Slipstitch

Sometimes, you will find yourself needing to join multiple layers of fabric invisibly without the sort of access to the interior that would make the understitch an option. For example, you're sewing a self-enclosed facing piece to a collar, or you've turned out a tie belt and now you have to close the little bit that you used to pull the belt through with. To do this, you have to use a hand sewing technique called the Slip-Stitch.

The slipstitch is a hand-stitch that starts from the back (interior) and goes through all the layers of fabric except the frontmost (exterior) layer of fabric, before coming back up through all layers to return to the back. Generally, you want to put your finger behind that last layer of fabric and if you feel the needle prick your finger, you pull back just enough to feel that layer of fabric "slip off" before pushing the needle back towards where you put it in. This means that the stitch remains "invisible" to the outside of the garment. It also means you'll learn the value of "light touch" very quickly or you'll need to get in good with your local blood bank (I've always been an elbow-grease kind of girl myself, this is a new horizon for me).

French Seam

For the most part, we've been working with the Plain Seam for our projects. There are some limitations to the plain seam, however. Because the raw edges are exposed in the seam allowance, it's not the first choice of seam for something like an unlined jacket where the interior of the garment may become visible as the wearer takes the item on or off in public. Similarly, for very lightweight fabrics that fray or ravel very easily, even an overlock might not be enough to keep the raw edge from coming apart. For these scenarios it is recommended that you use a French Seam, which encases the raw edge inside of the seam allowance via a second seam. The French Seam is also the preferred seam method for sewing household projects like pillowcases. It's got a few more steps in it than the plain seam, but it's not tricky and will definitely neaten up your allowance for your garments and create a more professional look.

Overlock

The overlock stitch is a popular, professional-looking way of finishing your raw edge. It's like a zig-zag stitch except each "zig" and "zag" are multiple stitches, and the exterior point will actually leave the raw edge to create a "lock" on the edge of the fabric. While most people think of Overlocking as something that is done on a serger or other high-end sewing equipment, in truth, if your sewing machine can do a buttonhole and a zipper, it can probably do an overlock.

Trim seam, clip curves

My experience is that before doing an understitch or turning a seam inside-out, there is usually a step that says "Trim seam" and if the seam isn't on a straight bit of fabric, it's followed by "Clip curves." This can be across any number of layers of fabric and/or interfacing. All this means is that you are going to trim down the seam allowance from a previous seam, and then make notches in the curves of the allowance. This will help ease folding the fabric over to prevent wrinkles or bunching.

When you trim the seam, you basically want to trim it to where there is still a little bit of allowance for you to do your understitch through, so don't take it right to the seam, give yourself about ¼"-⅜" of an allowance, depending on how comfortable you are with your sewing machine--smaller is better. Even if you're not doing an understitch and you're simply turning the seam inside-out, you don't want to clip right up to your seam simply because it will increase the chance of the seam coming undone.

Stitching in the Ditch

In order to secure a under-laying piece in place and keep it from shifting or unfolding, sometimes a pattern will instruct you to "stitch in the ditch." What this means is that you will perform a straight-line topstitch, regular-length stitch right down an existing seam line. This helps to hide the stitch on the finished garment.

Before you start stitching, I would line up the needle using the manual knob on your sewing machine so that it will go right into the "ditch" created by the existing seam.

Video below the fold...

Understitch

The Understitch is used to reinforce the form of a seam invisibly. It's similar to the topstitch with the exception that it does not go through the "top" layer of fabric on the outside of the garment. I find it is used most often when I am securing a collar's interfacing.

Unless otherwise indicated in a pattern, an understitch is a normal-length (2-3) straight stitch across the layers of fabric underneath the exterior (outward-facing layer) that is fixed at both ends. Like the Topstitch, you want to try to get the stitch as close to the original seam as possible, but because it is invisible, it is not as critically important that the stitch be straight.

Often, you will do an understitch after you trim the seam and clip the curves (trimming down the seam allowance on a bias and creating notches at the curve for ease--article on its way). If you iron your folded seam before you stitch, rolling the seam back just slightly so that it's along the inside edge of the underside of your garment, it will make the seam invisible to the outside, and then understitching will help keep that structure in place.

Topstitch

The Topstitch is a means of reinforcing a seam's structure by stitching through all the layers of fabric that make up the seam. Topstitching is used all the time to "neaten-up" a seam and create a more visible structural line, and it's also used when finishing bias tape along a sleeve or other opening.

Unless otherwise indicated in a pattern, a topstitch is a normal-length (2-3) straight stitch across all layers of fabric that is fixed at both ends. Because a topstitch will be visible on the final garment, it's important the stitch be as straight and even as possible, and is often as close to the seam edge as possible.

Easestitch

The easestitch is a stitch that is used to create a gather in your fabric in order to "ease" in two pieces of different sizes. Easestitching is most commonly used in fitted sleeves, where the shoulder of the sleeve is going to have more fabric than the shoulder of the body. Easestitching is also used when your piece will have a decorative gather or ruffle in it or when you want to gently shape the line of your garment. Patterns will usually indicate that you easestitch in between dots or notches.

Staystitch

The staystitch is a very simple stitch mostly used in collars to prevent the fabric from stretching or pulling while you sew.

Staystitching is a straight-line, regular-length stitch (usually around setting 2-3) that is through a single thickness of fabric and does not create any sort of seam or join. 

The important thing about a staystitch is that you fix both ends and you follow the direction of the stitch indicated by the pattern. This may mean, if you have a single front collar piece, that you stitch in from the shoulder to the middle of the collar, then instead of going on to the other shoulder, you fix and stop, then start from the other shoulder and head in to the middle of the collar.

Fixing your stitch

Most permanent stitching (with a few exceptions) require that you fix your stitch at both ends. This simply means creating a knot in the stitching to prevent the stitch from coming out later.

Unless a stitch specifically does not want to be fixed (for example: a baste stitch or an easestitch), you will want to fix your stitch!

Ripping out a seam

Seam-rippers aren't just for novice sewers. Even my mom finds herself messing up and re-doing a seam once in a while.

To rip out a seam, you simply grasp the fabric on either side of the seam and gently pull them apart enough to expose the thread that is linking them. I usually use my snips (carefully) on this first thread, as it might be fixed. Then, gently pull the two pieces of fabric away from each other. You can sometimes get about 2 or 3 of the stitches to come out on their own, but whenever the fabric halts and can't come away with gentle pulling, you want to put your seam ripper in under that expose thread and pop it out.

It actually doesn't take that long with a seam-ripper to remove a seam, and when you do it right, your fabric is still in good shape and you can make a second attempt.

Stitching: Seam basics (Plain seam)

Click to enlarge

The most basic sewing skill is sewing a seam. There are a lot of stitches out there, and a finished product will of course need to be hemmed and finished, but the most basic element of joining two or more pieces of fabric together is the seam.

There are actually a few different kinds of seams out there, the Plain Seam, the Overlock, the French Seam, the Flat Seam, and the Laped Seam. For our purposes, and the purposes of the patterns we are making, we are going to be doing the Plain Seam.

Most seams are ⅝" (1.5 cm) from the raw edge, although you might find a pattern calling for a particular seam at ⅜ (1 cm). Your sewing machine will have a strike plate with grooves on the right side of the presser foot. These will indicate these two measurements (sometimes, they might even be labeled!) If you line up your fabric to be flush against those lines, sewing a seam is pretty easy. If you have more than 2 guide lines on your strike plate, I would suggest centering your needle, then using the manual knob on the side to lower it, then use your seam gauge to determine which line is the ⅜"/1cm line and which line is the  ⅝"/1.5cm line, then use a paint pen or other indelible marker to highlight each line for easy reference.

Basting

To baste something means to temporarily attach two pieces of fabric in place so that they will hold their position until a more permanent stitch seals them in place.