The Savvy Sewer Salon at Sawyer Brook

Hello,

I've been working on a dress from some gorgeous Sawyer Brook fabric. It's a lightweight brocade silk. This is my first time working with silk, and it has proved to be very challenging. I have one big question right now: I picked up a couple of books on how to sew various textiles (Claire Shaeffer, Sandra Betzina). One of the suggestions for this type of fabric is to use a "loose and balanced" tension. I know how to "unbalance" my tension, which seems to result in a "loose" tension as well. But on computer machines what settings do you use to get "loose" *and* "balanced"?

I hope this makes sense ...

Many thanks,
Carolyn

Carolyn - I've never heard of this! My guess is to loosen the upper tension a little and then loosen the bobbin tension a little, checking that the stitch does not get loopy. By doing this, the stitch would still be balanced, however would create a stitch with some ease built in. This is purely a guess, something I have not done myself.

Another idea for you is to post a question for Sandy Betzina on her Facebook page. Maybe she'll give you a definition.

Good luck - and please share the answer and your results with us so we can all learn....
Lois

I never heard of this either. I have sewn on silk frequently and I don't remember that I ever needed to change the tension on my machine while working with silk. I did change the length of the stitch b/c with my machine, too short a stitch causes too much tension when working with silk. Tension is definitely an issue with silk, I would practice different tensions and stitch lengths on scraps of the silk until I got a stitch that was just right.
What fabric is it that you are working with. I hope you post a picture of your project, I think we all like to see what others are doing.
Brenda