Mesh – New Hot Fabric!

Our carefully developed Mesh has a beautiful body and weight it leans into being a statement fashion dress with layering and drape while sewn into a basic top the print brings all the drama. Mesh is having a fashion moment right now. For any of us that spent our formative years growing up in the 90s, mesh represents a textile staple. We have a “nagging” policy for new fabrics at Next State, ask us enough and we’ll get the idea. Our collection of textiles is consciously developed and carefully considered, so including a new textile to our range is a big deal for us. We love the feedback we get from customers telling us what they wish we would stock and the time had come where all the mesh lovers over the years were asking us nearly daily, we felt it was the right time to include Mesh as a stock service textile. Next State has been abuzz with ideas of what we’ll all be sewing and we are so excited to bring Mesh to the creative community.

Mesh Fabric Characteristics

• • Four way wtretch

• • Oblong style opening to the mesh knit

• • Extremely vibrant printing

• • Soft and very comfortable to wear

• • Looks great as body hugging garments or as a draped oversized fashion look.

• • The Mesh is sheer and you may want to consider an undergarment. Depending on how much detail there is in the print the will impact how sheer the fabric looks when being worn.

Sewing with Mesh

Sewing any four way stretch fabric requires careful preparation of the sewing machine. Mesh having an open knit means you have to really test the machine to ensure you have the tension correct. There are two things you are looking for in Mesh. One is to ensure that the stitch is not gathering the mesh and the other is to make sure as the fabric stretches the stitch stretches as well. We recommend working with a loose tension and a tighter stitch density to allow for a balance between the stretch of the fabric and the stitch. It is well worth taking the time to set the sewing machine to match the fabric.

Finishing the sewing

You can sew with a plain machine or an overclock machine. We recommend using a ball point needle so you can slide the needle between the fabric yarns and not pierce them with a shart needle, which will possible cause the mesh to run or ladder. One fun edging to a garment that you can do with Mesh is to raw cut it. Once you have finished sewing up a hem for example, you can tack the seams closed so they definitly won’t pull apart and then you can raw cut the hem and it will hold up very well in wear and care. As the fabric is a four way stretch you can also over stretch the hems or sleeve openings and give the fabric a styled rippled edge to the fabric. This technique is called a lettuce leaf edge. In sewing it is called setting a deferential where you can pull the fabric in tighter, or you can stretch in it sewing to change the look of the edge.

Getting Mesh Inspiration

There was a lot of mesh styling going around in the 90s. Thinking about the Spice Girls in brightly covered Mesh tops bouncing through the music to spice up our life evokes the thought of fashion and movement. There is a really great way to stat designing with Mesh thinking about a sports luxe aesthetic. Mesh is also popular in the other end of the spectrum with careful layers of tonal mesh creating texture and drama when wrapped around the body. Think the nudes and black made popular by international designers like Dolce and Gabbana.