Sewing Back-to-School: Garment Facings

This post is part of the Sewing Back-to-School series, 30 days of helpful sewing articles by guest bloggers. Feel free to check out the original Sewing Back-to-School post for schedule and previous posts!

 

Kay is an extremely talented sewing pattern designer. Not only does she design bags, but clothing as well! You can find all the patterns on her website. I made her Monique Dress last year and it’s still one of my favorites! Kay has a brand new book coming out at the end of September; it’s called Sew Serendipity Bags, and you can pre-order it now on Amazon! I am so excited and will be getting this as soon as it’s released!

Hey Everyone! Kay Whitt here from Serendipity Studio to talk about facings in garments. I have been making garments of one kind or another for about as long as I can remember. One thing that I learned early on is that just about any clothing item has a facing here or there. As a beginner I can remember thinking that the pieces looked silly and what could they possibly bring to the sewing that I really needed? I was thinking of all those extra steps of cutting them from fabric and interfacing and sewing them together and how that was going to slow down my project! My mother was quick to point out that those pesky facings have a purpose, and a very valuable one at that.

To get started, what exactly are facings? They are small pieces that are cut from fabric and interfacing and sewn together as a unit, then added to a garment edge. Now be honest with yourself, have you ever thought about just omitting those facings? Here is why you DON’T ever want to do that! The facings serve to add structure to the edges of whatever you are making, be it a neckline, armhole, center front, etc. You see, these simple pieces of fabric stabilize the edge, make it lie nice and flat, and keep it that way throughout the life of the garment….through repeated washing, wearing, ironing, and so on. You might be tempted to just bind off the edges of a neckline or armhole but in the long run, the one that has the facing will look nicer for a much longer period of time. I know people who regularly substitute bindings for facings, but it is something I do not recommend. There are some cases where binding the edge of a sleeve with a bias strip will work since there isn’t much pull on the edge during wear, but on a neckline (especially with cottons), it will warp over time. Once the edge is warped, there is no amount of ironing that will turn back that clock!

I think that some people are intimidated by the addition of a facing when in reality, they are easy to work with and easy to install. Maybe it is working with interfacing that throws some folks off. Interfacing is a type of stabilizer that adds structure to fabric. I like the fusible non-woven type for most applications. My favorite for clothing is Pellon 911FF. It is lightweight, yet adds the structure you need to the facing without the bulk. Because it is fusible, it is easy enough to add it to each facing piece on the wrong side before stitching out the seams.

I have included some photos here to show a facing being added to the waistline of a skirt. You can see that it is composed of three fabric pieces that mimic the shape of the top of the skirt.

Here they are sewn together at the side seams after the interfacing has been added. Notice that I have also serged the lower edge of the facing. This provides a nice neat finish and prevents any separation of interfacing from the fabric over time.

Once the facing has been sewn together as a unit, it is added right sides together to the top of the skirt, matching up the side seams and top edges. The two are then sewn together. Next, the seam is trimmed down and I like to go along the edge of my seam and snip in the seam allowance. This allows the facing to be turned to the inside smoothly, as the edge is slightly curved.

The next thing that happens is understitching. This is a VERY important step with facings. It is easy to do also. The facing is opened out away from the garment edge and the trimmed seam is turned toward the facing as well. Stitch closely to the seam edge where the garment and facing are joined on the facing side. This attaches the seam allowance to the facing and does not allow the facing to roll to the outside of the garment during wear.

Once this is complete, the facing is turned to the inside. Notice here that since a zipper is also part of the equation that the raw edges of the facing are turned to the wrong side and pressed before the facing is folded over. This provides a neat finish on the interior of the garment.

After pressing the facing to the inside, I like to edgestitch along the top edge. This helps further the permanent placement of the facing.

Note also that I love to “stitch in the ditch” of the side seam through all of the thicknesses to hold the facing to the inside.

The application of facings is pretty much universal, so you can translate this skirt application to a neckline or armhole or jacket front, whatever you might be sewing. I hope that those of you who have been dreading the facings, will dread them no longer. They are a necessary part of sound garment construction and once you have done a few, they are no sweat at all! Just think how nice your finished edges will be!