Cutting Silk Fabric Can be Challenging

There are times when the workroom has to make some choices on how to best cut fabric for a job. The type of treatment being made will impact a workroom's decision. In this sample we are making goblet pleat draperies (D-008).

As you can see in this image we have a silk weave with a print overlay. The print overlay pattern is not straight, but workable for our application. Take a close look at the weave of the cloth; notice how wavy the weave is. Normally when working with silks you can pull a string to find a straight line. Since this has a pattern print overlay it was best to follow the pattern.

Times are changing as more silks appear in the market. Some weavers are pretty straight but others not. These variations in weave are not tied to pricing.

For solid silks without a pattern, there are a couple of ways you can cut the fabric:

A) The pull string method
Find a strand of thread along the top edge of the fabric and carefully start pulling. As you pull, the single thread should start shirring down through the fabric. Pull the string for the entire width of the fabric along the top edge. Once the thread is out of the cloth it should leave a gap. Use the gap as a guide for cutting the fabric. Next, line the selvage edge of the fabric along the vertical length of your table. If the fabric does not lie at a 90 degree angle, you will need to try to pull on the fabric on the bias to try to straighten the fabric. To pull on the bias, stretch the fabric from side to side at a diagonal to see if you can straighten the fabric. This was somewhat time consuming in this project as our cut length was 185". This method is ideal on a short cut length of fabric.

B) Line up selvages along table line
Using your table, line up the selvage edge of the fabric on a line on your table vertically. Then go to the top of the fabric and cut so that it is a 90 degree cut from the selvage edge. Use this method if pulling on the bias did not provide the desired results.

These are only a couple of method; each fabric is different and you need to determine what works best with the type of treatment you are making. When in doubt, send the fabric back.

There are cases when you need to be careful

We had a fabric which was a vertical woven silk with a rather large stripe. When we cut the fabric we had to make sure the vertical stripe remained vertical. When it came time to table (a method of tabling draperies to their finished dimensions) the grommet panel fabric would not lay flat or straight. We needed to keep the top of the treatment straight, but also keep the stripe in a vertical position. As you can see below the grommet panels did not hang as perfectly vertical and smooth as we prefer.

Cutting fabric is getting harder & harder these days as a lot of times you do not discover these issues until you start working with fabric.

The iron rods are from Ona's Drapery Company ,from one of thier custom finished products.

In the end, we were able to complete the job, but not without some frustration. I hope I never see that fabric again!

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Thank you;

Kirk Axelson

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