[KellyNYC]

Hello ladies!

I’m in the process of making the butterfly blouse and my neckline has quite a bit of puckering after sewing the facing. I had to press it into submission while folding it down into the inside and then once it was edge stitched I noticed how significant the puckering was. I guess I should have left more slack in the binding when sewing it the first time around to the right side of the neckline?

Anyway…my question is would you leave it (knowing this was to be a special shirt out of a favorite fabric and you’d be annoyed every time you looked at it), or unpick and redo (however the seam allowances have already been trimmed to scant 1/8, and clipped to stitching line ever 1/2″).

Thoughts?

Thank you!!

• This topic was modified 9 years ago by KellyNYC.

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[Nicole]

Being LIberty lawn and pure cotton, I would try dampening it and pressing and stretching , letting it cool
And then see how it looks

[KellyNYC]

Thanks, Nicole. Unfortunately this photo is after doing just that. I think I should redo. I just hope I don’t botch it given the trimmed and clipped seam allowances.

[Nicole]

Do you have some very sheer interfacing to give it some strength before sewing the tiny seams?

It is very beautiful.

[KellyNYC]

I do, thank you…I will try that!

[Sarvi]

I’ve had this happen to me before too, with the same fabric — I think it may be caused by having the tension a little too high — for next time try playing around a little with tension/stitch length.

[Liesl Gibson]

I’ve definitely found that different fabrics have varying amounts of stretch on the bias, and it can effect the neckline a great deal. In fact, I’m still trying to decide whether to re-do the neckline of my Lisette B6169 dress because it puckers just enough to really bother me. I wish there was a really easy solution or a perfect length, but I’m afraid it’s more complicated than that. So yes, if it really bothers you it’s probably worth re-sewing. As painful as that may sound…

[KellyNYC]

Thanks for the advice! I unpicked it. I know I would never be happy with it if I left it, and I really want to love this shirt. I was so excited to make it and think it’s the perfect summer blouse pattern. I’ll resew the neckline tonight. I guess I will add some slack in the binding piece when I pin it to the neckline and try decreasing tension/increasing stitch length too. I’ll report back!

[Inder]

I just made this blouse for my daughter and I had to iron the living daylights out of both the neckline and and armhole facings to make it lie flat. While the method for bias facing in the pattern is nice and simple, I like cutting thinner strips of bias and then ironing the long sides towards the middle like single-fold bias tape. I feel like it gives a stretchier/less bulky finish?

[Liesl Gibson]

I think it’s a matter of personal preference, yes. I used this method for the instructions because it’s less fiddly. But if you prefer the single fold bias method that’s an easy change to make.

[Nicole]

I find if I carefully stretch the main to match the binding, just a bee’s whisker mind, there are less puckers.

[Yirg]

I made mine with Liberty Lawn and I don’t recall noticing a problem with puckering. I never pin binding (on anything for that matter) I feel pins introduce puckers etc and stop the feed dogs doing their job properly. I have much more control with no pins.

[Maggie]

i’m ironing mine within an inch of it’s life and sewing it by hand. so far so good!

[Tamara]

@magonomics did it work out well? I was having a look at the latest buterfly top and noticed I accidentally puckered it while sewing the facing down. I usually like to hamdstitch the facing. It seems to have a much better result for some reason.