Laurens Top Tips for Sewing with Cotton Double Gauze
Get ideas and inspiration for how to sew with this fabric and what to make!
Double gauze is such a lovely summery fabric to sew and wear. I get asked lots of questions all about it so I wanted to share my top tips and idea for making gorgeous garments with this type of fabric.
Check out my latest Youtube video to hear me chat about it or read on for a summery of the tips I share along with link to sewing patterns and fabrics.
What is double gauze?
Double gauze is typically make from two very fine layers of cotton that are invisibly stitched together. The weave of each layer tends to be quite loose, so that combined with the double layer of fabric tends to make the fabric almost a bit spongy/fluffy/springy.
There are various different types of double gauze available including ones from designers such at Atelier Brunette and Nani Iro, along with other non-designer labelled fabrics that are just as lovely.
I’ve generally come across two types of double gauze, ones that are smoother and ones that look a bit more wrinkled or textured. From my experience, the smoother ones are usually the designer ones.
What to sew with it?
This fabric is suitable for making lots of different types of garments. It is light weight, but it won’t drape and swish like a viscose or rayon for example, it tends to hold its shape a bit more. So bear that in mind when pairing it with a pattern, for fuller styles it double gauze will enhance the fullness.
Here is a list of just some patterns that would be suitable for double gauze, so hopefully this gives you lots of ideas of the types of garments you can make.
Depending on the specific type and colour of the double gauze you may or may not need to line a dress, but if its a deeper colour (ie. not predominantly white or cream) and the dress has a fuller shape, either with gathers, or panels for example, then you should be fine not lining it.
Click on the highlighted blue text to view the pattern:
Tilly and the buttons Stevie Top and Dress, True Bias Ogden Cami, Merchant and Mills Camber top and Dress, Merchant and Mills Edie Top, Closet Core Kalle Shirt, Grainline Hadley Top, Made by Rae Trillium Top and Dress, Jennifer Lauren Hunter Tank Top, Friday Pattern Company Sage Brush Top, Megan Neilsen Dove Blouse, Megan Neilsen Olive Top and Dress, Closet Core Cielo Top, Cashmerette Springfield Top, Grainline Archer Shirt, Grainline Scout Tee, Megan Neilsen Darling Ranges, Closet Core Charlie Caftan.
Pictured below are some garments I've made in the past with double gauze. We don't have these fabrics anymore as I made them a while ago but hopefully it gives you an idea of what clothes made from this fabric can look like.
How to wash it?
I would recommend pre washing this fabric however you plan on washing it once its made up. 30 degrees on a more gentle cycle will prolong the colour and life of the fabric, but if you tend tot bung all your clothes in and wash at 40 degrees, then its best to wash at the temperature.
It’s always best to air dry and iron it before you cut out and sew.
You might find that the fabric becomes softer as you wash it and more plumped up. I’’ve found that the more I wash and wear garments with this fabric, they trend to almost mould to your body due to the loose weave.
How to iron it?
This will depend on how the fabric looks when you initially get it. Some double gauze fabrics are more textured and wrinkled than others.
So if your fabric has a lot of texture when you buy it, it's going to be best to preserve this and try not to press down too hard with the iron as you make your garment. Instead, make sure there is water in your iron so that steam is generated, and more hover over it, pressing down gently when you need to, for example pressing out a seam or collar.
If you fabric is smoother and flatter when you buy it, then you can probably afford to apply more pressure as you iron and press it and get it looking flat and crisp.
How to sew it
- Using a regular size 70 or 80 machine needle will be fine for this fabric.
- If you do have a walking foot, it will help, but it's certainly not essential and I have made lots of garments in double gauze without one and been fine. A walking foot is usually an additional accessory that you need to buy for your machine and is most commonly used for quilting projects.
- As the weave of double gauze tends to be loose, this fabric can fray more than other fabrics. If you do have an overlocker then it’s useful to finish the seams off with that. If you are working with a regular sewing machine only, then you could try and zig zag or overcast stitch on your machine or consider using french seams.
- The fabric is delicate enough to handle French seams but depending on what you are making it's unlikely that you can use them everywhere. You might do them on the side seams and shoulder seams for example but inserting the sleeve needs to be finished off either with an overlocker or zig zag stitch.
To sew a French seam in double gauze fabric
- First sew with wrong sides together, taking half or slightly less than your overall seam allowance.
- Trim the seam allowance and any stray wisps of thread and press the seam allowance to one side.
- Then fold the fabric so the right sides are facing and sew again with half your seam allowance. This encloses all the raw edges on the inside and looks just like a normal seam on the outside.
- If you need to finish any part of the construction of your garment off with bias binding, it's best to either make your own bias stripe from the fabric or use ready made bias binding that is also made from double gauze. Atelier brunette offers a range of plain double gauze double folded bias binding that is nice and easy to use.