When I was a child, I loved going through my mother’s old dresses and playing dress-up. I especially enjoyed playing with certain dresses made out of satin, silk and velvet, as they felt super-luxurious and grown-up to little girl me.
I experimented with making outfits for my dolls out of my mother’s scraps, but never dared to attempt satin, silk or velvet – sticking to only cotton and linen as they were not only more plentiful, but definitely more forgiving of mistakes haha. My eyes hurt to see the snags that are clearly more visible in satin compared to cotton or linen.
Now that I’m an adult, I should be braver about making the attempts, and here we are! Sewing satin and silk is trickier than cotton or linen, as they’re more delicate and slippery smooth, but if you know the proper techniques, it is definitely possible to get a lovely outcome even with the most basic design.
What you’ll need:
- Satin (since we are just learning to sew satin, you can start with a large scrap piece – once you have mastered the skill, you can try out a simple skirt or blouse pattern on satin)
- Matching thread (the best would be either fine polyester or silk thread, to match satin’s lovely sheen – if you don’t have any on hand, any matching-color polyester thread will do for now)
- Needle (this needs to be a fine, super-sharp needle to avoid snags in the fabric – size 9 or 10 would work nicely)
- Pins (use super-sharp & fine tailoring pins to avoid snagging the fabric and/or leaving large holes)
- Scissors or rotary cutter (if you’re a scissors person, make sure to use a pair reserved exclusively for fabric cutting – never ever use the same pair to cut anything else, especially paper!)
- Cutting mat (even if you’re not using a rotary cutter, a cutting mat helps to keep everything flat on the table for prep work)
- Fabric weights (to keep your fabric in place – you can buy some at any sewing supply store, or make your own with large stones or fabric bean bags)
- Ruler
- Fabric marker or chalk (I prefer washable markers, as air-dried ones can fade too fast and chalks do not leave a mark easily on satin)
Prepping the satin:
Lay your fabric piece flat on the table or cutting mat. Make sure there are no wrinkles on it – you can press it flat first (make sure to place a pressing cloth on top of the satin before you press on low heat, or steam iron it before placing it on the table or mat). Never ever iron directly on satin, unless you want scorch marks on it! Satin is extremely delicate with heat. If this is a scrap, a wrinkle-free piece is good to go.
Weigh down the four corners of the fabric with fabric weights – if you’re working with a large piece, feel free to use more weights along the sides of the fabric. Just make sure their placement doesn’t get in the way of your cutting later.
Cut out a piece (if this is your trial piece, cut a rectangle roughly measuring 6 x 6 inch). Fold the piece into 2, and secure the sides with tailoring pins at medium-spaced intervals to minimize holes.
If you are new to this too, let’s try out these steps on how to sew satin:
- If you have a walking foot for your sewing machine, use that. Just like with quilting, a walking foot helps to feed the slippery smooth fabric evenly under the needle.
- Set your stitch to a straight stitch and choose a stitch length of about 2.5mm (not too big or too small).
- Raise the foot and the needle, and place the starting point of your folded test satin piece under the needle. Slowly lower the needle until it pierces the satin, and lower the foot as well.
- Check the tension and adjust if necessary – if it’s too high, the fabric can pucker as you sew.
- Start sewing – go slow (if your machine has the so-called ‘tortoise’ setting that limits the speed of your stitches no matter how hard you press on the pedal, use this! Trust me, it helps a lot!). Adjust your speed and the tension as you go, to avoid shifting the edges or puckering the fabric.
- Once you reach the end, lift the walking foot and the needle and pull the fabric out. Cut the thread tails a few inches away from the final stitch and tie them off manually at both ends (avoid backstitching at the start and end, to prevent any damage from puckering or snags to the satin).
Satin frays easily, so if you’re working on an outfit, it helps to serge the raw edges once you’ve cut the pieces out before assembling the outfit. Alternatively, you can use a regular zigzag stitch on your sewing machine or enclose the edges in French seams (if instructions for this were not indicated in the pattern, you will need to add more inches to your seam allowance if you wish to use French seams).
Ready to try sewing a super simple satin satin top without a pattern? You’ll need the same set of supplies as above, and add some matching smooth ribbons at least 1-inch wide (you can skip this if you want to make straps out of the same satin).
Cutting the top and straps:
- Mark a rectangle in the fabric with the following dimensions according to your wearer’s measurements – width: bust measurement + 3 inches for room; length: the preferred top length + 1 inch for the hem. If you have a larger piece of fabric and would like the top to have a nice flowy drape, mark and cut the rectangle out on the bias (45-degree angle to the grain) of the fabric instead of along the straight grain of the fabric.
- Measure the length from the front of your wearer’s shoulder, over it and to the back. Cut out two lengths of ribbon for the straps based on this measurement + 2 inches as adjustment allowance. In my case, it’s 12 inches + 2 inches.
Putting the top together:
Since this is still a no-frills attempt, stick to using a serger or a zigzag stitch on your sewing machine first to finish the raw edges.
- Fold the fabric right sides together along the shorter edge (the length of the top) and pin carefully.
- Follow the steps above with a ½ inch seam to sew the satin and create a tube. Using an iron and pressing cloth, first press on the stitches and then press the seams open.
- At both the neckline and hem, fold down the edge by ¼ inch and press. Fold another ¼ inch down, press again, and sew along the inner edge of each folded hem.
- Fold the satin tube top into two vertically. Fold again and mark the quarter points at the neckline. Pin one end of the ribbon (right side of ribbon facing wrong side of fabric) at the quarter point of the front with a 1-inch allowance – make sure the quarter mark is in the middle of the ribbon width. Pin the other end at the back, at the matching quarter point. Without flipping out the top, try it on for the best strap placement and length and adjust if necessary. Once you’re satisfied with both strap length and placement, sew each ribbon end to the satin top securely.
- Flip the satin top right side out. If you want to hide the stitches of the straps to the top, you can embellish that section with hand-stitched embroidery, small beads or fabric flowers.
You can further secure the ribbon straps by slipstitching the inner edges to one layer of the neckline hem. This way, the additional stitches will not show on the outside of the top and the edges of the straps stay in place.
This super-basic pattern-free design is a perfect first item for you to sew in satin! How about giving it a try?