Today, I'm focusing on one of my favourite fabrics, Velvet. Velvet is so lush and comes in different weights and textures, and is such a perfect fabric for special winter occasions! It is, however, a bit sensitive to treatment, especially ironing. Here's what my vintage 1950s sewing book says about ironing velvet and velveteen:
I don't actually have a velvet press board and I use other napped fabric (often pieces of the same velvet I am pressing) instead. This works well on cotton velvet but may not work on other types of velvet like silk velvet, which I imagine would be more sensitive. I've never actually sewn with silk velvet, but I really want to give it a try--maybe a nice holiday dress?
Here's a photo from my 1940s singer sewing book about how to steam velvet seams. I use this method a lot when working with velvet:
Another close-up of a velvet pressing board:
So far, I've made two velvet dresses. Both of the dresses were made from velvet curtain fabric that I had found in charity shops. The first one I made from a 1939 McCall pattern:
I love the dress but the velvet is quite thick and warm--perfect for winter.
The other dress I made from a 1950s Butterick pattern:
The cotton velvet has a nice weight for the full skirt and this velvet dress gets much more wear because of the holiday/festive colour!
I have two patterns that would be fabulous in velvet, especially silk velvet:
The first one is a 1940 McCall pattern and the second is from the early 1930s.
I'm curious, have you ever sewn with silk velvet? Do you use a velvet pressing board?
