Tulle Techniques

February 2019

13 yards of Matte Tulle from Jo-Ann Fabrics (+ some strategic coupons) $13.00

Tulle is deceptively difficult to work with. It is consistently inexpensive to purchase and it looks so effortless in garments that you would think it is just as easy and breezy at the point of construction. The reality is that tulle is literally hard to pin down.

I learned a couple techniques the hard way while making the petticoat to poof out the dress:

1. The Dotted Line

I couldn’t figure out a way to make markings on the tulle layers that would actually stay on the fabric for when I assembled the layers together using the usual methods. I ended up using the bright pink thread that I used before to outline the pattern pieces when I was nervous about cutting them out of the final fabric.

I used a running stitch to mark half of each section, and then half of those halves, and then half of those halves. This helped me line up each of the layers so that the ruffles were evenly distributed throughout.

2. Double Down

To cut the tulle strips in the first place, I used my ironing board as a counter weight and pinned the fabric to it. I was able to hold the fabric taught and cut down the middle. After the first three yards took forever this way, I folded the 10 yards I had left in half to be five yards and then 2.5 yards. This time I pinned the short side of the tulle to the ironing board and eyeballed where the center was to cut.

If I work with tulle again, I am going to buy the pre-cut 6 inch wide rolls instead. It would have saved me a lot of time and brainpower.

3. The Triple Pin

I had a lot of trouble with pins slipping right out of the tulle, until I started using three pins at a time in a tight triangle. This was enough overkill that the pins stayed in long enough for me to sew the layers together quickly.

4. Fold for Fluff

The tulle was a little too soft to add body under the heavy satin of the top layer, so I folded each strip in half to help it function like a heavier tulle.

I sewed each layer along the edge to keep the fold together since pinning tulle is an ephemeral art. This was mostly a good idea but I think I finished this task too late at night because two of the three tulle layers were kind of wonky and were hard to cut cleanly even though they were sewed together. I can’t tell from the finished petticoat though.

5. The Strongest Thread You’ve Got

The thread on my machine was snapping every few inches in the beginning. I think the needle was more prone to misstep on the netting, and there was nothing to stop the two threads from getting tangled around the needle. I swapped the bobbin thread and the top thread for Coat’s extra strong thread and didn’t have any more issues. It was a good compromise from wasting a lot of the silk thread, or snapping all of the all-purpose.

6. Let Go of Perfectionism

The tulle was not down for me measuring and double checking and was really frustrating to work with when I used the careful approach I took with the other fabrics. When I decided to wing it and eyeball a few things, I was able to work much faster and keep the petticoat more orderly-looking then when I was hyper-focused on that goal.

Final Score: Tulle: 12    Nicole: 1 petticoat