Figure Skating Sewing Help: How Do I Attach a Chiffon Skirt to Lycra?

This question came in this week from reader Cathy:

Sometimes I think I am the only person in the world who sews anymore. I make dance competition costumes, but use all the same stuff you do and have many of the same problems.

My current problem is attaching a chiffon empire skirt to a stretch velvet bodice. I’ve always avoided this in the past, but this was inevitable. I know I have to gather the skirt enough that it fits over the hips, but do you recommend stabilizing the seam in some way to keep it from pulling out of the seam? I thought maybe a thin strip of stitch witchery.

Thanks for your help!

Alright. True confession time: I’ve never sewn non-stretch fabric to stretch Lycra or velvet. Reader C.M. wrote a guest post on the old blog in February about dying silk chiffon, but I don’t recall her explaining how to attach the non-stretch fabric to the leotard.

If you sew, you know the problem with sewing something stretchy to something that doesn’t stretch. When the skater puts on the garment, she’ll stretch the dress, right? This is how it’s supposed to be. But when she tries to stretch it where the non-stretch fabric is sewn in the seam, the seam won’t stretch. She might not be able to get the garment on over her shoulders. If she does, the garment might rip right at that point.

Like most things, I learned this the hard way. Remember that dress I painted with fabric paint? Well, where the empire skirt attached to the bodice, I covered up the seam line with a line of sequin trim. Non-stretch sequin trim. Ice Girl managed to fit into the dress and not rip it apart, but it she weighed just a pound more that dress would have been in shreds.

Here’s what I would do, though. Readers, please tell me if I’m off-base. I’d cut the chiffon skirt wider at the seam line than the bodice. Not a lot wider, but some. Then I’d use pins to mark the halfway point, quarters, and eighths on both fabrics. I’d match up the pins and gently stretch the Lycra to match up with the chiffon, which will give the seam some ease, but not have huge gathers.

Oh, and I’d probably curse some, too. I think that part might be optional.

Readers, how do you attach chiffon to stretch velvet? Do you have to use a walking foot? Have you ever successfully used non-stretch trim on a stretch garment? Should this seamstress stabilize the seam line with the stretch and non-stretch fabric? How much larger should she cut the chiffon at the seam line – or is that even necessary? Please give us all an education!

different kinds of pins in a ball shape, spinning

Do you have a question for Ice Mom or the Advisory Board? I have one for this Friday and next Friday, but you can still send in your dilemmas! If you have an idea for a blog post, you can send that to me, too! Thanks, Cathy, for sending this along. I don’t know the answer and I can’t wait to find out! Feel free to e-mail me at IceMom.Diane@gmail.com. I assure you, I love e-mail!

Photo credits:
Pins Pies: Lina-Sydney – Busy on Flickr.com Creative Commons
Pins: nathanmac87 on Flickr.com Creative Commons
Purple dress: Ice Mom
mixed-pins-spin: DaveBleasdale / David Bleasdale on Flickr.com Creative Commons

Lynne

I’ve never done this, but could you gather the chiffon using elastic thread before attaching it to the bodice? I’ve never used elastic thread, so I don’t know if this would be helpful or not. Good luck!
Anonymous

If I ever have this issue in the future I will try IceMom’s suggestion, but I did do this once for a simple holiday skating dress because I did not want to spend a great deal of money for a one time thing. What I did was cut the skirt wider at the waist area. I then gathered the waist area to be the same width as the bodice and sewed in elastic at the gathering area. The sewed the bodice and skirt together making sure I had the elastic within my stitching. It worked, but gave the skirt a gathered look (which is what I actually wanted) rather than a sleek straight look.
http://icemom.net Ice Mom

I really do think adding some width to the chiffon and easing it to the Lycra will work, but I’m dying to know if anyone has used non-stretch trim on a Lycra garment. What did you do to make it work?
Becky

I cut the chiffon about 3 or 4 inches bigger at the waist and ease it in as Ice Mom said but I also cut the chiffon on the bias. It has a teeny bit of stretch on the bias. It works pretty well, my only tip is this, after the skirt is cut out I let it hang up over night to relax the fabric so it doesn’t distort the hem.
Becky
Anonymous

I have been playing a lot with the whole stretch/non-stretch combination lately.

My very first attempt was a non-stretch lace over a lycra dress. The lace wasn’t completely covering the dress, but in a swirl/design/pattern. I was strategic – there wasn’t any part that couldn’t stretch a little bit, so the non-stretch stuff wouldn’t rip. Also, I had to pin the lace onto the dress while I was wearing it so I could be sure it would lay right. It also had a very open back, so there was less worry about how the dress was going to get pulled on; it just had to get the skirt over my hips and then straps snapped the front into place.

My second attempt was a somewhat failure – I tried to overlay this sheer non-stretch fabric over regular lycra. Well, it worked ok, but I had to alter my design a LOT to be able to get it on/off. Again, it had practically no back and I tried to pin the fabric in place while I had the dress on. I tried to do this elegant/drape-y effect, but it sort of just looked sloppy. Because I was trying to have the non-stretch all around my body it had a weird hang and just didn’t look quite right.

Learning from dress #2, I am altering my plans for my dance dress this year. I was going to try having the non-stretch flowy fabric over the whole dress, but I don’t think it will work well. So instead I am going to try approach #1 – cut out a pattern and applique it. And usually I work top down, but I think it might be better to work bottom up – because I want to have the pattern weaving in and out and swirling around, with a sort of ruching on the top. I think with the separate pieces it will give me the color and soft effect of the non-stretch without preventing the lycra stretch. I don’t know how well this will work, but I think as long as there is some give somewhere it should be ok.

As to the problem at hand, sewing an entire skirt of non-stretch chiffon, I would say good luck. If you have a curvy girl it could be a big problem getting this costume on/off (not trying to be mean, just speaking from experience). I think the advice given by ice mom is good – but I would suggest cutting the skirt a LOT bigger. This was one problem I had from attempt #2 – I way underestimated how much stretch the lycra was actually giving me from the pattern (I haven’t made lots of normal clothes, just skating costumes mostly, so it was a big shocker to me). See if you can have the dancer/skater try on the costume in pieces so you can see how big the skirt needs to be. Then try stretching the lycra while sewing to the non-stretch skirt. This is sort of how I do the elastic for the leg openings on my dresses because I use a lot less than the pattern says I should (I like them really tight because saggy tights are NOT fun). If it is going to be a big problem in wearing the costume, you could always try to cut the back lower/more open so that it is easier to get it on, while still having the same skirt effect.
Anonymous

Be strategic in the placement of the trim, and pin it on while the skater is wearing the dress. There has to be some give somewhere. So either it will need a zipper, an open back, or the trim has to not be going entirely around the body (because odds are it won’t get over the hips). Vertical/diagonal trimmings will be mostly ok in terms of pulling the dress on, but you still need to pin it on the dress while the skater is wearing it to see how much it is going to stretch when it is on. The length/size of the zig-zag stitch depends on what the trim is, but it does need to be zig-zag and not straight stitch if at all possible. Not exactly the magical response we are all looking for, but it can work with a little planning.
http://icemom.net Ice Mom

Hey, Becky. Cutting it on the bias for this application is really, really smart. If you’re in a hurry to hem, I’ve hung bias-cut skirts in a steamy bathroom for a couple of hours to relax the fibers.

This might be completely obvious, but I’d also baste the skirt in place first and have the wearer try it on, just to make sure that the whole thing fits well.
Michelle

I often work with attaching chiffon skirts to lycra as it gives such a lovely floaty effect. I do exactly as Becky says and cut the chiffon larger(to the hip measurement) and it’s a must the skirt must hang before hemming, otherwise you end up with a very uneven hemline.I always baste the chiffon to the lycra before attaching.
Attaching non streach trim is really difficult! Cutting lace into smaller pieces and then attaching the pieces works well, the only way I have found to attach non strech trim around the body is cutting it into smaller pieces and pinning on to the dress while on the wearer.

2 way strech fabric also creates lots of interesting challenges!

Happy sewing
Cathy

I’ve had to attach feathered trim to costumes. I’ve done hips, waists and necklines and in each case I’ve pinned the trim to the costume while the dancer was wearing it, then tacked it in a few places. The trim hangs strangely while the costume is on the hanger, but looks fine on. The dancers have to be careful putting the garment on though, because between the spots where you tacked, the trim is not attached to the fabric. Very easy to put a toe through as we found out. This won’t work for trim that is meant to be sewn into a seam, like piping. It helps to leave a gap or overlap somewhere less noticeable, like a side seam, if you are doing a waistline. I’ve also gathered net ruffles onto thin elastic, stretching as I sewed, then zigzagged the elastic onto the garment.
Cheryl Malinosky Sohn

I’ve braved the silk chiffon/lycra a few times now, and I learned the center front and back must be cut on the bias, and the weight of chiffon actually had enough give that I did not have to increase the circumference of the skirt. I really wanted the shirt to lay flat while in a standing position, and not have a gathered look. My daughter really has a robust skater butt, and we have to gently pull the dress on, but she’s had one of them since February, and nothing has ripped yet. I think the fabric has just enough give in the bias to pull this off. I did hang the skirt for over a week before I put the final roll hem stitch along the bottom.
Rkluchy

Thank goodness I found you! I’m not an Ice mom, but I am a ballet mom and I’ve taken on costuming for the recital this year. First let me say that finding fabric in the middle of Wyoming is a HUGE challenge! I am having to buy online and making trips to the Denver Colorado area for fabric and trims. One of the costumes I’m aking is an empire style leotard with a chiffon skirt so sewing non stretch to lycra is one of my biggest challenges. I have some practice fabric so I’ll be trying the methods I’ve learned here to make the dress. Thanks a million for blazing the trail!
http://www.bestdancewear.net/ Liturgical Praise Dance

This is fabulous
news. Thanks for sharing with us.
Dasha

I have never actually done this, but I’m wondering if cutting out a nice V cut skirt would help with fitting it over the hips. Since if you straighten out the V it will be wider, so won’t it straighten out as the stretchy material is being stretched? And become possible to be put on? I”m not sure this made sense, but I’ll be experimenting with this soon, because I really need a very straight and slim skirt with almost no volume to it…
Sherri

Do you know how to attach individual feathers to stretchy fabric? Thanks.
Jeaniewilt

I realize this is an old question, but if someone new has the same problem here are some answers. I had to deal with this issue for a dance show, where the teacher bought chiffon instead of a power net that would stretch. The mom helping assured me she worked with stretch issues all the time and could handle it. Needless to say I had to fix all but 2 dress at rehearsal because the girls couldn’t pull them on.

Cutting the skirt to fit over the hips then stretching the velvet to match. Velvet is pretty resistant and shouldn’t need reinforced. But if you have a lighter weight stretch, reinforce the seems with either elastic or the stretch lace hem binding. Stitch Witchery is a glue for gluing on embellishment or hems and has zero stretch value.

Option A. Use a design with a key hole style back. This usually allows an empire waist to get over the hips.

Option B Put a closure in. A small 7′ side or back zipper would fix all the hip issues. dancers use a hook and eye tape typically instead of zippers. Some times in the back you can just have an opening with one or two hooks and eyes.

Ultimately using a stretch power net instead of chiffon is best. Hancock Fabric has a brand called confetti corner that usually has some. I have had lots of luck with it at walmart fabric shops for a $1.00 a yard. Rembember it doesn’t need to stretch 4 ways only 2.