When temperatures drop, velvet is a great choice for making your sewing projects. It is soft, beautiful, comfortable, and comes in many types, versions, colors... In short, it’s an excellent choice! I especially love using it for my dresses, jumpsuits/overalls, and winter skirts worn with tights and boots. It is also suitable for jackets, pants, overalls, and shorts for both children and adults.

Today, I offer you my tricks and tips to sew it without accidents or headaches because there are a few things to know to make sewing velvet go smoothly.

Let's go, here are 10 tips!

1. Choose your pattern

To sew velvet, like any material, the success of the sewn garment depends greatly on the pattern/material combination.

Also, if you decide to sew velvet, be aware that most velvets are thick. You need to take this thickness into account when choosing your pattern. A pattern with many pleats, for example, can create a lot of volume and add bulk to the silhouette. 

Similarly, some velvets are structured, others have a heavy or soft drape... and you need to consider this when choosing your pattern to achieve the look you want. 

If you are a beginner, choose patterns where velvet is recommended as the material to use or choose patterns with a rather straight cut. 

2. Choosing your velvet 

The term velvet covers several fabrics that share the common feature of being woven in a complex weave called "velvet." You will find velvets: short pile, corduroy, panne velvet, burnout velvet, ribbed, quilted,... some contain elastane, others do not...

Also be careful about the composition of the velvet you have chosen because there are silk velvets (very expensive), cotton velvets,... but also polyester ones that react very differently to body odors. So make sure to check the composition of the velvet and its weight before purchasing. Velvet is thick and keeps you relatively warm. 

In the shop, we have chosen to offer you 100% cotton corduroy velvet and wide-wale velvet containing 97% cotton and 3% elastane. These are the easiest velvets to sew and are suitable for many sewing projects. People with an intermediate sewing level do very well with this type of product. This may not necessarily be the case with panne velvet or short-pile velvet. 

3. Preparing your velvet - washing

First of all, when you buy your velvet, ask about its composition and care instructions at your haberdashery. 

Velvet should be washed inside out to preserve the fabric and especially its beautiful surface nap. A technique used to prewash velvet before sewing is to sew the selvages right sides together, so the "nap side" will be inside and protected.

Preferably choose a delicate laundry program; this prevents wrinkling and damaging the fibers. Avoid spin cycles, as velvet does not like them much. Flat drying is recommended, or at least avoid folding it over a line, as the nap would be irreversibly crushed under the weight...

4. Placing your pattern on the velvet

This weave has the characteristic of combining, in addition to the classic warp and weft threads, one or more additional threads called "nap threads." These threads embed themselves in the weft and form loops on the fabric surface (on one side only). Because of this loop presence on only one side of the fabric, as you can imagine, the two sides of the velvet are very different and will influence how you work with it. The wrong side will often have a matte and smooth surface, while the right side will have a surface made of small, short, upright, and tightly packed nap fibers all oriented in one direction.

The nap has a direction that must be respected for your sewing pieces... When placing your pattern pieces Check that your pattern pieces respect the grainline and that they are oriented in the same fiber direction. Otherwise, you risk having pieces with slightly different shades due to a shadow effect; also, when you run your hand over your garment, you will feel the change in fiber direction... For your information, velvet looks darker when the fibers are oriented upwards. 

Once you have determined the direction of the fibers, fold your velvet right sides together and place your pieces to cut. Placing your pieces this way helps limit crushing the fibers during cutting. Avoid using heavy weights as they could mark the velvet by crushing the fibers. 

5. Pinning and cutting velvet

It’s always easier to pin the pattern pieces on the wrong side of the fabric in the seam allowances; this limits needle marks on the material. 

Use your cutting scissors and cut both layers of fabric placed right sides together. 

Another good point about velvet is that it doesn’t fray when cut but it can shed fibers. Vacuuming is essential. 

6. Marking velvet

If you need to make markings on your pieces, you can make notches with embroidery scissors or better mark them with chalk on the wrong side of the fabric. Since the right side is made of fibers, your chalk won’t last long and you’ll lose precision. Another solution that always works well, especially for clips, is marking with basting thread. 

7. Prepare, pin, and baste

Pin your pieces preferably in the seam allowances, this prevents marking the fibers and remove your needles as you sew (do not sew over them). 

For slippery velvets, like panne velvet, nothing beats basting if you want to be sure of your assemblies. 

8. Sew and assemble

As usual, choose a needle according to the thickness of your velvet; the thicker it is, the higher the needle number should be. Preferably use a new needle to start your project and don’t hesitate to test on velvet scraps before working on the final pieces. 

Depending on the thickness of the velvet, it may be more aesthetic to lengthen the stitch as for sewing denim. In the case of very thick velvet, a walking foot can be helpful.

To sew velvet, a classic polyester thread will be perfect. 

9. Ironing velvet

Be careful at this step! Indeed, velvet is more fragile than it seems. Without caution, you risk "burning" or shining your beautiful velvet irreparably. 

It is necessary to iron velvet on the wrong side, never on the right side. During ironing steps, use a piece of sponge or a thick terry towel under your velvet; this sponge piece will protect the velvet pile from being crushed. 

To open a seam, gently press with the tip of the iron to focus only on the seam to avoid shining. 

10. Facings and finishes

Since velvet is quite thick, it can be nice to make facings in another type of fabric like cotton lawn for example or a pretty poplin. This will avoid bulkiness at the facings but will also add a little touch of whimsy.

Another very aesthetic way to finish the inside of a velvet garment is the use of bias tape. You can bind the pieces or finish with a hidden bias; this also allows for very pretty finishes. 

You are now ready to sew your velvet pieces 😊

For me, it will be a dress for a change 🤭 and you?