Sewing without a serger

Here are some easy finishes for seams: >

This will tell you a little more about the term couture, and what Haute Couture really means: > To discover some more about the whole idea and the sewing techniques used, you could go a long way and do worse than invest in this book: >

If you have a newer sewing machine (maybe 20 yo) a lot of them have stretch stitches on them that will work pretty well for you.

My old Bernette serger went out last year and I was shocked at how > Just recently my serger broke and I haven't gotten around to fixing it

Easiest thing would probably be a zig-zag stitch. If you have the patience for 'couture', then you can sew it by hand. I think you can combine - zig zag on the (more) inner parts, and bind it by hand where it might be seen.

I never had a Serger . I use the zigag with the 4 steps each side ,for many finnishes , Couture is Elegant High Quality attention to each deatil sewing ,,, mirjam

Seams in non-fraying fabrics often don't need covering.

Pinking may be sufficient.

I use pre-graded flat-fell seams a lot.

"find" to jump down to "An easier way to make a flat-felledseam:". If your browser mushes everything into one paragraph, click"view source".

(Looks as though this file needs a thorough editing as soon as I'm done with "bags".)

French seams are good on fine fabrics, and places where you don't mind a ridge inside the garment. Very narrow french seams are often used on sheer fabrics.

On thick, heavy fabrics, a hong-kong binding is good. I've used it only on things that are afterward sewn down -- for the top layer of the mock-felled seams in my wool pants, for example -- but I first heard of it as a finish for seams that are pressed open.

You take a strip of plain bias tape with no folds pressed in -- though I wouldn't bother to iron the folds out of commercial tape. (Well I don't *think* I would; I haven't used commercial tape in twenty or thirty years.)

Match one raw edge of the tape to the edge to be finished and sew a quarter inch from the edge. Make a narrower seam if you want a daintier finish, a wider one if the fabric is very thick. Wrap the tape over the edge to the back, then stitch in the ditch to make it stay wrapped.

I'm now making a purse where I simply ran a line of straight stitching near each raw edge before sewing the purse together. Most of these edges were torn, so I get a fringed effect.

I've heard of turning under a quarter inch of the raw edge, then straight-stitching to make it stay folded, but this strikes me as clumsy, and I've never done it.

If the edge is to be cut along a drawn thread, you can zig-zag before cutting for a very neat and flat finish. Let the zigs pierce the fabric and the zags fall into the space where the thread has been withdrawn.

Joy Beeson

On my [soft] cotton shirts i always stitch the shoulder seam [inside] than lay it flat and zigzag it to the bodice ,, it sits well and is neatly finnished ,, mirjam