how to: sew on satin (without shooting yourself in the eye)

Sewing on satin can be a royal pain. Its slippery and slidey. It rejects stitches, snags, frays, and bubbles. It is hard to pin, hard to cut out, hard to sew, hard to press, and hard to finish. Satin generally just makes me angry. 

But here comes LIZZY to the rescue! I have just completed 1 (one) satin gathered blouse complete with yoke, bell sleeves, and trim. In the past I have begun a similar shirt. It is currently in the shredder. Thus, I feel adequately qualified to offer some tips and tricks to sewing on satin.

1. Buy the right satin. You should not buy it if it is heavy or thick (needles will spaz out when sewing), if you can't easily distinguish one side from the other (it will shine in different directions, in a poorly-made way), if it is exceptionally shiny (its not worth the slide trouble), if it is loosely woven (you can't pin it without snagging it), if it won't lie flat (just bad in every way), or if the person at the store has any difficulty cutting it out or folding it. Make sure it is light, quality, tight-woven satin.
2. Make sure it feels nice on both sides. If it is too shiny it will be like plastic. If the back side is itchy you won't wear it.
3. Once you have it cut out, serge around every edge of the pieces with a 3-thread rolled-hem stitch. Your serger's book will tell you how to do it, but you basically remove the left needle and its accompanying thread and adjust the tensions and stitch length so that you get a dense, narrow, petite little stitch that will keep your testy satin from literally going to pieces as you sew. Later, you will still need to use seam finishes on all visible seams or edges, but this will make it much easier to sew the fabric without it fraying all over the place. This is absolutely essential if you are gathering any part of the garment.
4. Sew with fine, polyester-coated-polyester thread. Never use satin thread, especially if it matches the color of your garment. This thread is impossible to remove, as may be necessary, because you can't see it and will end up unweaving your own fabric. Also, it simply does not sew well on satin because of the lack of friction between the thread and fabric. Cotton thread, on the other hand, will snag and pull at satin. Heavy or even normal-weight thread can also pull and snag, so its best to use fine polyester thread.
5. Press your fabric pieces after serging the edges and before sewing them. Avoid pressing at any other time.

There you are. With these easy precautions, you will soon be sewing on satin with...well, without hurting yourself or the machinery.

If all else fails, simply chant, "I am the human. You are the machine. I will triumph!" until your machinery complies.

With pride,

Lizzy ;-)