How To Make Your Own Quilted Fabric For Dressmaking
Introduction
Tutorials on how to make your own quilted fabric often focus on quilting or crafting applications. The basic principals may be the same but making quilted fabric for dressmaking has a few additional factors to consider, such as how to apply the technique to large pattern pieces, which kind of fabrics and wadding are best for garments that need to be washed and worn, and how to make the quilted fabric double sided - often a requirement for dressmaking.
With the recent release of our Selmeston Quilted Jacket pattern (the Mayfield Jacket can also be quilted, we have a blog post about that), I thought it would be good to show how to make your own quilted fabric, specifically for dressmaking.
But why would you want to?
Why Make Your Own Quilted Fabric?
There are plenty of ready made double sided quilted fabrics available and the easiest thing to do is to buy one of those and get stitching.
But the advantage of making your own is that you can choose which fabrics you want to use, and you may have fabrics in your existing stash that would be perfect for your make - they just aren’t quilted (yet!). So you can make your own custom quilted fabric using exactly the fabrics you want (and perhaps already have) rather than having to choose from the ready made options.
If you are more ambitious, or an experienced quilter, you can even patch together scraps to create a great patchwork quilted jacket.
Video Tutorial (Optional)
If you prefer a video tutorial to a written blog post, we have a video showing the whole process over on our YouTube Channel. Just click the image below. Otherwise scroll past and carry on reading. The images used in this blog post mainly come from the video tutorial.
What Equipment Do You Need?
To make your own double sided quilted fabric, you’ll need a few basic tools. Pins and scissors are a given, but you’ll also want a good water soluble marker or chalk wheel for marking up the fabric. Chalk wheels or water soluble pens are good options, but even a soft pencil will do the trick in a pinch.The main point is that we’ll be marking the fabric on the right side, so we need to be able to rub or wash away the markings after we’re done.
Sussex Seamstress is an independent pattern studio, based in Sussex, UK.
Check out our range of dressmaking patterns in sizes 6-30. A Selection of our recent patterns is shown below. Thank you!