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Chevron fabrics are popping

up everywhere, from clothing

to accessories to home dcor.

These fabrics are especially

flattering for garments, as they

create diagonal lines for a

slimming effect. Learn four

fun and simple techniques to

translate this runway trend

and design custom chevron

fabric for unique garments.

{ by Ana Jankovic }

All patterns

are author's

own designs.

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Show Your StripesTurn a striped fabric in various direc-

tions within a garment to transform

the stripes into slimming geometric

chevron patterns.

When working with striped fabric,

always alter and prepare the pattern

first. The featured dress is composedof a waist seam and simple pencil skirt.

Trace the pattern piecesonto

new paper.

On the skirt-front pattern,draw several

equally spaced diagonal lines connect-

ing the side seam and center front.

Redraw the lines until satisfied with

the angles. Highlight one line in a bold

color (1). In the following steps, this

line is referred to as the stripe line.

Place the skirt-back patternright side

down over the skirt front, aligning the

side seams. Copy the stripe line

onto the back pattern using a bold

color (2).

Place the front-bodice patternright

side down over the front skirt, align-

1 2

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ing the waistline. Copy the stripe lineonto the front bodice in the same

manner (3).Repeat the process to

mark the back bodice.

Lay the striped fabricright side up

in a single layer on a large work sur-

face. Position a pattern piece over the

fabric, matching a fabric stripe to the

marked stripe line; pin (4).To cut a

mirrored pair, such as the front skirt

pieces, first position and cut the first

piece using the pattern. Flip the cut

fabric piece to the wrong side, and

then position it right side down over

the fabric, carefully aligning the fabric

stripes (5).Pin, and then cut out the

second piece.

When constructing the garment,

carefully match the stripes along the

seamlines (not the seam-allowance

edge) and pin generously. Also note

that the fabric is cut on the bias,

which stretches more easily than thestraight-grain. To avoid stretching and

distortion, dont over-handle the gar-

ment pieces.

Use this methodto create large chev-

ron blocks throughout the garment,

as in the featured dress, or use it to

highlight just one area. For example,

cut a wide waistband in a chevron

pattern or just the side panels of a

gored skirt.

5

4

3

Stripe Line

Matchstripes.

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Petite PintucksEmbellish the surface of a plain fabric

with small pintucks, and then arrange

them into a textured chevron pattern.

Use the pintucked fabric for an entire

garment or to highlight particular sec-

tions. This technique offers a great way

to dress up a basic button-down shirt,

and works best for mediumweight

woven fabrics, such as cotton, linen,

or silk doupioni or shantung. Use

matching thread for a subtle effect or

contrasting thread to add more dramato the garment.

Cut a large fabric rectangle.The fabric

rectangle size depends on the size of the

pattern piece. Keep in mind that the fab-

ric will shrink slightly after pintucking.

Determine the desired distance

between the pintucks. For the featured

shirt, the pintucks are placed 1apart.

Mark equally spaced lines along the

long edges for the pintucks (6).The

lines should be parallel to the fabric

straight grain.

Fold the rectangle with wrong sides

together along each marked line; press.

For very crisp folds, press each line over

a piece of cardboard or card stock (7).

Set the machineto a 2mm stitch

length. Edgestitch each fold as closelyas possible to create the tucks (8).Press

the fabric first from the wrong side, and

then from the right side.

To create the chevron patternwhen

cutting and constructing the garment

pieces, use the method in Show Your

Stripes, treating the pintucks as stripes.

6

7

8

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Pieced PatternThis piecing method allows you to

create your own striped fabric to incor-

porate into a garment design. The

technique is suitable for medium- to

heavyweight fabrics. Use two contrast-

ing fabric colors, or experiment withmore than two colors for a more eye-

catching effect.

On a piece of pattern paper,trace the

desired pattern-piece outline. Within

the outline, draw a chevron pattern.

Once satisfied with the angles and shape,

number the stripe sections, and then cut

them out (11).Assign the even number

stripes to one fabric color and the odd

number stripes to the remaining

fabric color. Cut the stripes from

the fabric.

Align the stripes along the long

edgeswith right sides together, fol-

lowing the number order. First alignthe chevron center, and then move

toward one end; pin. Stitch toward

the point, clipping the corner and then

aligning the remainder of the stripe

with right sides together (12).

Press the seams in one direction,

and then continue piecing the stripes

until complete. Z

12

1

2

3

4

5

6A 6B

7A 7B115

4

3

2

1

7B7A

6A 6B