Making a wedding dress part 5. Cutting and backing

Backing fabric is a subject on my mind at the moment, as it is a technique I am using on the cape that I am making. Backing is where you attach a fabric to the fashion fabric then treat the two layers as one during the sewing process. It is not to be confused with lining something, where the layers remain separate until the lining is fitted into the garment. Both the wedding dress and the cape I am making are backed and lined.
Why bother backing? There are lots of reasons which might apply. One reason is modesty - if using a sheer fabric or lace you light want to back with a flesh coloured fabric to avoid visible nipples! If this is your reason bear in mind you will still get the illusion of nudity and there is a risk you will end up looking like you actually have no nipples. Another, more common reason is to hide seam allowances from the right side. A sheer fabric will show seam allowances and a lightweight one might also show them as ridges. Backing a lightweight fabric also gives it more body, which was the main reason for backing the wedding dress. A backed fabric is easier to hem invisibly and you can thread trace on the backing without marring the fashion fabric. Finally, the extra layer can provide warmth, which is the reason for backing my cape.

The fashion fabric we chose for the dress was a warm white sandwashed silk satin. It is a very beautiful fabric, but was fairly light so needed the backing. One thing to bear in mind is that silk creases, so if your bride is going to sit down before the ceremony you will get creases. It happened to Princess Di and it happened to S!
The backing was a cotton domette - similar to flannel that you might make pyjamas out of. It gave a softness and fullness to the fabric that made it look more expensive, especially on the hem. It also meant that even with major pressing there was less likelihood the seam allowances or other construction details were going to show through on the right side.

Cutting out the backing and the fashion fabric took me two days of backbreaking (I don't have a cutting table so I had to work on the floor) work. First I unpicked the toile to use as a pattern. I lay this on a single layer of the backing fabric and painstakingly chalked then threadtraced around it.

From 2010-05-02

From 2010-05-02

Then I cut out the backing and laid it on the satin (matching grains, of course), in a single layer, right side down. I pinned the backing to the satin then tacked the two layers together. This had two purposes, one is to keep the layers from slipping, the other is to mark the seam lines. Use a contract colour for the threadtracing so you know which thread to pull out when you have completed the seams. Also do not threadtrace directly on the seamline, as when you come to machine the seam you will never get the threadtracing out! Trace just in the seam allowance, so you sew a few mm in from the threadtracing. This also means no marks on the right side of the fashion fabric.

From 2010-05-02

You can see the creases in the satin. Believe it or not I had pressed it! Smooth down the pieces to it doesn't crease and avoid creases that you can't get rid of, like where the fabric has been stored folded. Then you cut. I stood for maybe half an hour, scissors in hand, mentally checking off the pieces and that there was a left and right side. Measure twice, cut once, as the saying goes. Cutting was the most terrifying part of the process. You can unpick but you can't uncut! I had bought plenty of extra satin just in case, but luckily I didn't need it.