lettuce edge sleeves - lettuce first or seam first?

Dear Beth in AK,

It would be easier to do the lettuce work before.

Teri

I always do the lettuce work after because you get a better edge all the way around.

Kirsten

is there a tiebreaker for me?

I'll cast a vote for sewing the seam, *then* doing the lettuce edge. I almost never do "flat sewing", I prefer to sew sleeves into the armscye after the underarm seam in the sleeve and side seam in the bodice are sewn.

Beverly

Is it going in flat, or set-in? If set-in, it'd be easier, imo, to do it in the round. If going in flat, I'd probably lettuce flat.

Kay

Think about the fabric (knit or woven?), the construction (flat or round), and whether or not your serger has a free arm...

On knits and with no free arm I prefer to lettuce first after a flat insertion of the sleeve.

On knits or wovens when I have the free arm, I like to lettuce in the round after whatever construction suits the garment best.

I'll vote for doing the lettuce edge last too. Even if you do use flat construction. I prefer to do flat construction on knits. Setting in a knit sleeve can look lovely, but it can also be a BEAR. I prefer to lettuce edge things last because I think it looks more finished. You don't have that little bit of seam allowance lettuce edged and folded in there.

Sharon

Kate (and anyone else with experience with this), have you had success doing a lettuce edge in chiffon? I'm making a formal gown for Cotillion next weekend, and am attempting to duplicate somewhat of the same look as Helen Mirren's Oscar gown, the Christian LaCroix one with the lovely chiffon skirt. Mine will not be anywhere near that elaborate (no need to attempt to compete with the debs, after all), but I do want to try to duplicate the hem, especially since it's chiffon, which is notoriously tricky to hem.

Any and all suggestions welcome, and thanks in advance!

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Thanks, Teri. I'll have to think whether or not I want to do this much. The skirt will have three layers of chiffon, over an underskirt of a plain-weave silk, maybe a silk broadcloth. (It's crisper than China silk.)The skirt will be very full, so I'm not crazy about the idea of making two passes over each, plus trimming them. As usual, I'm procrastinating on getting it done, and time is getting short. But thank you so much for your input on this--you know I appreciate the benefit of your advice.

Hemming chiffon is usually enough to send me past the chocolate stash to the liquor cabinet. ;) What I have done in the past, and had it work very well, was to use some tissue paper under the chiffon while I'm rolling the edge. I didn't do a lettuce edge really; it wasn't stretched out. Just a plain rolled hem on the serger. It worked very well. I just carefully tore the tissue paper away when I was done. What I bet would work even better is some thin strips of the clear water soluble stabilizer. The thing that really torques me about trying to do this sort of thing on chiffon is that the chiffon just frays away close to the edge. GRRRRR I also use a slightly wider stitch than normal so I can get more of the stitching away from the very edge of the chiffon. Not a HUGE stitch, but just a little wider than normal.

Have you got some scraps?? Try first. See if it's worth cutting the stabilizer. Oh, and a very fine needle. I think the last time I did anything like this, I used a microtex needle.

Sharon

A fine needle, for sure. Thanks for the reminder. Luckily, I have some size 9's in the needle drawer. Maybe if I use a fine needle and stitch close to the edge, as Teri suggested, then do a rolled hem on the serger, it would work. What do you think? If I stretch as I do the first pass, will it lettuce? That's one detail I really liked from Mirren's gown, how it fluttered at her feet. Points out the shoes, dontcha know. And I do have some awfully cute sandals to wear!

I did LOTS of silk chiffon lettuce edge on this one, as you can see: >

was all cut on the bias. I did it with a two thread rolled hem as the fabric was so fine. This one was done on a nice quality poly chiffon: whole project for the red one is here: 's mostly a case of experimenting to see what looks best and gives the most effective finish: I found on these light weight sheer fabrics that a two thread stitch using 120's poly worked best. Floss and bulk poly or woolly nylon were just too stiff and bulky for a fine floppy finish. Working on the bias, stretching hard as well as using all the differential you have available, also helps to maximise the lettuce effect. I also found that lengthening the stitch a tad was good: softer drape on these cobweb fabrics. I did another version of the red one for myself for the summer, for my Silver Wedding party: almost the same colour, not beaded, and using a poly crepe georgette I had in the stash. That too lettuced on the skirt section very nicely. (I had a salwar kameeze set: satin with gold medallions for the kameeze, plain satin for the trousers, and the georgette for the scarf/shawl. I used the plain satin to line the body of the dress and mounted the georgette on it: I used a single layer for the skirt section, where I'd used a double layer of the finer chiffon for Janeanne's beaded dress. I can send pix of my frock if folk want them. I need to get them up on the web site!)

I've never needed to stitch first and then serge. Usually serging is enough. On such light weight fabric I find that a two thread serged rolled hem is ideal. To make it even lighter and more fluttery, lengthen the stitch to 1.5mm.

oh goodness. I don't have a clue. I am adding a mock undersleeve to a tshirt. I want to lettuce edge the end of the sleeve. For my son, I generally cut, overlock top and bottom, hem bottom, sew the sleeve into the shirt. Perhaps I should be hemming last too???

Excellent, Kate! Thanks for the confirmation. I suspected that serging alone would work, but I needed to know that someone else has done it successfully. I LOVE that five-tiered gown, by the way!

Now I just have to get a serger that works. Both of mine (20 years old and 17 years old) are on the fritz, naturally. Sounds like Santa is going to come early!

ah - ok i think i get this round vs flat here.

I think I'll trying sewing round hte lettuce edge.

If it's going into an existing t-shirt, it's probably a drop sleeve, so could go in flat if it were being sewn from scratch. But you're putting it into a finished shirt?

As far as the way I typically make a t-shirt, I sew shoulder seams, then do the neckline ribbing, then put in the sleeves, sew the underarm/side seam, then do the hems on sleeve and bottom. I prefer to hem last so I don't have to figure out what to do with the end of the serger seam, because I don't enjoy working the tails back into the seamline, and the hem covers any sins I commit with the serger tails.

I really loved my Huskylock 910, but it's a bit big and agricultural compared with the new Bernina 1150MDA I bought last summer. That was the one that did the layered confection! I also have a Brother 1034D, which is great and has the free arm facility. This last one is now available half price here as it's been superseded by a new model. If you aren't doing industrial quantities, it's well worth considering, though it doesn't do a 2 thread stitch. The Bernina does, and so does the Huskylock.