Velvet does not crush if you never put the weight of an iron on its pile: press from the wrong side with steam, pile face down on a needle board or a scrap of velvet, and finger-press the rest. The other half of sewing velvet is control. Cut every piece with the nap in one direction, hand-baste each seam, and sew with a walking foot in the direction of the nap so the two layers stop creeping apart.
Which velvet are you sewing?
"Velvet" covers fabrics that behave very differently. The pile is the same idea in all of them; the backing and the fiber decide how hard the fabric is to handle.
| Type | Backing | Handling | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cotton velvet, velveteen | Woven cotton, short pile | Stable, the easiest woven velvet | Jackets, skirts, trousers, bags |
| Silk or rayon velvet | Woven silk or rayon, long shiny pile | Slippery and fluid, the hardest | Evening dresses, slips, scarves |
| Polyester velvet | Woven, stable | Easy to sew, melts under a hot iron | Jackets, cushions, costumes |
| Stretch velvet | Knit, usually polyester with elastane | Does not fray, forgiving | Fitted dresses, tops, scrunchies |
| Crushed and panne velvet | Knit or woven, pile pressed flat | Random pile direction, easy | Tops, scrunchies, party clothes |
If this is your first velvet, start with a cotton velveteen for a woven project or a stretch velvet for a knit one.
Quick reference: how to sew velvet
| Setting | Recommendation |
|---|---|
| Needle | Universal or microtex 70/10 or 80/12; stretch or ballpoint 75/11 for stretch velvet |
| Thread | Fine polyester or silk thread |
| Stitch length | 2.5–3 mm; a narrow zigzag (0.5 × 2.5 mm) or lightning stitch on stretch velvet |
| Presser foot | Walking foot or roller foot, with the presser foot pressure lowered if you can |
| Pre-wash | Cotton velvet: test a swatch on a cold, gentle cycle and hang dry; silk or rayon velvet: dry clean; stretch velvet: machine wash cold, hang dry |
| Pressing | Wrong side only, pile down on a needle board, steam and a light touch; lowest setting on polyester |
| Seam finish | Serged singly or bound; a lining on jackets; nothing needed on stretch velvet |
| Pins | Fine pins, inside the seam allowances only |
Which direction should the nap run on velvet?
Like corduroy, velvet has a nap: the pile leans one way, and the fabric looks darker and richer from one end and lighter and shinier from the other. Nap running up the garment is the classic choice for evening wear because of the depth of color. Nap running down is smoother to the touch, sheds dust and sits flatter, which is why many tailors prefer it for jackets.
Choose one, mark it with a chalk arrow on the wrong side at both ends of the length, and keep it for every piece, including facings, belts and pocket flaps. A one-direction layout needs more fabric than the pattern's two-way layout, often 10–20 % more.
How do you cut velvet?
- Lay the velvet in a single layer, wrong side up, on a large table. Folding it pile to pile lets the layers lock and shift; folding it pile out crushes the inside.
- Hold the pattern with weights and cut with a rotary cutter or long, sharp shears in long strokes. Flip the pattern piece to cut the mirror image of every paired piece.
- Mark darts and dots with chalk or thread tacks on the wrong side. A tracing wheel pressed through the pile leaves a line on the right side that never goes away.
- Cut notches as small snips into the allowance rather than triangles.
- Keep the cut pieces flat and face up, not stacked right side to right side.
How do you stop velvet from creeping while you sew?
Two layers of pile pushed under a presser foot slide against each other, so the top layer arrives at the end of the seam later than the bottom one and the seam twists. Three habits remove the problem. First, hand-baste every seam with silk thread, in 1 cm (3/8 in) stitches inside the seam allowance; silk pulls out without leaving marks. Second, sew with a walking foot, which feeds both layers at the same rate. Third, sew in the direction of the nap wherever the seam allows, holding the fabric lightly in front and behind the foot.
Pin at right angles to the seam, inside the allowance only. Do not backstitch at the ends; the extra stitches bruise the pile and show. Leave long tails and tie them. Unpicking velvet leaves a row of holes, so test every setting on a scrap first and sew slowly.
Stretch velvet behaves like any knit with a slippery surface: a stretch needle, a narrow zigzag and a walking foot, and it is done. The methods for jersey in sewing knit fabrics apply.
How do you press velvet without crushing it?
Use a needle board, a bed of fine wires that the pile sinks into, or improvise one with a scrap of the same velvet laid pile up on the ironing board, or a thick, fluffy terry towel. Place the piece pile down on it, press from the wrong side with steam and almost no weight, and lift the iron rather than sliding it.
Open seam allowances with your fingers and the tip of the iron. For hems, darts and anything on the right side, hover the iron 2 cm (3/4 in) above the fabric, give a burst of steam and finger-press. If a spot does get crushed, hold it over steam from the wrong side, brush the pile upright with a soft clothes brush and let it hang until dry. Polyester velvet melts and glazes under a hot iron, so stay on the lowest setting that produces steam, and test on a scrap. Silk velvet can water-spot; test that too.
How do you finish seams and hem velvet?
Woven velvet frays, and the pile sheds along cut edges. Finish each allowance on its own with a serger or zigzag and press the seam open; or bind each edge with bias strips for an unlined jacket; or line the garment and leave the allowances alone. Avoid French seams, which trap the pile and make a ridge.
Hem with a single fold: finish the raw edge, turn up 3–5 cm (1 1/4–2 in), and sew by hand with a catch stitch or a blind hem that catches one thread of the backing. Topstitching flattens the pile in a visible line, so keep it for stretch velvet, where a narrow zigzag or a twin needle hem works. Stretch velvet does not fray and can be left raw on an inside edge. For zips, a hand-picked zip (prick-stitched from the right side) looks best on velvet, and an invisible zip works if you baste it first and sew slowly.
What should you sew with velvet?
- A kimono jacket in cotton velvet or velveteen, lined in satin so it slides over sleeves. The straight seams and dropped shoulders avoid easing pile into pile. See the kimono jacket pattern.
- An A-line skirt in velveteen, with a hand-picked zip and a single-fold hem. The A-line skirt pattern has few seams, which is what velvet likes.
- Scrunchies in stretch velvet: a strip of about 10 × 60 cm (4 × 24 in) uses scraps, forgives every wobble and makes a good first velvet seam. The scrunchie pattern takes an hour.
If a step in your pattern worries you, Sewly's sewing guide answers questions about it, such as how to press a particular seam or in what order to baste the pieces.