What are the opening hours?

Monday 9:30am - 5:30pm Tuesday 9:30am - 5:30pm Wednesday 9:30am - 5:30pm Thursday 9:30am - 5:30pm Friday 9:30am - 5:30pm

Milky Fabric Store

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Milky Fabric Store

Welcome!

We are an eco-minded, emotionally-invested, quality-driven, artistically-inspired collective of dreamers, doers, and makers on a mission to create the finest knit fabrics for the most discerning craftsmen and craftswomen throughout the world.

02/06/2023

NEW STOCK ARRIVING SOON!!!

Quilted French terry, Brushed French terry, Unbrushed French terry, Plush French terry, wide rib cotton, and other fabric coming in over the next two weeks.

The website will be updated as soon as stock lands and released.

19/09/2022

How to Serger Inward (Inside) Corners without stretching or clipping a French Terry fabric?🧐

There are a few methods for overlocking corners.

You can clip into the corner at 45 degrees (diagonally) about 3mm deep (do not clip to deep). If you use fabric that easily fraying and plan to clip into corners, apply fusible interfacing to the corner area before sewing.

Try on a piece of fabric first, until you get a desirable result. 😊

12/08/2022

Fusible Interfacing

An interfacing is a piece of fabric that is attached to the main fabric to give it support or structure. And interfacing fabric may be woven, knitted, or non-woven. It may also be fusible or non-fusible.

A fusible interfacing (also called iron-on) can be bonded to the fabric by applying heat, whereas a non-fusible interfacing needs to be sewn to the fabric with a basting stitch. Always cut interfacings on the same grain as the fabric, regardless of its construction.

Interfacings are available in wide variety of weights. The weight of the interfacing should generally be the same as the fabric, or a bit lighter. Generally, you should not use a heavier weight interfacing than the fabric, as the interfacing will 'dominate' the garment and add an unnatural structure to it.

04/07/2022

Unbrushed French Terry Fabric

Gorgeous color - Periwinkle Sky
Composition: Cotton 100%
Weight: 380GSM
Width: 180cm

The price is $22 per one meter

Matching Ribbing is available

20/06/2022

COTTON FABRIC - Part 3

One of the most versatile and popular of all fabrics.
Absorbs moisture well and carriers heat away from the body

🍀 Stronger wet than dry
🍀 Does not build up static electricity
🍀 Dyes well
🍀 Prone to shrinkage
🍀 Will deteriorate from mildew or prolonged exposure to sunlight
🍀 Creases easily
🍀 Soils easily, but launders well

02/06/2022

New video on Youtube channel: Step-by-Step tutorial on how to sew a 2-piece shirt sleeve placket.

I love this method for countless design opportunities. You can make the placket as wide and long as you want. Plus, because the overlap and underlap are separates pieces, they can be cut from different fabrics and the directions of the grainline of one or both pieces can be changed to achieve a unique look.

Link to the video is in a first comment :)

09/05/2022

What is Fabric pre-shrinking?

Fabric pre-shrinking is a wet-heat treatment to shrink the fibers and stabilize their dimensions. This will prevent shrinkage of the fabric during sewing and wearing a garment. The preshrinking is performed before cutting the fabric.

There are two types of shrinkage. One is called expansion and the other is called contraction. But in both types of shrinkage, the dimensional change occurs.

Please note that in some fabrics subsequent washing leads towards more shrinkage, but to the less extent.

If fabric frays easily, use a serger to enclose the cut ends before washing to prevent fraying.

13/04/2022

Cotton Fabric - Part 2

Did you know that there are 4 types of cotton?

There are four types of cotton grown commercially worldwide:

Gossypium hirsutum – upland cotton, native to Central America, Mexico, the Caribbean.
Gossypium barbadense – known as extra-long staple cotton, native to tropical South America.
Gossypium arboreum – tree cotton, native to India and Pakistan.

26/03/2022

When you buy dress making shears it is important to follow two simple rules:

1) Use your scissors only for cutting fabric (not paper or anything else)

2) Don’t drop or toss your scissors when putting them down

✂️ Why are fabric scissors only for fabric? The reason is straightforward - scissors will dull quickly.

However, with dropping the reason is not that obvious.

✂️ Dress making shears are made of steel, and often when you buy scissors a RC scale grading can be found in the product insert leaflet. Have ever heard of Rockwell hardness scale? The Rockwell scale is a hardness scale based on indentation hardness of a material. The steel hardness ratings follow a predetermined chart which is commonly called the Rockwell C scale. The scale has values from 20RC to 67RC. The higher the number on the RC scale, the harder the steel is. Conversely, the lower the RC scale number is, the softer the steel. A Rockwell Hardness measurement of 58-60 RC indicates a high-quality steel that's ideal for shears and scissors.

The harder the steel the more fragile it is. When falling from a height, the blades experience a load and may get deformed, as a result microcracks may appear (invisible to the eye) affecting negatively scissors performance.

In addition, the screw or rivet in the center is finely tuned. A slight deviation in settings may result in scissors start “chewing” the fabric.

❓ Can be scissors get sharpened?

Manufacturers do not recommend sharpening dress making shears because each scissors model has its own sharpening angle (bevel angle), which is made by special factory equipment. In practice you can sharp your scissors 1 – 2 times. If you do sharp your scissors use professional sharpening services. However, keep in mind that each sharping will reduce lifespan of your scissors. New scissors will serve you years while sharpened one will act up after a few months of work.

⚠️ Myth: Sharpening shears with aluminium foil. Do not use this method on dress making shears. This method will not give you a result you look for.

21/03/2022

COTTON FABRIC

One of the most versatile and popular of all fabrics, cotton is a natural fiber that comes from the seed pods, or bolls, of the cotton plant. It is thought that cotton fibers have been in use since ancient times.

Today, the world’s biggest producers of cotton include the United States, India, and countries in the Middle East. Cotton fibers can be filament or staple, with the longest and finest used for top quality bed linen.

Cotton is a hot climate plant. It can not tolerate temperature below 15 Degrees. The best quality cotton comes from Middle East countries, namely Egypt.

Properties of cotton

🍀 Absorbs moisture well and carries heat away from the body
🍀 Stronger wet than dry
🍀 Does not build up static electricity
🍀 Dyes well
🍀 Prone to shrinkage unless it has been treated
🍀 Will deteriorate from mildew and prolonged exposure to sunlight
🍀 Creases easily
🍀 Soils easily, but launders well

03/03/2022

How to sew with knits: Basic Rules

Knit fabrics are perfect to deal with, especially, for beginners: they are easy to sew, cause next to no fitting problems and even allow some sewing mistakes, if you follow simple rules:

📌 Use a stretch overlock stitch. This will keep the seam from ripping. A straight stitch is a bad choice: the thread will rip eventually.
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Use either 4-thread overlock stitch or zigzag stitch on your sewing machine to join the garment pieces (the stitch length is 2.5-3mm [1/8”], the stitch width is 0.5-1mm [up to 1/16”]).
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To finish garment and sleeve hems, it’s preferable to use a coverstich machine. If you don’t have one, use a zigzag stitch, a twin needle stitch or a catch stitch.

📌 On Milky Fabric YouTube channel there is a video tutorial on how to sew knits on a regular sewing machine.
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📌 Use Stretch, Supper Stretch, Jersey, or ballpoint needles when working with knits. These needles have a rounded tip and small hump that cause the thread to create a large loop, preventing skipped stitches., while a regular needle would tear the fibers, which may cause runs and holes along the seam.
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Another tip: if your sewing machine starts chewing up the fabric while working with thin, lightweight knits, put a sheet of sewing tracing paper under the layers of fabric. If the fabric is extremely thin, put one above the layers. Remove the tracing paper after stitching.
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📌 When laying out the pattern pieces before cutting, be guided by the loops running lengthwise. In knit fabrics, they play the role of the grain. Make sure that you lay out all your pattern pieces in the same direction.
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📌 Do not use notches as it may result in snags. With knit fabrics we suggest using either fabric markers or tailor chalks.

📌 For seam stabilization use fusible knit interfacing. Place the interfacing, adhesive side down, on the wrong side of the fabric. Use an iron on a warm setting and press one section for about 15 seconds. Use pressing instead of gliding motions. Lift and repeat until the whole piece of interfacing is fused in place. Once you finished leave fabric to rest for 15 minutes.

21/02/2022

Tutorial on Youtube on how to add a placket to a French Terry garment.

Pay Attention to Detail. Your Clothing Matters.

Address

Auckland
0626

Opening Hours

Monday	9:30am - 5:30pm
Tuesday	9:30am - 5:30pm
Wednesday	9:30am - 5:30pm
Thursday	9:30am - 5:30pm
Friday	9:30am - 5:30pm

Website

http://www.milkyfabric.nz/

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