Metallic spandex is $15 to $20 a yard.Call to confirm stock availability if choosing expedited shipping. At the bottom end, tissue lamé can be as cheap as $3 per yard. If you’re getting snarled or snapped threads, your needle is dull.īecause there’s a range of weights and finishes, lamé can range in price, too. The metallic finish on lames will dull your needles in record time, so be ready to change them often. When sewing lamé, use all purpose thread and a needle specifically made for metallic fabrics or, if you can’t find those, use a needle labelled “denim” rather than “universal”. I’ve read of some costumers using a stencil cutter – a tool for cutting thin plastic – when cutting some lamés, which seals the edge of the fabric as it cuts – but I’ve never done that, myself and I can’t speak to its efficacy. You don’t want it oozing beyond your seam allowance.
Depending on fabric, you might want to use fray-check on it to minimize ravelling, but test it on a scrap first and use just a little bit. The easiest way to cut most lamés is to use a rotary cutter and a mat, with weights holding down your pattern paper. If you have to wash a lamé garment, hand wash it in cold water and lay it flat to dry. Nor can you throw this into your washing machine – the agitation would be really bad for the fabric in so many ways. The most famous lamé costume of them all… Some seamsters will press lamé with a press cloth, but I’m not that brave! The finish is sensitive to high temperatures and once you melt or scorch this, there’s no fixing it. You can find those in the notions section of a fabric store, but test them on a scrap, first, as they might mark the finish of your lamé so, again, you’ll have to be careful to only use them within your seam allowance. Whatever the base fabric, pinholes in lamé will NOT come out, so pin very carefully, or use fabric clamps. The flat-lining will stop the cape from stretching under its own weight and make the spandex look even heavier than it is. Heck, if you want to create a cloth of gold cape with serious heft, get some metallic spandex and then flat-line it with a medium-weight twill. So be sure it’s what you want to use when you’re preparing for a project. But it can fall apart with even moderate use and even pull itself apart under its own weight if – for instance – you create a long cape with it, especially if you don’t flat line it for strength. I like mirror lamé a lot because it looks so fantastic. It’s heavier in weight than mirror lamé and, because it’s a stretch fabric, it can drape differently too. Spandex lamé fabric is made specifically for dance wear, so it can put up with a lot more abuse than mirror lamé. But when the fabric is stretched, it doesn’t fall apart like mirror lamé does. It’s an elastane fabric that has been coated with lots and lots of tiny metallic dots – so many that it looks like a solid surface. There’s a fabric that’s specifically designed to move a lot and take the strain: metallic Spandex. The flat lining will stop the fabric from stretching and remove the risk of laddering.
A light-weight cotton of a similar color to the base is the most obvious choice. Or you can flat-line the lamé with something that isn’t going to stretch. Use it for garments that aren’t tightly fitted to the body – skirts and trousers and even short capes, but not long ones as they’d be too heavy. That’s the easiest way to avoid laddering. First of all, don’t use tricot lamé for a costume that needs to stretch and move a lot. Source: įortunately, there are workarounds.
This fabric can stretch without ruining the metallic finish.
Namely, if you over stretch it, it’ll “run” like a pair of tights and permanently ruin the fabric. It’s often called “mirror” lamé, because it’s so super-reflective, and it’s a really popular fabric because it has a very liquid hand and dense color saturation with the metallic finish. Then there is the beast that is lamé with a knit base. Use fabric weights or basting spray to keep your pattern paper in place while cutting it and make sure that when you’re pinning it together to sew that you keep your pins inside the seam allowance. If it’s a plain-weave base then you’ll have a slightly easier time of it. The challenges in sewing it really depend on the base on which the metallic finish has been applied. If you’re doing any kind of sci-fi or anime cosplay, sooner or later, you’re going to use lamé. Holographic finishes are also a thing, which makes the fabric even MORE space age. To the delight of costumers everywhere, you can find it in a rainbow of solids, and even in patterns like multicolored leopard print. It used to be you could only find lamé in two colors: gold and silver. In classic Star Trek, if you were a good-looking lady alien, you were generally wrapped up in lamé or lurex. The base fabric is always some artificial fiber – usually polyester – as it can tolerate the manufacturing process.
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