Backing Terms

1: Backing - Material placed under a garment & usually hoped with it to give stability, add a little thickness so tension is easier to adjust & the hoop can hold garment easier. Backing can be woven or non-woven, film, or paper material.

2. Facing (toping) – Facing is used on top of fabric being sewn usually to keep stitches from sinking in or to keep dark fabric from showing through semi-opaque thread.

3: Cutaway – Backing that needs to be cut away.

4: Tearaway – Backing that can be torn away after being perforated by embroidery.

5: Non-woven material – Backing products created by softening fibers in liquid & mixed together under pressure to form sheets of uniform thickness. It comes in cutaway & tearaway, the length of the fibers determine which it becomes.

6: Woven backing – Muslin, cotton sheeting, acetate lining & similar loom woven fabrics can be used as cutaway backings, check for shrinkage before using.

7: Fusible backing – A backing that adheres to the garment when heat & pressure is applied.

8: Adhesive backing – Good to stabilize stretch & athletic fabrics such as Lycra, it is good to hold hard to get at places.

9. Water soluble film – often used on towels & velour to keep stitches from sinking into the garment while sewing the majority can be torn off & the remaining small pieces will dissolved in water when washed. Drawback it can come loose along stitches & bunch up in unwanted areas while sewing.

10. Burn away cloth – This is an acid treated woven fiver that turns to ash when heated, it is also called aetzing cloth, it is good for facing corduroy. Care must be taken so the ash isn’t pressed into the garment.

11. Heat removal film – low melt polymer sheets, heat grabs the film & cooling allows it to be lifted away.

12. Liquid stitch – a cold applied glue (usually solvent based) that dries to hold fibers together, it is used on bobbin thread & works to hold areas & prevent unraveling of stitches where lock stitches were not adequate or thread was cut or broken.

13. Spider web – a sheer fabric like heat sensitive binding material that melts at a low enough temperature to be applied with a hand iron or a heat press.

14. Tricky film (sold by Gunold) – a backing removable by heat that is used on lace, silk, knit, satin & other delicate fabrics.

15. Backing paper – paper used as backing for towels that comes in stacks of sheets like typing paper.