Now that you've become familiar with your sewing machine we can begin to consider the way in which we will sew when we are assembling a garment.

Sewing a Seam

In our stitch sampler, you were practicing sewing along the lines that you had drawn onto the fabric from our template. Typically when you are assembling a garment, you do not have a line drawn on the fabric. Instead, you know that the line you want to sew on is a specific distance from the cut edge of the fabric. The distance between the cut edge of the fabric and the "stitchline" is called the Seam Allowance.

parts of a plain seam

For sewing a plain seam, you will start by placing your fabric "right sides together" and line up the raw edges of the fabric along the edge where you plan to stitch.

In order to sew straight you will need to be watching the cut edge of the fabric as it slides past the needle. You will see on your sewing machine there is a metal plate under the presser foot that has a series of lines marked on it. These are telling you how far away you are from the needle and therefore from the stitchline.

At the beginning and end of a plain seam, you should back stich, where you reverse the direction of the machine and add more stitches on top of the ones you've already laid. This will act as a knot an will keep the seam from coming undone.

Check out your Textbook Pages 85 and 86 for more illustrations and discussion of seam allowance and sewing seams.

Pressing Basics

It is impossible to overstate the importance of pressing during garment construction. Clean and accurate construction depends upon the correct pressing techniques being employed at every stage. Each stitch that you make with the machine needs to be touched by the iron before it is truly complete. Be sure to have an iron and ironing board set up nearby your sewing area so that you can easily transition back and forth from the machine to the iron throughout the process.

Melding

melding a seam flat

Melding is quite simple. Once you have finished sewing a seam you simply need to place your fabric on the ironing board and press the stitchline flat with the iron. The purpose is to flatten the threads and help lock them in place in the fabric. You will hear me mention MELDING after ever single seam that I sew during the entire course!

Press Seam Allowances

After melding, you will always want to press your seam allowances to make a clean and crisp line along the seam. In many cases we will press our seam allowances open, but there will be moments where it is better to press them to one side or another.

Pressing Tools

There are several pressing tools that can be very useful to have while you are constructing garments. Often you can find these types of tools 2nd hand, or even construct them yourself if you cannot afford to purchase them new.

Here is a quick show and tell video of the key pressing tools that you will see me use throughout the semester:

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