Tear-Away Vilene Shields in Garment Sewing

Has a sewing pattern ever asked you to stay stitch a neckline but then your fabric didn’t behave itself? Either it got sucked down into the throat plate and jammed your machine or your stitches just looked terribly irregular and bumpy?

Areas prone to stretching out (like curved necklines or anything cut on the bias) require stay stitching to keep them in shape. But what to do if your stay stitching–instead of preventing stretching–actually worsens things rather than helping?

Enter: Tear-away Vilene Shields.

Vilene shields are common jargon among Australian sewists but this phrase is perhaps lesser known throughout the rest of the world. It may go by another name (Vilene is sold as Vlieseline in Europe, for example, or you might call it tear-away interfacing or reinforcement patches.) These sorts of tear-away mediums are commonly used in the world of appliqué and embroidery.

In garment sewing, the job of a Vilene shield is to stabilise the fabric so you can accurately stay stitch vulnerable areas to prevent any stretching out. Once that job has been done you are free to carefully tear the Vilene away to reveal neat and precise stitches on even the trickiest, most delicate fabrics.

In the image above, the Vilene shields around the neckline will serve their function whilst bias binding is applied. They will then carefully be torn away before binding is folded over and secured in place.

In contrast, the strip of fusible interfacing along the button placket is heat-bonded to the fabric and will remain inside the finished button placket, providing ongoing stability to buttons and buttonholes.

[Image Credit: In The Folds]

It’s easy to draft your own Vilene shield. Simply lay a piece of paper over the area that needs reinforcing and trace the shape. A strip an inch or so wide (approximately 3cm) should do the trick.[Image Credit: In The Folds]

When sewing a neckline with Vilene shields, in the same way you would when stay stitching without them, remember to start at the shoulder and sew in towards the centre. Stop, flip and repeat for the other side to ensure symmetry.