Pinning pattern to gauze.

[HisLittleHazelnut]

I'm trying to pin my pattern to gauze, but it likes to shift on me too much. Do I have to iron it to get it ready? I've already prewashed it. I can't seem to find any fabric information pertinent to gauze. If I have to iron it, what setting would I use?
Help ASAP would be appreciated!

 

[pmcleanj]

Is it really gauze? Or is it cheesecloth, or organza, or chiffon, or something else? Gauze is technically an open-weave fabric where spacing between the wefts is achieved by twisting two warp threads between each pass of the shuttle. It's usually quite stable compared to cheesecloth, which is an open-weave cotton fabric where spacing between the wefts is achieved simply by battening the weft very loosely. Cheesecloth shifts if you look at it sideways. Organza and chiffon are usually nowadays made of synthetic fibre, although originally they were silk fabrics. They tend to be slippery rather than unstable: the weaving is tight and the fabric doesn't distort, but it slides around while you're trying to cut it.

If it's cheesecloth as I'm guessing, straighten it carefully on the ironing board, spray liberally with spray-starch, and iron it at the cotton setting until dry. Repeat until the whole piece is stabilized with the starch. The spray starch will give it enough stability for you to cut it into shape.

Since gauze is a weave, not a fibre, it could be made of any fibre. You shouldn't be having this problem unless it's made of a very slippery fibre as is organza or chiffon. If it is, you can reduce the slipperiness somewhat by using spray-starch, but the best advice is to pin carefully and copiously, and then use a rotary cutter and mat instead of scissors to cut out the pattern pieces.

Don't know if that helps or not.

 

[HisLittleHazelnut]

Yeah, I picked it up at Jo-Ann's and it just said "gauze". It's very stretchy horizontally.
I've seen cheesecloth and I'm sure it's not cheesecloth.

Actually I was encouraged to just go ahead and cut it, and I botched a sleeve and had to do it over.