ASG Sewing Blog – Page 52

January 1, 2021

Hemming Knits

Hemming knit garments can sometimes be a challenge, especially on lightweight fabrics that tend to ripple or stretch out, and who needs ripples around a hipline?

Twin Power

One of the best ways to create a professional looking hem in a knit garment is to use twin needles on a conventional machine. Available in differing needle spacings, the double needle creates two rows of perfectly parallel stitching to hold your hem in place. And, the best part—with a single bobbin spanning the needles, the zigzag on the underside gives your knit some flexibility.

Look for twin needles in spacing from 1.6mm to 8mm, and in various needle sizes and types, depending on the weight of your knit. So, choose a needle set compatible with your fabric. Check your machine owner’s manual for instructions for using a twin needle, as some are limited to less than the maximum needle spacing available. You can stitch a great hem with a 2.5mm-3mm width on most fabrics.

Step by Step

Begin by gently pressing the hem to the wrong side of the garment, being careful not to stretch either the outer portion of the garment or the hem allowance. On most knits, there’s no need to finish the hem edge unless you want to, as the fabric doesn’t ravel. If you do want to finish it, a serger stitch is ideal.

Once you’ve got that hemline fold, there are two options to consider:

The first option is to fuse the hem in place with a lightweight fusible web before stitching. This adds body to a lightweight or particularly stretchy knit to help it hold its shape. If you choose this option, cut the web the entire width of the hem to avoid a fused line narrower than the hem. This method helps keep the double-needle stitching from doing what’s called “tunneling”—making that raised area between the needles and creating a little ridge. It’s fine to have that ridge if that’s the look you want as it mimics a pintuck, but if a flat hem is your goal, the raised ridge can be somewhat discouraging.
The second option is to fuse lightweight knit interfacing to the hem area you’ve pressed up. This also adds body and helps prevent the tunneling. If you choose this option, interface the entire hem depth. Adding interfacing also helps keep the hem from rolling out during wear.

Pin the stabilized hem allowance in place around the lower edge of your garment, then thread the twin needles with matching or contrasting thread—for a sportier look, you can even use two colors of thread.

Beginning at one side seam, straight stitch around the garment lower edge leaving at least ¼” of hem above the stitching line {photo}. Remember, you need to stitch with the garment right side up, as a zigzag stitch is formed on the underside of the double-needle stitching. At the beginning and end of the stitching line, leave thread ends long enough to pull them to the underside and tie off.

If you have extra hem depth beyond your stitching line, carefully trim it close to the stitching to neaten.

~Linda Griepentrog
Linda is the owner of G Wiz Creative Services and she does writing, editing and designing for companies in the sewing, crafting and quilting industries. In addition, she escorts fabric shopping tours to Hong Kong. She lives at the Oregon Coast with her husband Keith, and two dogs, Yohnuh and Abby. Contact her at .

December 24, 2020

Happy Holidays 2020

Happy holidays from the American Sewing Guild!

December 18, 2020

Sewing Basics: General Sewing Terms, Part 1

Whether it’s traveling in a foreign country or knowing the terminology for a project you are working on, being able to speak the language is important. Today’s article reviews some basic sewing language that will be helpful to new sewists while still being a great refresher and idea generator for those who are more experienced. Think of these sewing terms as a “language acquisition and refresher” resource!

Note: This is Part 1 of our General Sewing Terms series. See Part 2.

Seam Allowance

Seam allowance is the distance between the stitching line and the cut edge of the fabric.

In garment sewing, the most common seam allowance included in patterns is 5/8” but it is important to confirm this for each pattern you use. Some pattern companies use a 3/8” seam allowance as their standard while some, like Burda Style and Marfy, include no seam allowance on their patterns so you must add it when you cut the pattern pieces out. If you are quilting, you are most likely going to use a standard of 1/4” seam allowance.

When deciding the size of seam allowance you want to use, there are a few things to consider:

Begin by checking your pattern details. If you sew a 5/8” seam allowance on a pattern designed with a 3/8” seam allowance, you will have downsized each seam by 1/2”. In a simple skirt with 2 side seams and a center back seam, you will have reduced the circumference by 1-1/2.” Might be a bit too small to squeeze into now!
The amount of stress that will be placed on a seam is an important factor. A 1/4” seam on a quilt that will not be stressed may be fine, but a 1/4” seam on an center back seam in pants you will apply stress to as you bend and sit might not be enough to prevent pulling through the fabric and splitting that seam open. Watch for clothing malfunctions!
The type of fabric being used is also important. Sturdier fabric like denim can handle a smaller seam allowance at stress points that a finer fabric.
The shape of the seam line will dictate the best size of your seam allowance. Curved seams, like princess seams and collar stands will turn much more smoothly with a smaller seam allowance than a larger one.

Back Stitch

Backstitching is something you do at the beginning and end of each seam to secure it and prevent unstitching.

The desired outcome — seams not pulling apart at either end — can be accomplished in a few ways.

Backstitching is exactly what it sounds like. At the beginning of a seam, start a few stitch lengths inside the cut edge of the fabric and stitch backward to the edge, then stitch forward the length of the seam.
Leave long thread tails at the beginning and end of each seam then tie them off with a double knot before trimming.
If your machine has a “fix stitch”, start each seam with this as it will make a few stitches in place before continuing the seam. At the end of each seam, use a “stop stitch” if you machine has this option. It does the same thing as the fix stitch but without continuing the seam. This is a less secure choice than a back stitch or tying threads off.

Seam Finish

The primary purpose of finishing seams is to protect the cut edge of the fabric from raveling during wear and laundering.

There are many options to choose from but, remember knit fabrics do not ravel, so this task is specific to when you are sewing with wovens.

The secondary purpose is to provide a nice, clean look on the inside of the garment. Some sewists will say they want the inside of the garment to look as beautiful as the outside. Here are a few options you can consider:

Pinking – One of the simplest things you can do is trim your seams with pinking shears. As with any sewing tool, you can get budget friendly Fiskar pinking shears for as low as about $15 or higher quality Gingher shears for around $50. The end result may not provide the most finished look, but it will reduce the ravel effect during laundering.
Serger – Using a serger for seam finishes is quick and provides a more ready-to-wear look on the inside of the garment. After stitching the seam in place, your serger can both trim the seam and overcast the cut edge all at once.
French Seam – This method requires two steps, sewing two seams. The first seam is sewn with WRONG sides together, usually with a 1/4” seam. Trim that small seam closely, them flip to the RIGHT sides together, enclosing the initial seam, and stich again at a scant 3/8”, resulting in a total of a 5/ 8” seam allowance. Obviously, you need to adjust these two widths to result in the final seam allowance width desired. The result is a nice clean finish as well as the double strength of the two seams. It is often used with sheer fabrics like chiffon since the inner seam is frequently a bit visible through the sheer fabric.
Hong Kong Finish – This method is particularly popular in garments like unlined jackets. It is accomplished by taking bias strips of fabric and first stitching them to the right side of the seam allowance cut edge. Next press the bias strip away from the seam, extending over the cut edge, then wrap it to the wrong side of the seam allowance. Stich in the ditch to fix the wrapped bias strip in place then trim close to the stitching line, removing the excess fabric on the wrong side. This take a bit more time, but with a fun print can create some fun interest on the inside of the garment.

Grading Seams

Grading seams is something you do to reduce bulk.

It refers to the practice of trimming seam allowance layers to different widths. Typically, the “public side” of the seam, meaning the side that is closest to the outer layer of the garment, maintains the greatest width with each layer toward the interior of the garment being trimmed slightly shorter. The innermost seam allowance may be trimmed as narrow as 1/8”. The result of grading is a smoother transition, avoiding a bulky ridge of sandwiched seam allowances showing through to the right side.

Basting

Basting is sewing long, easily removable stitches by machine or by hand.

It is also sometimes called tacking. Basting stitches temporarily join fabric for several reasons, such as:

Test the fit on placement of things like pockets or darts before sewing more permanent stitches.
Hold slippery fabrics together while you sew the permanent stitches.
Replace pins and make it easier to machine sew.
Holding a zipper or hems on bulky jeans in place for stitching.
Holding two or more layers of fabric together so they can be worked as one layer, such as when basting together the layers of a quilt.

Here are a few basting tips:

Use a contrasting color of thread to make it easy to see when you are ready to remove your basting stitches.
When hand basting, use a simple running stitch.
When machine basting, use at least 4.0 stitch length. If your machine has a longer stitch, use it for easier removal.
Stitch with a slightly smaller seam allowance to avoid trouble removing the basting after the permanent seam has been sewn. For example, if you are using a 5/8” seam allowance for the permanent stitch, use 1/2” to 9/16” seam allowance for your basting.

Gathering

Gathering uses long stitches to hold the fabric in place for the permanent stitching with the additional purpose of scrunching a longer length of fabric together into ruffles so it can be attached to a shorter piece of fabric.

There are several ways to accomplish this:

Using the same long machine stitch used for basting, stitch two parallel rows on either side of the seam line. Holding the bobbin thread from both rows, pull the fabric together into evenly distributed gathers, matching the length of the fabric it will be sewn to.
Sew a long and wide zig zag stitch over a heavy thread, being careful not to stitch through the heavy thread. Pull the heavy thread to accomplish the gathering. The heavy thread can be things like dental floss, topstitching thread, thin yarn, etc. Choose something that is strong enough to pull the fabric together without breaking.
With both gathering options, leave a long thread tail at each end. Secure one end by wrapping the thread tails around a straight pin in figure eight style to prevent pulling your gathering threads out when gathering.
This last option will secure the gathering thread automatically. Leave long thread tails at the beginning and end, just like in the previous methods. Using the same long stitch length, stitch about 1/ 4” from the edge of the fabric to be gathered. Stop, with needle down, at the end of the gathering location. At this point, you are basically going to make a U-turn on your fabric. With the needle down, lift the presser foot and pivot 90 degrees then take a couple of stitches. The number of stitches you take will depend on whether you prefer to gather on either side of where your permanent stitching line will be or only inside the seam allowance. Now drop the needle again, raise the presser foot and pivot another 90 degrees. You have now made the full U-turn and can stitch back down the length of the fabric again to your starting point. When you pull your thread to gather the fabric it will not pull out the threads!

Now you have added, or maybe refreshed, some basic sewing terms. We hope this has been a helpful experience in your sewing “language acquisition” journey as well as given you a few helpful tips on how to accomplish them in your real sewing life. And so, for now, ciao and arrivederci and the happiest of sewing to you all!

~Sheryl Belson

December 16, 2020

Fireside Chat: Marcy Harriell, Oonaballoona

Sheryl Belson, from the American Sewing Guild, spoke with actress, singer, sewing blogger and all around merry-maker, Marcy Harriell (a.k.a Oonaballoona). We’re sure you’ll love our 40 minute chat with this delightfully funny and wonderfully talented lady!

~Sheryl Belson

December 11, 2020

What I’m Embroidering: Tile Embroidery

Gorgeous! Amazing! Exquisite! So detailed!
But how LONG did it take?

Diana Latino of the Princeton Chapter is getting used to comments like these that come every time she shares one of her completed tile embroideries. And she has a number of them done already.

What’s Tile Embroidery?

Tile embroidery is a complex design done on an embroidery machine in which up to 32 separate, usually very dense designs are stitched independently and then sewn together to create a complete picture for a wall size quilt.

Diane’s holiday design, Starry Night Santa from OESD is the perfect example of this intricate style. With the light just right, you can see where the separate tiles have been sewn together to create the image of Santa standing on a snowy landscape looking up at the Christmas star. Each tile is created by the embroidery stitches with a myriad of threads to create the subtle shadings. The entire design was more than a million stitches with about 32 thread changes per tile. And as for how long did it take, Diana claims to have completed the embroidery in just a week. Then she added, “But that was stitching 8 hours or more a day, every day,” and credits husband Mike with doing all the cooking which allowed her to focus on the stitching. With 32 tiles and each tile taking up to 3 hours to embroider, that was an intense 96 hour work week! But the results are spectacular.

Getting Started

Diana began embroidering in 2005, and discovered the tiles in 2010 when she got tired of just sewing for her kids and wanted something more challenging. She says she gets such a feeling of accomplishment when she puts the finishing touches on one of these designs, and even though many are holiday themed, she leaves them hanging all year. Her Santa’s Workshop, also from OESD, is another Christmas themed design. This one appears to be in black and white, but achieves its detail and subtle shadings through the use of 18 different shades of gray thread. Keeping the thread names, numbers, and spools coordinated is one of her biggest challenges. In fact, she once relied on the color name that came up on her machine and ended up with a blue ear on Santa! Now she lines up all her threads and labels them BEFORE she begins her first tile.

Adding Machine Appliqué

Some of the designs like Poppy also incorporate machine appliqué with the stitching. The use of fabrics cuts down the embroidery time and gives a more traditional quilting look to the finished project. Her Halloween from Molly Mine designs is another example of the use of appliqué. And another Halloween design this time from Anita Good is Haunted House.

Not all of her efforts go into holiday designs. Diana shared some pictures of floral designs from Anita Good, Connecting Flowers and County Church as well as the landscape, Beach.

Tips

If you have been inspired to try a tile embroidery, Diana has a few suggestions.

Organization is essential for any project, but especially when working with tiles.
Be sure to have the right threads and label them so you can easily select the correct color.
To save fabric, instead of cutting out and hooping separate blocks, cut fabric into longstrips the required width for the hoop. This allows you to hoop the next design without the large areas of wasted fabric outside the hoop.
To make stitching the tiles together easier, on each completed tile, label the back with the number of the tile to make sewing the project more organized.
To line up the tiles more accurately, a bright colored thread in the bobbin for the outline stitch makes the alignment more visible.
Trim the blocks to a ½” seam allowance instead of the ¼” recommended. The ½” is more manageable.

Diana regularly shares her embroidery projects with the online embroidery group of the Princeton Chapter where she has inspired and motivated members to experience the fun of machine embroidery.

~Diana Latino, Princeton Chapter