How To Use Non Woven Interfacing

Some sewers love it, some have no idea what it is, and others refuse to use it. It comes in different types and colors and can be adhered to fabric with heat, or sewn in. What is this magic I speak of? Interfacing, my sewing friends!

As people who sew clothes, we know that we should use interfacing to stabilize areas of a garment during the sewing construction process. And while there are many different types of interfacings to choose from, I thought it was time to write up a blog post that covers the more frequently used types for those who are not quite as familiar with the different interfacings available to us.

One of those we call ‘non woven interfacing’, so let’s look at what is it, and when it should it be used.

In my experience, non woven interfacing looks and feels a lot like paper, whether in its light weight form or its heavier weight counterpart. It also has no grain to it, as it is neither woven or knitted.

How Non-Woven Interfacing Is Made

For those who like to know the background, non-woven interfacings are mostly made from polyester fibers which are mashed up – similar to how paper is made from pulp! An adhesive is then applied to one side of this mash-up, and it is this side which is fused to a fabric using a heat source, creating a non woven ‘fusible’ interfacing.

Best Uses For Non Woven Interfacing

I use non-woven interfacing in several ways, and it depends largely on the cost. Lower priced ones I find are stiffer and the adhesive is not as good, whereas more expensive interfacings are used during the garment construction process.

Draping On The Dress Form

While non woven interfacing is generally too heavy in weight to drape, it is very useful when designing a close fitting garment on the dress form. In fact, this is the process I teach in my Drape & Contour for Beginners course – which will be reopening again in September 2025, so stay tuned for that!

We can draw on it with pen to mark in style lines, we can cut into it with ease when we need to release tension and we know that it cannot go ‘off grain’ due to its lack of grain.

Reinforcing Weak Areas

Another common use for non woven interfacing is to reinforce areas of a garment that are considered to be weak.

This may be a pocket opening – I often apply a strip of non-woven fusible interfacing to prevent the opening stretching out – but I also reinforce a small area prior to installing eyelets or press studs in fabric as well, so there is more support to stop them ripping out.

Stabilizing Garment Pieces

As well as using it to reinforce weak areas, non woven interfacing can be used like other interfacing types to help stabilize different pieces of a garment.

I commonly interface:

• Button plackets
• Collar
• Cuffs
• Fly facings
• Waistbands

Stabilizing Fabrics

For the most part you would want to match your fabric to an interfacing that is constructed in a similar way. So in most cases I will use a woven or knitted interfacing for a project, based upon the type of fabric I am using.

Occasionally a non-woven interfacing is more suitable. This is often the case with leather or suede materials, when they need additional stabilization to add structure, but have no grain themselves.

Now that you know more about how to use non woven interfacings, let’s look at how they are applied.

How To Apply Non-Woven Interfacing

When it comes to applying a non woven interfacing to fabric, you’ll generally find that it is fusible – it will have little blobs of glue on one side which you can see in the image above right – and you’ll need an iron to heat and melt the glue so that it sticks to the fabric that needs the interfacing.

I have a full tutorial on applying fusible interfacing to fabric, but here are the basic steps for applying fusible non-woven interfacing:

1. Place the main fabric that needs to be stabilized with its right side facing down in front of you.
2. Place the interfacing on top of the piece of fabric with its glue / fusible side facing down and touching the wrong side of the main fabric.
3. Depending on your fabric, you may want to grab a pressing cloth to place in-between the fabric and interfacing.
4. Apply the iron with a medium heat to the interfacing.
5. You may need to apply heat more than once to melt the glue blobs without damaging the fabric.

Tips To Keep In Mind

After years of stabilizing fabrics with non-woven fusible interfacing the following tips will help:

• Avoid using steam when applying heat, as this can cause bubbles in the stabilized fabric.
• Make sure not to set your iron too hot as this can damage the fabric.
• If the fabric you are stabilizing is made from more heat sensitive fibers, you’d be best using a pressing cloth to limit the direct heat being applied.
• Do not apply to sheer fabrics or lace as the interfacing will be visible!
• Make sure to match the interfacing weight to the fabric weight

Other Interfacing Types

If you’re not keen on using the non-woven type of interfacing, there are other types of interfacing that you can use, including woven fusible and sew in interfacings for woven fabrics, tricot interfacing for knits, hair canvas for tailoring and even light weight fabric such as organdie or organza for more lightweight and sheer fabric types.