Summertime and don't you just want some cool clothes to wear? Well, one of the best fabrics you can sew to keep cool is linen. Linen is the oldest natural cellulosic fiber, cellulosic meaning originating from plants. Samples of linen have been found in Egypt dating as far back as 4500 B.C. This is one fabric that wears long.
I have always loved linen, both the feel and the look of it. My Irish father brought me back some linen when I was 18 or 19 years old and not really very knowledgeable about fabrics. With youthful enthusiasm, I cut out a dress and sewed it up as fast as I could. Never even knew fabrics had to be pre-shrunk. Well, I wore it once. I should have learned my lesson, but I'm a little slow and I did the same thing again a few years later with a lovely piece of red linen that I sewed up into an Albert Nipon designer dress. What a lot of work to be worn only once. In retrospect, the first dress which was yellow, could have been hand-washed, and the second dress should have been dry-cleaned to preserve the colour. I think I have learned a little since those first attempts.
Pure linen dress from Burda magazine
Linen is an extremely sewer-friendly fabric. It is one of the easiest fabrics to sew and press. The biggest mistake that people make with linen is using the wrong weight for the project. For example, using a heavy stiff linen for a blouse or using soft light linen for pants. This spells disaster.
Linen is the perfect fabric to show off machine embroidery Picture from McCalls' home catalogue
Linen comes in many weights ranging from very light, handkerchief linen, to heavy suitings. It is extremely important to match your weight of linen to the type of garment. Use suit-weight linen for jackets and coats, garments that are structured and rather stiff. Use medium-weight linen for dresses, unstructured jackets, and pants. Use handkerchief linen for blouses and poet shirts, loose shirt tops and for casual summer dresses.
Nothing else looks quite like real linen. Medium weight linen 4-gore skirt, with Swiss eyelet embroidery on the petticoat. Picture scanned from Heirloom Sewing for Today by Sandy Hunter.
Linen has many great qualities but first, you must decide if you can live with wrinkles. Some people just can't, and, if that is you, then look for linen-look fabrics which may have no linen in them at all. They are called that because they resemble linen in the coarse textured look of the yarns. You may find fabrics labeled "rayon linen" or "silk linen"; they may have a percentage of linen in them, but they are not true linen. True linen is 100% linen, made from the flax plant.
The manufacture of linen is quite a lengthy process, involving soaking the fibre of the flax plant for days; this is why linen is quite expensive. The best linens come from Ireland, Belgium, and now from Italy.
So, if you have decided you can live with wrinkles, read on. Linen has quite noteworthy characteristics: one being a natural luster, that synthetics just cannot mimic. It also has a very high moisture absorbency (12% of its own weight), which means that your perspiration is evaporated quickly through it, leaving you more comfortable on hot days. It take dyes well, but the darker colours tend to fade with laundering, and they show wear and fading at foldlines and edges.
Hong Kong Vest from The Sewing Workshop. Linen looks its best in structured shapes with interesting sewn details. Picture scanned from Threads magazine, July /96.
Linen is technically a washable fabric, but how you launder your sewn project, depends on the construction rather than the content. I would definitely machine wash a handkerchief linen blouse and also a linen skirt, but I would never wash a linen jacket with set-in sleeves, facings, and collars. For this project, I would definitely use the dry-cleaner. However, in all cases, I would pre-shrink the fabric. For the blouse, I would wash the fabric in the machine and perhaps toss it in the dryer as well, if I intend to dry it that way afterwards. For a skirt or unstructured jacket, I would soak the fabric in the tub in cool water, and then hang it up to dry over the shower rail, without squeezing it out. Squeezing would put in wrinkles that would be hard to press out. For a structured jacket, I would also wet the linen and dry it, then press it before cutting.
Paw Prints Kimono Vest 1007 embellished with Sashiko embroidery This pattern is available from Timmel Fabrics.
Sandra Betzina recommends washing and drying linen three times if you want a comfortable soft linen. I did this for an unlined jacket last year. I am here to tell you - Don't! I lost so much yardage in the process that I had to go and buy more to make the sleeves. I also lost so much fiber to the lint filter that the finished fabric now feels thin. Next time, I would wash the linen once or twice, but I would skip the dryer totally.
Linen garments require different interfacings, depending on your project. For a jacket or coat, use a weft insertion fusible - these interfacings are made for tailoring and give good body without stiffness. For less structured garments, try a fusible knit interfacing. This is my favourite, since it helps to reduce the wrinkling as well. You do sacrifice some of the breathability, but sometimes it is worth it. For instance, I am making a linen skirt at the moment and I have interfaced the entire front and back of the skirt to reduce the wrinkling. I would also interface the entire front of a jacket or coat to give it some structure and it also helps to support all the details which are on the front - e.g. pockets, lapels, etc. If you don't like fusible interfacings, you can use a sew-in interfacing. The favourite of clothing designers is cotton batiste or silk organza. These are pricey, but they may be what you need for your garment. They would be put in as an underlining, over the entire piece, and thereby reduce wrinkling as well. Be sure to pre-shrink all your interfacings.
For a sheer handkerchief linen, rather than using interfacing on the facings, which would then show through and look unattractive, try doubling the front of the blouse entirely. This would then make the linen opaque and you could eliminate the facings.
Linen is easy to sew and, because it shows off every seam, it is a dressmaker's delight. Use it to its full advantage by sewing simple lines, but accenting details such as interesting seams, pockets, yokes. Top-stitching looks beautiful on linen and to make it stand-out, switch to a top-stitching thread in your needle. Linen looks best in simple shapes, with clean geometric lines. Pleats, piping, welt pockets, pocket flaps, top-stitched yokes all look wonderful in linen. Old-fashioned dressmaker details such as godets in skirts and slot seams look terrific. Check back issues of Threads magazine for how-to's on these and other techniques. Heirloom sewers love light-weight linen because it shows up all the wonderful shirring, wing-needles work, and pin-tucks that they love.
Linen skirt featuring a strip of entredeux just above the hemline. Picture scanned from Heirloom Sewing for Today by Sandy Hunter
Linen does fray badly, one of its drawbacks, so you can either serge all seam allowances or use seams that encase the raw edges, such as French seams on light weight linen, and flat felled seams on heavier weights. If you have a taste for the couture side of sewing, try a Hong Kong finish on all raw edges. That is a lovely finish and you will be so proud when your jacket falls over a chair to expose beautifully finished seams.
Pressing linen takes time, but it likes to be pressed. Linen can take a lot of heat, but be mindful of your interfacings - they may not. Press seams and details as they are sewn, always press on the wrong side and use steam. Be very careful pressing linen on the right side, because it is easily slicked by a hot iron. Use a press cloth to be safe. A see-through cotton batiste cloth would be perfect. To set pleats, mist the fabric with a 50/50 solution of white vinegar and water. Or dip your press cloth in the mixture and wring out.
For household linens, a trick I came across recently in a book on laundering clothes, is to wash your linen, hang it to dry, then sprinkle with clear water to dampen. Wrap and roll it up tightly in a plastic bag and place in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 hours. The chilled linen presses more easily because the iron glides over it. I wouldn't recommend this for a blouse or dress, but it would be a good idea for table linens or napkins.
Linen is probably my favourite fabric. Not that I have lots of clothes in it, but I just love it. I love looking at it, I love the feel of it, and I love sewing it. I don't particularly care for the pressing part, but with proper pre-treatment and proper selection of a pattern, the care should be a little easier.
Lida Baday pattern from McCalls spring 1999 I used this pattern to make my favourite jacket last spring.
I recently found some embroidered linen that I just had to have. So that is the project this week - finish the white linen skirt and then make a shell and jacket from the embroidered linen. Just the thing to wear to that July wedding my husband and I have an invitation to.
Any sewing questions? I would be happy to try and answer them: you can email me at mail@timmelfabrics.com
