Discover the skills you need to sew viscose challis fabric. Amy Scarr, Brand Ambassador for Simplicity Ltd, explains how a few steps of preparation are all you need for guaranteed success. Simplicity produces all of your favourite brands and has decades of experience in pattern drafting, helping you to sew garments that suit your size and style.
Viscose challis is a marvellous fabric. It is cool to the touch, impressively floaty, and available in amazing prints and colours. It’s often referred to as ‘viscose’ when offered in its 100% form, but it can also be mixed with other threads to create different types of fabric, such as viscose jersey or viscose lawn. If you are shopping with an American retailer or reading a blog post from the States, just remember that viscose is also known as rayon. It’s also worth noting that viscose loans its fantastic drape to the fabric it’s mixed with, but it can also make them a little trickier to handle. With that in mind, here are my top tips for working with viscose challis.
Pre-washing & washing
Viscose shrinks, so you should pre-wash it on a cool setting and hang as flat as possible to dry. When you first pull your fabric out of the machine it will be stiff and shrivelled up, but don't worry, when it dries the viscose will regain its lovely fluid handle. You will probably need to press your material before you use it, as it can easily crease.
When you have finished sewing, it is worth buying a garment wash bag. These are simple mesh bags that reduce the chance of snags, holes, or the distortion your clothes. Just imagine stitching your dream blouse only for a rogue bra hook to make a hole in it in the washing machine!
Work area
It’s important to keep the fabric on the grain and to line up your selvedge with a straight edge of your table if possible. However, viscose has a life of its own and always wants to slink off your sewing station. To resolve this issue, try cutting out your pattern pieces with a sheet of tissue paper placed underneath your fabric for extra support. It will stop the fabric from slipping around as you cut. A rotary cutter and large self-healing mat are also helpful for minimising the movement of your material.
Bias stretch
Viscose challis will also stretch out of shape easily, especially on the bias – otherwise known as the diagonal direction of your fabric. You can use stay stitching on your necklines to prevent them from being pulled out of shape.
