leatheflea

As some of you may know I've been working on a spare bedroom redo. Well I'm down to making the curtains. I was gifted this stretchy shear fabric below and would like to make two panels. Thing is, I'm a quilter, I don't have any idea on how to handle this fabric. Such as needle, tension, pressure, any tips or tricks to sewing this stuff? I tried doing a search online and didn't come up with much, so I came to the experts!

ktbb

I've used this material before - It's a woven that has wrinkles built in...based on my experience, there is nothing special you need to do regarding tension - just do what you normally do with your quilting material - if there is a tension problem, you can adjust, but I've never encountered these issues. As you sew, you can either stretch the fabric by holding it front and back of the needle and let the feed dogs pull it through or, you can hold the fabric loosely in front of the needle in which case the feed dogs will occasionally feed a small fold thru the stitches...If you do the first - the seamline of you curtains may look weird when you finish the seam, but laundering it will make it scrunch back into the original shape. In the second case - the little folds that some naturally in the material will be in the seam, and won't be seen when they're on the rod. I usually feed mine loosely thru the feed dogs because I don't want to have to wash them before I hand them. I also don't usually press these because that can flatten the natural look of the material - you can put them into the dryer with a wet towel to freshen them up if you want. or ordinary laundering after they're made is OK.

Phyllis nm

I would use a serger.

leatheflea

Well I did a test piece didnt like it. Decided to make the curtain with no seams, used rod rings with clips to hold at the top and cut long enough to pile on the floor. The valance hides the unsewn top, and the floor hides the bottom cut seam.

Tartan

Leatherflea, your solution sounds ideal! I hate doing curtains!