I just wanted to thank all of you, dear readers, for your feedback about how you finish the interior of a garment – or don’t bother! 

Like Fran G, I don’t bother to serge every single seam edge, unless the fabric has a propensity for unraveling endlessly.  I do like to line everything, though… and I mean EVERYTHING.  I just like the silky feel of bemberg or china silk inside a garment, and I really like the way a lining helps a garment hang properly.  Maybe ‘cuz it’s slippery, so the garment skims over my shape and doesn’t get stuck on bumps and lumps?

The only things I don’t line are shirts, or the bodice part of a cotton dress (for example, the Liberty Hurren dress), and I’ve never lined a knit anything unless it’s dictated by designer or pattern instructions.  I have two caveats to the knits, though:

1. Vogue 1087 -  Donna Karan’s dress – which I stitched up last fall. The skirt on this sticks to my tights, so it’s a very impractical dress for fall, and this is one reason why I really like to line all my dresses and skirts:  I cannot stand the look of how dresses stick to tights, leggings, stockings – whatever!  I like a garment that skims over whatever I’m wearing or not wearing on my legs.  So…. I’ll either be wearing this with bare legs, or I’ll be figuring out a way to add a tricot lining to the skirt.
2. Vogue 1027 – another very popular DK dress – which I stitched up in the summer and discovered the fabric is really too sheer not to be lined!  I haven’t added a lining to it yet, but I will prior to wearing it in 2011.

I am planning an unlined jacket this spring, made of broderie anglaise.  I think I’ll try the hong kong finish on the seams.  I confess it’s a seam finish I’ve never ever tried because it looks like too much work!   So, you hong kong finish aficionados out there, I’d appreciate pointers to a good set of instructions, or any tips you can give me to make it an easy peasy enjoyable experience!