Garment and bag manufacturing companies often need to use interfacing methods to complete their projects.
What is interfacing?
Interfacing is a popular method applied in the garment manufacturing industry to give support to certain areas of clothing like collars, pockets, waistbands, and cuffs. It helps the garment manufacturers to give proper structure, shapes, and firmness to some particular areas like the hems, facings, and collars on shirts, pants, coats, and jackets.
There are two major types of interfacing used in bag and garment manufacturing companies.
Given below are these:
Fusible interfacing
Woven fusible interfacing is one of the most basic and preferred interfacing processes used for beginners to boost their sewing skills. One side of it contains a glue surface intended to fuse to a particular portion of a bag or clothing. It works on a heavy adhesive on one side to ensure a permanent hold or grip to the collar or hem when applied using an iron. This is very good for giving great structure. This is a very good choice to give the fabric enough strength to work with bags and garments. The area where it is used becomes stronger and thicker. The steam and heat of the iron are applied to activate the adhesive.
However, feasible is not a perfect choice for every type of fabric. In some cases, there remain dangers of certain fabrics stretching signs of creases. Fusible interfacing comes with a woven or non-woven fabric.
Woven fusible interfacing
As the name suggests woven fusible interfacing looks like woven fabric. The weave is visible in the fabric. Cutting with the grain is vital here as the bias gets a slight stretch.
What is the basic difference between woven and non-woven?
The difference is obvious when you closely look at woven and non-woven.
The woven type is a cotton fabric with one side (especially the rough side) primed with fusible glue. One side of it is rough and another side is smooth.
The non-woven type contains agglutinated and compressed fibers. The rough side is primed with fusible glue.
This is why the woven fusible interfacing appears to be a sheet of paper. It exactly behaves like the same.
Both of these are available in the market with different thicknesses and qualities.
The non-woven does not contain any grain lines. This is why it is very easy to use in any direction. You can feel it very smooth like a piece of paper. It is thin and crisp. This is cheaper. It has a wider selection and extensive uses to complement the different applications. Being thin and smooth it has a chance to tear and crease or wrinkle during the time of using it.
To maintain the fabrics’ feel and look good, you can use the woven option. The interlacing does make the item of clothing or bag thick. This is a very good option for people looking for high-quality finishing. It is a bit expensive to use. However, it offers fewer options in terms of thickness and weight. You can avoid the risk of wrinkles and creases while using it with an item.
Sew-in interfacing
This interfacing method is an advanced option. It offers the most natural and professional shape for clothing articles. The process of adding a second layer of fabric is very easy. It is kept in the right place, using stitches. It ensures less stiffness. This is why it is a preferred option for many professional clothes makers. The poorly sewn interfacing can give a noticeable impact on the shape, finish and flow of the clothes. The sew-in option should be used for sewing multiple fabric layers at the time of using a sewing machine.
Some users think sew-in is one of the most difficult processes to work with. In spite of that, it still remains the best choice for many people working with lighter fabrics. According to them, it is an easier method to maintain the original qualities and properties of the fabric. The matter of fact is that the finished item of clothing seems to show creases. This is the correct method for fabrics that needs a high texture or cannot be ironed.
How to justify and choose the weight of your interfacing fabric
The rule of thumb is to consider the weight or thickness according to your fabric needs. You need to decide whether you want a soft drape or a stiff drape. Most of the garments making projects use lightweight interfacing that is suitable.
However, if you work with stiffer cotton, you need to choose medium-weight interfacings. Heavyweight interfacing is required at the time of making jackets or coats. It has extensive uses in adding structure to hats or bags.
Suman Jalal is a professional content writer interested in writing articles on interfacing. He has many published articles on woven fusible interfacing and woven interfacing