india fabrics

[zahra]

I have bought some beautiful skirts fabric made in India. they have
an underskirt. The top skirt has either slightly torn after sitting
down . What is the best way to reinforce this fabric, the prints
are awesome and I do not want to damage them further.

thanks for any suggestions!

 

[Farasha Hanem]

I think the ones who would be able to help you would need to know what sort of fabric the top skirt and underskirt are made of. Are they made of chiffon, brocade, silk, sari fabric, etc.?

 

[Shanazel]

Is the tear at the seam or in the fabric? Is the fabric giving way from stress or was it caught on something?

 

[zahra]

I think the ones who would be able to help you would need to know what sort of fabric the top skirt and underskirt are made of. Are they made of chiffon, brocade, silk, sari fabric, etc.?

Thanks for the reply Farasha.

The top skirt feels like a rayon material on one skirt and
the underskirt a light weight cotton.

 

[zahra]

Is the tear at the seam or in the fabric? Is the fabric giving way from stress or was it caught on something?

Thanks for the reply Shanazel.

On both skirts the tear is at the seam. The material appear so lightweight,
it is pulling away from the seam with minimal wear.

I am wondering if the thread they use is not strong enough and
therefore causing this issue...

 

[Shanazel]

I doubt the thread is at issue unless it is actually broken, inwhich case you can just resew the seam with better thread.

The nature of the loosely woven rayon is more likely the culprit. I've had stuff like this and it is a royal pain in the neck. If I am sewing with it, I reinforce the seamline with a narrow strip of silk organza to stabilize the fabirc and hope for the best.

Sometimes damage in this area happens because the fabric was cut off grain and the least stress pulls the threads apart. You can try sewing a deeper seam or unstitching the seam and resewing a slightly wider seam to take in the torn area, using a light stabilizer along with inside of the seamline.

By the way, the underskirt should take some of the stress off the over skirt. This works best when the underskirt is slightly narrower than the overskirt and the two are hemmed and seamed independently of each other, like one skirt inside another.

Hope something in that long mass of words helps. If not, maybe someone else has better ideas. There are some great seamstresses/seamsters that visit here. Where's Amulya? Where's Anala? Where is Zorba King of Skirts?

 

[Ariadne]

I think you have pretty much covered it Shanazel. The worst part of problems like that is if it is the fabric that is the issue any fix you do will be, by nature, temporary. Weak thread can always be re-sewn, weak fabric will just rip again.

 

[Shanazel]

Too sad and too true, Ariadne. I suppose if you truly adored the skirt you could take it apart and completely underline it. :think: It's best to learn to recognize the problem before you buy it, but that's not always possible when buying on line.

 

[zahra]

Thanks so much for the replies. So true, I need to buy in person
than online to see the fabric quality. The patterns are beautiful,
sad the quality is so poor...