Fabric Stiffener?

Icky residue. My moms in the embroidery business and uses all types of stiffeners/ stabilizers. Your best bet is cardboardor layering stabiler between fbris. Stablizer come sin alot of color,s ut is expensive.. forty dollars or a tiny roll...

 

The liquid fabric stiffner will muck up your leather, plu you ca't evr get it wet. Not good for clothing of any knid, there is a poduct you can get at fabric stores that is very stiff, that you can layer under the leather, It is sold form bolts kept at the fabric counter.
That is you live in the USA. I can't remember the name right now, but if you tell them what you are needing places like JOANNS will know what you need.

 

If you are glueing layers together you are going to get a very nice stiffness anyways. I have found that "Tacky" brand glue is "crisper" when it dries than many of the others. "Ok to Wash It" and "Jewel It" have a rubberier feel.

 

Oh, and I use the "Tacky" to glue layers together, not to coat the outer surface.

 

Best glue for fabrics is Bond Gripp Glue, comes in a white bottle about the size of tacky glue, and is sort of the same kind of glue but dries even softer then tacky glue, doesn’t seem thru fabrics as easy dries to almost invisible. It was recommended by a famous miniature artist in her class. Brooke Tucker. http://www.brooketucker.com/
It can be hard to find sometimes.

 

Stiffy is just a white glue. It works best for things like cheese cloth ghosts and tiny things in cotton where you just soke the cloth and let it dry and never tough it again.

A couple of things can be used for stiffing. The easist to get is "craft weight" interfacing. It's a lot stiffer than the regular fabric interfacing. You do have to put it under the leather because it's white. The nice thing is that it gives weight to the leather but will still leave it flexable.

You could get fancier and use something called buckrum. It's used for hats. It's stiffer. Also white and looks like it's a looser weave. It like to be shaped once.

If you're trying to make think leather stiffer AND get it to stay in shape.... use the craft weight interfacing and then go over to the floral department and buy a little package of floral wire. Each piece is about as long as a pipe cleaner, but about the tickness of a pin and bendable. You can put this wire along the bottom edge of the interfacing and then fold up the leather.

-Cat-

 

Buckram -

this is a very stiff fabric "stuff".. used extensively in hat making and can be manipulated and shaped very well.

 

Are you thinking of interfacing? Comes in many forms and thicknesses, iron-on or sew-in. I swear by the stuff....

 

Yes, it's magical stuff. I also ADORE HeatBond - it comes in 2 different weights and can be used to make patches for clothing (iron on a piece bigger than the patch you want to make and then cut it out, take off the paper and iron it on to what you like!). It's great for layering too, if you need to see both sides of the fabric, but also need the weight and stiffness ^_^

 

Interfacing and buckrum are different.

Interfacing is a non wover materials that is used to give exta body to fabrics. There is iron on and sew in. It is used for things like colars, shirt placats, etc.

Buckrum is a woven fabric treated with glue. Even in it's light form it stands by itself. It's used in hats. The regular buckrum looks like very stiff cheese cloth. (OK, a bit thicker than that, but just as airy.) This goes all the way up to crown buckrum that's multiple layers. That would have been the stuff that they used in LOTR to make Gandalf's grey hat. Regular buckrum is all you need for doll hats or crowns.

The big difference, buckrum is really stifer. Also, it can be molded by steam. When it dries out again, it hold the new form.

To give you something to wrap your eyeballs around. Think of a man's hat, lilke a top hat. That uses buckrum. Now think of the Cat in the Hat's hat... that's interfacing.

-Cat-
(who knows too much about this stuff)

 

interfacing comes in woven as well as knit, sew in and iron on. what you use all depends on the project, type of fabric, use of item, blah blah blah.

i've taken two clothing construction classes and we spend a full day talking about interfacing.

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