Chiffon is tamed by stiffening and enclosing it: starch or gelatin it before cutting, cut it in a single layer between sheets of tissue paper, sew every seam as a French seam with a 60/8 or 70/10 microtex needle and a 1.5–2 mm stitch, and finish the edges with a rolled or baby hem. Because it is sheer, every seam allowance and hem shows from the outside, so those choices matter more than on any other fabric.
What is chiffon, and why is it hard to sew?
Chiffon is a plain weave of highly twisted fine yarns, in silk or polyester, often under 50 g/m² (1.5 oz/yd²). The twist gives it a slightly crepey, sandy feel and lets light through. Four things follow. It slides on the table and under the presser foot. It frays as soon as it is cut. It puckers when the needle pushes it into the needle plate. And it is transparent, so a serged edge, a dark thread or a wide hem is part of the finished look whether you like it or not. Polyester chiffon is cheaper, washable and a little more stable than silk chiffon, which is softer and more beautiful and shifts more.
Quick reference: how to sew chiffon
| Setting | Recommendation |
|---|---|
| Needle | Microtex (sharp) 60/8, or 70/10 on a heavier polyester chiffon; new for every project |
| Thread | Fine polyester (60 weight) or silk thread, matched to the fabric color |
| Stitch length | 1.5–2 mm |
| Presser foot | Straight-stitch foot with a straight-stitch (single-hole) needle plate |
| Pre-wash | Polyester: cool wash in a mesh bag, hang dry; silk: hand wash cool or dry clean |
| Pressing | Low setting, dry iron, press cloth, wrong side; polyester melts, silk water-spots |
| Seam finish | French seams, 6 mm (1/4 in) finished; a serger rolled-hem seam on polyester |
| Hem | Baby hem, rolled hem foot, serger rolled hem or hand-rolled hem |
Should you pre-wash chiffon?
Polyester chiffon barely shrinks, but a cool wash in a mesh bag removes finishing chemicals and shows you how it will behave; hang it to dry. Silk chiffon can be hand washed in cool water with a drop of mild detergent if the garment will be washed, or dry-cleaned if not. If you stiffen silk chiffon with gelatin before cutting, you wash the finished garment anyway to remove it, so pre-washing becomes part of the method.
How do you stiffen chiffon before cutting?
Stiffening turns a fabric that drifts across the table into something close to paper, and it washes out afterward. For silk chiffon, dissolve a teaspoon of unflavored gelatin in a cup of hot water, top it up with about 2 liters (2 quarts) of cool water, soak the fabric for 20 minutes, squeeze gently without wringing and hang it to dry over a smooth bar. For polyester chiffon, which takes up gelatin less well, spray starch applied to the wrong side and pressed dry on a low setting helps, and a tissue paper sandwich at the cutting stage does the rest. Test either method on a scrap first and check that the stiffener rinses out cleanly.
How do you cut chiffon?
- Cover the table with a flannel sheet or pattern paper; chiffon clings to cotton and slides on laminate.
- Build a sandwich: a layer of tissue paper, the chiffon in a single layer, then the pattern pieces held with weights. For polyester chiffon, a second sheet of tissue on top, with the pattern pinned through it outside the cutting lines, holds it still.
- Cut through everything with a sharp rotary cutter in one stroke per edge. Flip the pattern to cut mirrored pairs, since a single layer gives you one piece at a time.
- Mark inside the seam allowances with tailor's tacks or a chalk pencil, and cut notches outward. Pins go only in the allowances; the holes show.
- Leave the tissue attached until you sew, and carry each piece flat.
The general methods for sheer fabrics, including underlining and dealing with shadows, are in how to sew sheer fabrics.
How do you sew chiffon seams?
A French seam is the right seam for almost every chiffon seam, because it encloses the fraying edges and shows through as a neat 6 mm (1/4 in) line. In a 1.5 cm (5/8 in) seam allowance: place the pieces wrong sides together and sew 0.9 cm (3/8 in) from the edge, trim the allowance to 3 mm (1/8 in), press the allowance to one side and fold right sides together along the seam, press the fold, and sew 6 mm (1/4 in) from it. Check that no whiskers are caught before the second pass.
Set the machine up for a light fabric: a straight-stitch plate, a new 60/8 microtex, a 1.5–2 mm stitch, fine thread. Start on a small scrap and chain into the seam so the first stitches do not pull the fabric down into the plate. Hold the fabric lightly taut in front and behind the foot, and sew slowly. Leave thread tails and tie them instead of backstitching. Where a seam puckers anyway, sew it over a strip of tissue paper and tear the paper away afterward.
On polyester chiffon, a serger rolled hem stitch sewn along the seam line makes a narrow, strong seam in one pass; it is less refined than a French seam but quick for a long skirt. Keep the knife guard in mind: the blade trims whatever drifts under it.
How do you stop chiffon from puckering?
Puckering has three usual causes. The needle plate hole is too wide, so the fabric is pushed in with each stitch: switch to a straight-stitch plate or tissue paper. The thread is too heavy or the tension too tight: use 60 weight thread and lower the upper tension one step. The needle is dull: a used needle pushes the twisted yarns aside instead of piercing them. Lowering the presser foot pressure, on machines that allow it, also helps the fabric feed without being dragged.
How do you hem chiffon?
A baby hem is the standard. Stitch 1.2 cm (1/2 in) from the raw edge; fold along that line to the wrong side and press lightly; stitch 2 mm (1/16 in) from the fold; trim the excess allowance close to that stitching with small scissors; fold once more, enclosing the raw edge, and stitch along the first line. The result is a hem about 3 mm wide with two rows of stitching. A rolled hem foot does the same in one pass after some practice, a serger rolled hem is quick on polyester, and a hand-rolled hem is the finest finish on silk. All four are in how to sew a rolled hem.
Let a circle or bias skirt hang for 48 hours before you mark the hem: chiffon drops more than most fabrics, and an uneven hem is visible from across the room.
Do you need to line chiffon?
For a top worn over a camisole, no. For a dress or a skirt, yes, and there are two ways. Sew the lining as a separate garment inside the chiffon one, joined only at the waist or the neckline, so the layers move independently; this is how a chiffon skirt over a satin lining is made. Or underline a shaped bodice, basting each chiffon piece to a piece of habotai or lining fabric and treating the two as one. A slip dress in habotai or crepe-back satin works as a separate lining too: Sewly's slip dress pattern, made in a lining fabric, becomes the slip under a chiffon dress.
What should you sew with chiffon?
- A woven top: a boxy shell or a puff-sleeve blouse worn over a camisole, with French seams and a baby hem. The woven top pattern has few pieces and no closures to fight.
- A kimono jacket as an unlined sheer layer: dropped shoulders, straight seams, no facings, and a bias band at the front. The kimono jacket pattern is the chiffon project with the least handling.
- A circle skirt in two layers of chiffon over a lining, in the half-circle option so the hem stays manageable. The circle skirt pattern gives the pieces on the fold; cut them in a single layer by flipping the pattern at the fold line.