

What’s so special about interfacing?

Ok, so what if you want to sew something that doesn’t want or shouldn’t have stretch, but you have a fabric that has stretch that you want to use?

Well, you can interface it.

What is interfacing?

Interfacing is a specialized fabric that is used to add structure or stability to other fabrics. (Knits and Wovens)

There are two kinds of interfacing when it comes to adding interfacing to the fabric, either sew-in or fusible.

And there are 3 main types of interfacing: woven, non-woven and tricot.

For a deeper dive into interfacing, check out this article. (Or view this video).

Interfacing is typically sold in yardage, much like fabric. However sometimes you can find it in packages with specified dimensions.

I used to use non-woven interfacing for everything. But learned a few years ago that woven interfacing is actually a much better fit for a LOT of my needs.

Woven interfacing is just like woven fabric. It has little stretch on grain and cross grain but does have some give or instability on the bias.

Non-woven interfacing is more like paper. It’s made with a lot of fibers that go every which way and is pretty stable in all directions. so, while it’s best to use for stability on the bias, it has some paper-like qualities that might make it a poor choice.

Tricot is a type of knit. It’s often used in delicate garments and lingerie.