10 Sewing Rules to Never Break

RULE ONE: Always pre-treat your fabric before you cut, laundering it exactly the same way you treat your finished garments. For most of us that means machine washing and line drying. Do the same with your yardage, but remember if working with a knit, to hang it on the line lengthways along the stable ‘grain’ and not crosswise, along the greatest stretch, which can distort and stretch out the whole piece.

Pre-treating is particularly important with cottons and rayons, which can shrink up to 10%, and with woven interfacings that can do the same.

For garments you intend to dry-clean, like linen or wool, you can try steam shrinking with an iron held slightly above the fabric surface, or an old trick that is a favourite of mine; to ‘take the shrink’ out of linens and wools I usually put the fabric in a low or no-heat dryer with a well-wrung piece of wet lining