Thursday, March 22, 2012

To Line or Not to Line ?

Here is a thought. Why line a dress, if you think you will wear a slip under it? Or shaping underwear?

I have recently bought a couple of great shaping full slips- one black and one nude, and they seem not only to improve the figure slightly, but made the clothes I wore hang so much better.

There is a large choice of those kind of undergarments to buy out there, even in a local supermarket- and not at all they have to look outdated, some of them are quite sexy! Same goes for half slips. I am a petite girl and it is quite hard to get a slip or a shaper in size 6-8 UK (34-36 EUR), but with a bit of sewing magic if at all possible. and shapers are quite tight anyway even for the next larger size. I tried size 10 (38) and it worked just as well!

On the other hand, the lining does make the inside look so much better.

So here is me finishing my latest project and facing a dilemma: to line or not to line?

What do you think?

10 comments:

  1. I can't help, I'm having the same problem...in my mind. For the past 2-3 years (or more) I've been really into slips. Lining a garment seems at times to take too much time, and I sometimes hate facings that won't behave.

    I think it depends not the garment. If it's really fancy like silk fabric, I would line. If the facing will not be smooth or unobstrusive due to shaped neckline or whatever, I would line. Otherwise, slip!

    Of course, if you're using a sheer fabric, it's much more charming or sexy to wear a slip and play on the transparency of the garment...

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    1. I just consulted with a few professional seamstresses on Russian Burda site, and they are all saying that basically any slip plays the same role as lining, however a fabric lining will help curvy bits from stretching the garments better, as slips do stretch as well. That won't be all true for shaping underwear, but with those you must watch for the seams- if too thick they might be visible outside, especially on body-hugging garments.
      However, not all styles will be suitable with slip not sticking out in places. So those must be lined!

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  2. I often just line the bodice and not the skirt. I can wear a half-slip to keep my exposing my undies. But I find lining the bodice can help give a little more structure, and keep it from sliding around.

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  3. thanks Suzanne, that is a valid point! oh decisions!

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  4. Depends on what the style is. Also if you're wearing it with tights or not (tights snag on some dress fabrics) and what the season is (in winter I sometimes wear a slip inside lined dresses XD).

    PS you might want to install disqus or something similar. OpenID doesn't work on blogger for people that don't have google logins. Disqus lets people sign in across blogging platforms, keep track of comment responses and deals with spam. Also it'll mean non-google users don't have to go the url/name route and type in every piece of info for every comment they want to leave..

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  5. Lining is always good, especially since it does make a garment look so nice and tidy on the inside but I also agree with Suzanne in only lining the bodice which I've done for projects too!

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  6. thank you so much for the tip- just installed disqus- brilliant! xxxxxxxx

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  7. P.S. one thing though- can't follow my readers blogs/websites through their profiles now, as it was with blogger. Trying to see if there is a way to implement an optional website info with the comments. 

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  8. Hmmm, it depends very much on the garment and the season that garment is intended for.... I would always line a winter dress or skirt, and never a summer garment.  Making a separate slip is always a design choice.
    Thanks for your comment.  Did that care label really upset you?  I just thought it was hilarious!

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  9. not really upset (it was more rhetorical debate) Overall I do hate when women are undermined, and that label's message was much worse than "give it to your mother, she knows what toCarolyn Smith do with it" one, which was kinda funny regardless of your gender. However I won't lose my sleep over it LOL

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