fray block question
 

When I make quilts for little girls I love to put a ruffle on them. I use some type of satin, because little kids love the way that feels.

I am now wondering what is the best type of satin for this. I used to pick up "costume satin" at WalMart. I have purchased "slipper satin" from Fabric.com. Today I am working with "charmeuse bridal satin" that I purchased from Amazon.

They each seem a little different, but seem to work.

I supposed my first question is - what would the best type of satin be to use for putting a ruffle on a quilt?

Also, I have always used fray block after I cut the fabric because it seems like it will really fray. Today after I cut it was really looking to fray.

Do you think if I pick the correct satin I could skip the fray block? Its not a big deal, but some days I just don't want to do that step.

What do you guys think?

It's been years since I worked with that "costume satin" -- when I made a princess gown for my little girl. What I did was wash and dry the satin first, and then I heavily starched it to keep it stable while sewing. The starch helped a lot, plus I knew the dress could be washed later. I would stick to polyester satin, as it should wear pretty well (polyester is tough stuff). I would probably just shop for the thickest polyester satin I could find.

Where did you put the fray block? When I sewed the satin dress I just made extra-wide seams. I think I may have turned under the edges and sewed them to limit fraying, or sewn an extra line of stitching next to the seam. As long as the seams are enclosed, I don't think you need to use Fray Block on them. If you starch the satin before cutting, I think you will find that the starch stops a lot of the fraying while you are handling the satin. Also, if you want, you could cut the seams extra wide (say, an inch) so cutting away frays later won't weaken the seam. And, if you make the seams extra wide, you could trim the seams with pinking shears to deter fraying.

thanks for your thoughts... this satin I am using today is not very think. Its pretty but not very thick. The slipper satin was thicker.

I put the fray block all along both sides that were cut. It was quite a job. 550" x 4.5" strip spread from my living room to the dining room and back. :) I use the June Tailor and it dries very soft.

I think next time I might try the wider seam and try the extra sewing line. I will pile on some starch too.

I just want to try this a different way so maybe it will be easier

I agree with Prism. When I used satin fabrics for home dec or church costumes, I would just do a french seam. The next time, though, I will just get that overcast foot for my new Bernina & do an overcast and then turn the edge under once.

I find melting is the quickest & easiest way to seal poly edges and keep them from fraying. Many costume "satins" are either poly or rayon. I've melted 4" poly "satin" ribbon so it should work okay with a wider fabric -- just test first & be sure to keep fingers away from the melting part so it doesn't drip on you & scald you.

My personal favorite satin fabric I've worked with was in the girls' formal dress section at JAF. I did a french seam with it & it was a beast to work with because it just slips all over the place. I used silver clips instead of pins to hold the seams & it took me 4x longer than expected to finish, but I was super happy with the result when I was done. I've got some left that I just found at my parents' house & plan to turn some into a doll dress for my niece's flannel board.

It looks like everyone is talking about using the satin in quilts...so your fray check would be inside seams...

If you are making a little girls princess dress, and she will just pull it on over her t-shirt & jeans to play dress up, fray check is fine inside those seams, too.

However, if you are making any garment where the fray check on the inside seams would be worn next to the body, be aware that fray check is plastic, and will be scratchy next to the skin.

:wave: ... Just so you know...

quiltmouse, It's true that Fray Check is scratchy. Fray Block, however, remains soft so scratchiness is probably not an issue for clothing. I don't think Fray Block would survive machine washing and drying indefinitely, however, so it probably still is not a great choice for clothing seams.

Not if you are doing dimensional applique. I've done that & in that case none of the edges are encased inside seams unless you actually sew something like a french or rolled seam.

If the ruffle is taking the place of binding, it depends whether you double the fabric over first & then stitch it inside the seam (to where there would be no raw edges) or whether you leave the satin a single layer (in which case the outer edge will be raw, as will any seams you add to get enough length to run around the entire edge of the quilt).

yes my fray block is on the inside. I cut a width of fabric and fold that in half to make the ruffle. I "birth" the quilt so in a way the ruffle is the binding I guess. They turn out well like this.

I am going to think about the french seam angle

Bree123 - can you please explain how you melt to seal the edge. I have never done that.

Can't you just serge the edges?

I don't have a serger, so I never went that route. I do have an overcast stitch on my machine. I wonder if that would do the trick

My gut reaction is that starch will stain or spot the satin. Don't use it unless you test on a small piece. You could try zigzagging the raw edge.

I assume that you're doing the ruffled binding like a double-sided binding. Double sided binding has raw edges that you must turn under on both sides by pressing to the middle. If that's the case, it should be a 1/2" layered seam of Fabric A, doubled ruffle, Fabric B with the seam pressed open (Fabric A + one layer of ruffle going one direction and Fabric B + the other layer of ruffle going the opposite direction).

If your issue is that the fabric is fraying before you can get it enclosed, instead of burning encased raw edges, I'd do a pinked edge. Burned edges will add slightly more bulk and you already have 8 layers of fabric plus your batting in there so the last thing you want is any more bulk.

If the issue is that your entire satin binding is fraying after it's finished, in addition to the 1/2" seam, instead of finishing with a hand stitch or straight machine stitch, you might straight stitch the 1/2" on the back, flip & then machine stitch with a zig-zag or decorative stitch on the front. That's how I learned to attach satin binding to blankets; it is very secure and will last a long time without fraying even if you do nothing to the encased raw edges.

Gosh! So hard to explain without pictures. If I wasn't clear enough, let me know & I'll try to scan some illustrations in tomorrow night showing you what I mean.

If you use a decent polyester satin and cut straight, you shouldn't need to do anything to an edge that is going to be enclosed. I never had any trouble when I was making prom dresses and wedding dresses. Acetate satin is a different story, but I wouldn't use it for anything that was going to be laundered anyhow. I assume you use at least two rows of gathering threads (I like three) or gather by zigzagging over a thick thread and handle it as little as possible. Slipper satin is heavy for anything gathered and charmeuse is very light with little body. My recommendation would be the poly from JoAnn's - at least what we sold in the 90s.

The first thought that occurred to me was the fabric's wash-ability. Haven't dealt with these fabric since the 70s.

The "best" satin is one that washes and dries well. Some even tolerate relatively high heat.

In my experience, satin is notorious for fraying - I also would go with a wider seam - then overcast the finished seam with a zigzag stitch (serging would be my preference, but zigzag works - just does not look as nice - but it will be encased, so who will know?)

I find with any fabric if its going to fray I'll cut it with a pinking rotary blade. Keeps the fraying at bay till I'm done. If its apparel sewing I use the same blade but then finish the seams with serging. I love my pinking shear blade and keep an extra one on hand as I don't think these can be re-sharpened.

thank you so much everyone for your input! I always learn so much from this board.

Isn't there a satin-y blanket binding on the market? My mom made fleece blankets with this satin binding for all her grands when they were small.

Yes, but I haven't seen one with a ruffle so you'd still end up piecing together 3 pieces. They sell the satin/satin-like blanket binding in packages at JAF. I've used it for blankets. Granted, I haven't bought any in the last few years since I started making quilts, but the packs I used to buy were not serged. They were just cut & pressed (like bias tape or pre-packaged binding). With those, I would just clip it onto the raw edge of my blanket & do a single zig-zag stitch through all the layers (4 layers of satin binding plus the blanket material). I never had any issue with that stuff fraying except for when someone "loved" the blanket so much that it separated from the binding. As soon as it wasn't encased, the satin would quickly begin to fray like crazy. Were I to make one now, on my current machine, I'd do a triple stitch zig-zag to secure it better.