An interfacing question for all you expert sewers out there!

Sorry, title is supposed to read "interfacing", not "interfacting"!!!

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Thanks aggie, I've just done that.

You can use something else but it won't be crisp, personal choice really, if you dont mind a softer look.

If you Google interfacing there are several guides as to what type to use with any type of fabric. Fabrics Galore is one of the best.

You can get many different weights of interfacing. When making occasion outfits we used to use something called mull, which was a fine muslin type fabric you sewed into the lining. This would be used for the traditional couture garment. These days I like a very fine woven iron on interfacing to give body but remain soft. The vilene type which is like stiff paper is nowhere near as good. You could use a fine cotton lawn as interfacing on a lightweight dress, but it’s more of a faff.

This is an interesting question. If non-iron on fabric was used as interfacing how would it be attached (apart from stitching it into the seams? I've always used iron on Vilene.

Like vegansrock I generally use a woven iron-on but I don’t sew much these days that needs interfacing. I use duckbill scissors with sew-in as it needs very careful trimming for a good finish.

I remember the time before iron-on interfacing. Brilliant invention. There are so many nowadays. I think you can even get iron-on versions of woven cottons, which would be the best compromise.

Quilters use a spray-on glue which holds the layers together until they are washed, like tacking but over the whole surface. You may be able to get a permanent glue or something that you can spray onto the back of another fabric to make it iron-on.

If you use ordinary fabric as interfacing it has to be stitched either along all the edges of whatever it is interfacing, or for stiffer cloth like buckram, used in tweed jackets etc. along the top and sides, but not along the lower edge.