How to line a garment, sewing tips

This is a blog post on how to line a garment. You may have notice that in some of the garments I make it is lined. Like this post on how to sew tweed skirt and making a kick pleat

Lining a garment can be quite easy and can be tricky as well. The basic rule to know is that an lining is to line a garment and that’s it. It does not however construct a garment.

A fully lined garment will hide the frayed ends, inside of pockets and seam. Lining makes a garment look good. Ot can be a decorative purpose as well to the garment. In the example below.

For tweed fabric which has got the rough characteristics which can cause itchiness when it comes in contact with skin. By lining the garment it will act as a barrier between the main fabric and skin surface.

Lining can be made as open ended or sealed ends. There is hard and fast rule about it in my opinion. However what that finishes the garment best is a good way to look at it. Open ended garment frayed ends needs to be finish with an overlocker or a seam. As these unfinished frayed ends as exposed. In thick and heavy garments there is more tendency to fully line. Lining a garment takes much less time to do compare to finishing the garment using bounded seams.

To line a garment

First of all cut out as in the pattern instructions. To line a skirt one doesn’t need to give any extra fabric for lining. However to line a jacket or coat do give a bit of extra of room at the back piece of the main body of the garment. This is to give more room for movement. Lining should never be small than the main garment. When it comes to finishing the hems the main fabric is always given a bit more than the lining. This is hide the lining fabric away.

The tricky part of lining a garment is when it comes to navigating the corners and joints of the garment. Like zip starting and ending point, skirt vents, sleeve ends tight narrow corners. It all comes with experience and practice. It may look a bit of cats dinner at first but it will improve with practice. At one point I was sewing a fair bit lining a garment came second nature to me. Nowadays I do struggle a bit as one tends to forget after awhile.