Ottoman weave fabrics have a pronounced horizontal rib created by weaving a fine warp yarn with heavier filler yarns that become completely covered with the warp. I recently made pillows for designer Susan Marocco with a cotton/poly ottoman fabric from Nancy Corzine.
I should have known, but nevertheless somehow did not remember, that the horizontal rib is prone to raveling, and serging only makes it worse. To my horror, the weft raveled all the way to the stitching line- everywhere!- especially at the zipper and the corners. After I stuffed and zipped up the rectangular pillow covers, the fabric frayed to the stitching lines and began to fall apart!
Luckily I was able to remake the pillows, using fusible fabric stablizer from Rowley Co. I fused the stabilizer to the back then serged the edges.
I hadn't yet made the bolster, thank goodness. I fused stabilizer to all the pieces, notched and clipped in order to ease the rectangle onto the circle, then applied a small strip of stabilizer to cover the clips.
For extra security and peace of mind, after sewing the pieces together, I re-serged to hold together the notches and clips.
You can see that I also zig-zagged at the clips for a little extra reinforcement.
The result- extremely substantial (albeit a little stiff) pillows that I was able to deliver to the client with no qualms about their durability.
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