Seam allowances and skin showing through a pale dress is the problem an underlining is meant to solve. An underlining is joined to each fabric piece before sewing, so the two layers act as one and hide the seams from the right side. A lining hangs free inside and finishes the inside. A dress can have both.
Seam allowances and skin show through my pale dress. Do I need a lining or an underlining?
For show-through on a pale dress, start with an underlining. In Threads, Sandra Betzina writes: “Underlining reduces the transparency of white or pastel fabrics, which prevents seam allowances from showing through.” New Mexico State University Extension says underlining “can be used to add opaqueness to fabric or to create a special color effect for sheer fabrics.”
A lining does a different job. New Mexico State says a lining “gives a finished appearance to the inside of a garment” and can “make wearing a slip unnecessary.” Betzina notes that lining and underlining “are two different procedures, and depending on their purpose, one or both can be used in a single piece of clothing.”
If the seams already use a finish chosen for sheer cloth, such as a French seam, pozrite si náš článok o seam finishes for lightweight woven dresses. An underlining deals with the fabric itself, not only the seam. Our range is on the šaty stránku.
What is an underlining, and what is a lining, in a dress, top or kaftan?
An underlining is a second layer cut to the same shape as each piece of the dress, top or kaftan. Betzina says it “is cut from the same pattern pieces as the fashion fabric and is attached before construction begins.” After that, “the underlining and fashion fabric are handled as a single unit.”
A lining is a separate inner garment. New Mexico State says it “is made as a separate unit, then placed inside the garment wrong side to wrong side and attached along the garment edges.” Betzina says a lining is “attached only at the garment’s waistband or neck, and sometimes its hem — inak, it hangs free in the garment.”
Seamwork’s Brooks Ann Camper puts the difference this way: an underlining “is not made separately, does not hang freely, and does not encase any inner construction.”
Which problem does each one solve on a sheer or pale dress, top or kaftan?
An underlining solves show-through and a loose weave; a lining solves the finish and feel inside.
| Question | Underlining | Podšívka | Both together |
|---|---|---|---|
| How is it attached? | Cut from the same pattern pieces and attached before construction; handled with the fashion fabric “as a single unit” (Nite, Betzina). | Made “as a separate unit”, placed inside wrong side to wrong side and attached along the edges (New Mexico State). | “one or both can be used in a single piece of clothing” (Nite, Betzina). |
| Seam allowances showing through | “prevents seam allowances from showing through” on white or pastel fabrics (Nite, Betzina). | “the lining covers the garment seam allowances” on the inside (New Mexico State). | You can use an underlining to finish the interior “or conceal it with a standard lining” (Nite, Daryl Lancaster). |
| Skin or a sheer weave showing through | Can “make sheers and lace fabrics more opaque” (Nite, Lancaster). | Can “make wearing a slip unnecessary” (New Mexico State). | Underlining sets the look; a lining is still needed for “a clean enclosed finish inside” (Seamwork). |
| Loose weave | “Stabilize loosely woven fabrics” (Nite, Betzina). | “A lining should not add shape to the garment” (New Mexico State). | Once underlining sets the silhouette, a lining “will help preserve garment shape” (New Mexico State). |
| Feel inside | “does not encase or hide the construction details” (Seamwork); “It does not finish the inside of the garment” (New Mexico State). | Should be “soft, pliable, and smooth, so the finished garment can slip over the body easily” (New Mexico State). | The lining gives the enclosed finish over the underlined pieces (Seamwork). |
Can an underlining steady a loosely woven kaftan or dress fabric?
áno. Among the uses Betzina lists in Threads is: “Stabilize loosely woven fabrics”. She adds that underlining “adds stability and strength to lightweight fabrics and reduces wrinkling”. New Mexico State says underlined garments “are less likely to become baggy in stress areas or to have pulling along seamlines.”
There is a cost to the drape of a kaftan or dress. Betzina writes: “There’s almost no way to prevent underlining from changing a fabric’s hand (its drape and feel)“. She also says she does not underline rayon, because sagging “is more obvious over time when the garment is underlined”.
A lining will not steady the weave. New Mexico State says “A lining should not add shape to the garment.”
Which feels better inside a top or dress: an underlining or a lining?
A lining gives the smoother feel inside a top or dress. New Mexico State says a lining should be “soft, pliable, and smooth, so the finished garment can slip over the body easily.” Betzina says lining is used to “give a finished look to the inside of the garment” and to “make a garment easier to slip on and off.”
An underlining sits flat against the fashion fabric, so the seam allowances stay exposed inside the top. Seamwork says: “If you would like a clean enclosed finish inside of something that has been underlined, you would still need to add a lining”. In Threads, Lancaster finishes each seam allowance through both layers together, and says that with an underlining and no separate lining, “fit adjustments are much easier.” Our range is on the topy a blúzky stránku.
Seamwork also notes that “Underlining helps absorb perspiration”.
How is an underlining attached to each piece of a dress?
Each underlining piece is laid on the matching dress piece and basted to it while flat. Seamwork describes the method as:
joining each piece of your fashion fabric with a “backing” fabric while it is still flat, so that the two fabrics act as one
Camper, a custom wedding dressmaker, calls underlining her “favorite couture sewing technique”. She bastes by hand, “just to the outside of every stitch line into the seam allowance.” She then presses and checks each piece “to make sure that the two joined layers are behaving together as one.”
The home-sewing guides differ on basting. Betzina hand-bastes, because “machine basting causes the fabric to draw up slightly, creating puckers in the completed garment’s seams”. Lancaster machine-bastes “1⁄2 inch from the fashion fabric cutting line” and does not baste the hem edge.
Both Threads authors allow for the curve of the body. Betzina adjusts “for turn of cloth (the thickness of the fashion fabric)“. Lancaster says the outer fabric should “have a slightly larger circumference than the underlining, to avoid ripples when the fabric is curved around the body.”
How do I choose the underlining fabric for a pale dress, top or kaftan?
Choose it on three points: farba, weight and shrinkage.
Farba. On a sheer or pale dress, the underlining colour shows through the face fabric. New Mexico State notes that underlining can “create a special color effect for sheer fabrics.” Seamwork asks whether you want to change a fabric’s “color tint”. For stretch lace, Betzina chose “a stretchy, nude-color, bathing-suit lining as an underlining” to cut the transparency. náš broderie anglaise post quotes Seamwork on underlining eyelet in a fabric close to skin tone.
Hmotnosť. New Mexico State says the underlining’s “weight should be the same or lighter; the underlining should not overpower the characteristics of the garment fabric.” Lancaster advises fabrics “that are thin and crisp” that “support the fashion fabric, but not compete with it.” Betzina names “fine cotton batiste”, “light- to medium-weight cotton broadcloth, or silk organza” as the most common choices. She adds: “The closer the hand of the underlining and fashion fabric match, the less change there’ll be.”
Zmršťovanie. Lancaster writes: “All underlinings, no matter what the fabric’s fiber or weave structure, must be preshrunk.” Betzina begins “by thoroughly preshrinking both fabrics.” New Mexico State advises choosing fabrics “with similar durability and care procedures.”
What should I check on the dress, top or kaftan sample?
Check the sample from the right side first, then the inside.
- Show-through. On the right side of the dress, look for seam allowances, darts and hems showing through. Lancaster says underlinings “prevent seams, lemy, obklady, and other construction details from showing on the garment’s right side.”
- Farba. Check that the underlining colour gives the tint you approved on the pale fabric.
- Bubbles and sags. Seamwork’s check is that the two layers behave as one; it names “a bubble or sag” as the fault to look for.
- Ripples on the body. Lancaster’s outer-fabric allowance is there “to avoid ripples when the fabric is curved around the body.” Look at the sample on a form or a fit model.
- Puckered seams. Betzina links basting that draws up to “puckers in the completed garment’s seams”.
- Drape and hand. Compare the kaftan or dress sample with the unlined fabric. Underlining changes the hand, so approve the change you can see.
- Inside finish. If there is no lining, check the seam allowance finish inside the top. If there is a lining, check that it slips over the body easily.
- Po praní. Wash the sample to the care label and check that the two layers still lie flat together.
What to put in the spec
- Layer: underlining, podšívka, alebo oboje, and on which pieces of the dress, top or kaftan.
- Underlining fabric: fibre, väzba a hmotnosť, the same as or lighter than the shell.
- Underlining colour: named, with a swatch approved against the shell fabric.
- Lining fabric and colour, ak sa používa.
- Preshrinking of the underlining, and care matching the shell.
- Seam allowance finish, if the garment is underlined but not lined.
- Sample sign-off on show-through, bubbles, ripples, puckers and drape.
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