Burda Style For people who sew

Twill tape is one of the most useful and versatile notions you can have in your sewing box. We need it to reinforce a seam in a garment — such as a shoulder seam, and or waist seams. But don't count it out for its decorative possibilities.

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twill tape

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  Sep 25, 2010, 07.04 PMby nehmah

  Hello Roseanna, I love twill tape, as long as it’s cotton. I keep a back-up reel of 1/4’, 3/8" (when I can find it) 1/2" and 1". The colors are white, black, natural. Please, where did you find the colors, and is it cotton? Cordially, Nehmah

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    Sep 25, 2010, 07.52 PMby Roseana Auten

    Hi Nehmah,

    A lot of the colored twill tape in my “collection” came from garage sales, thrift stores, and eBay purchases. But I also bought some at a notions place in NYC (name escapes me at the moment). Oh my goodness, they had so many colors. Maybe I have a record of the purchase somewhere.

    Roseana

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  Sep 8, 2010, 02.36 PMby margaretchandler

  Hey Roseanna, it’s Margaret from the meetup group. So cool that you’re featured on the front page; I clicked on a useful tutorial and saw someone I knew :) Thanks for the info, I think it’ll really step up the interior look of my garments!

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    Sep 8, 2010, 03.11 PMby Roseana Auten

    Lovely to hear from you! Did you go to Meetup last night?

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  Sep 6, 2010, 09.02 PMby bola

  Thanks for this tutorial Roseana, I’ve never really used twill tape for reinforcing a seam but like Karin said it can add that professional touch. I normally just use it when sewing pockets- to stop the edge from stretching out of shape when in use. I think i’ll start doing this more when sewing garments. What sorts of fabrics are best to use it with? just tougher fabrics like denim?

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    Sep 7, 2010, 02.10 AMby Roseana Auten

    Hi, so nice to hear from you! I think you’re very smart to twill tape pockets. You’ve got the idea already! Any time you’re concerned about a seam becoming distorted as you sew it, or from just normal wear and tear, that’s the time to consider bringing in the reinforcements. Twill tape, as we’ve all agreed, adds a “professional” feel. It’s great when you’re working with a woven fabric like denim, and as I mentioned, it’s also good in the shoulder seams of knit garments. But maybe it’s going to add too much bulk to your seam — a real hazard with denim, sometimes. So that’s the time to experiment with using a piece of cut-off selvage. Still too bulky? Try a strip of fusible interfacing, or the Japanese stay tape I mentioned. If you take the time to make up a couple of samples using all your options before you forge ahead with your garment, you’ll be lots happier with your results. By the way, I don’t mean to be too U.S.-centric in my posts, and I’ll mention more non- U.S. sources for the notions I like and use. But I think nancysnotions.com does ship internationally.

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  Sep 5, 2010, 12.28 AMby ichigogirl

  Excellent. I love the look of twill tape in garments, it looks professional, tailor made and a bit vintage all at once. I’ll have to have a look for it next time I visit a fabric shop, I’ve actually never noticed it in any of them before. I hope they still sell it here!

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    Sep 5, 2010, 12.14 PMby Roseana Auten

    Hi! Thanks for your comment. Try looking for twill tape where the elastic is sold. In better fabric shops, it will be sold in bulk, on a reel. You just buy as much as you want. When I find a type of twill tape I really like, I buy as much of it as I can at once.

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  Sep 1, 2010, 01.29 PMby Roseana Auten

  Thanks, magdamagda! The selvage idea comes from my friend and mentor, Sandra Betzina. I have a lot of vintage garments from the 1950s and 60s, and when I look inside them to see their construction, I always find the waistline seam reinforced with twill tape. It makes a difference. I made a skirt this spring from lightweight denim and forgot to reinforce the waistline, and that sucker stretched like mad.

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    Sep 7, 2010, 10.44 AMby magdamagda

    yes now that you mention it, it makes a lot of sense to use twill tape for skirt waistline – it makes me think of a circular jersey overlapped skirt I made that could have benefited from it! Thanks for visiting and following my blog, looking forward to getting more great ideas highlighted in you articles!

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  Sep 1, 2010, 08.45 AMby magdamagda

  I was using this for the hemline in pants so that it protects the edge from getting weary or torn! Its very useful for multiple purpuses and i like your idea of replacing it with selvedge, it should do a fine job when it comes to fixing seam lines!