Sewing stripes

When you want to sew striped fabrics, you need to take precautions during the cutting stage.

In fact, when you fold your fabric to pin the pattern to it, you need to add an extra step: align the stripes.

You should align the stripes along the fold and use pins to hold the fabric in place.

This will cause your fabric to twist, but just know that this is normal 👍

All fabrics (except for thick, tightly stretched fabrics made of 100% synthetic material—and even then…) have irregularities. The key to sewing stripes is to visually straighten the fabric before cutting it.

This step takes a little time, but it's essential for a beautiful result.

High-quality ready-to-wear brands take the time to complete this step, while low-end brands skip it. Now you know why the stripes on store-bought clothes aren’t always straight. Yet another good reason—if you needed one—to sew your own clothes!

Next, when it comes to matching seams, it’s very simple: use the same stripe as a guide when cutting out the pattern so that the seams match up on their own. For example, on the Tiana dress, you’ll need to match the side seam and the center of the sleeve.

There you go—now you know everything. It's your turn! It's fun—you'll see 😄

As for us, we recommend trying your hand at sewing stripes on a simple pattern like the Tiana sailor-style dress—it’s perfect!