Textiles and Clothing, Kate Heintz Watson [best ebook reader for laptop .txt] 📗
- Author: Kate Heintz Watson
- Performer: -
Book online «Textiles and Clothing, Kate Heintz Watson [best ebook reader for laptop .txt] 📗». Author Kate Heintz Watson
A seam is the line of sewing that joins material; it may be plain or ornamental. The most important are the overhand, felled, French, slot, lapped, flannel, and beaded.
The overhand seam is described under the overhand stitch.
A fell is a seam hemmed down to the goods to protect the raw edge. It is usually made in night dresses, drawers, corset covers, etc. Baste with the piece farthest from the worker extended one-eighth of an inch beyond the other and sewed with the grain of the goods, beginning at the widest part of any bias. Press the seam with the nail on the right side, turn the wide edge down flat to cover the raw edge and line of sewing, and hem flat either by hand or machine. Care should be taken to keep the seam flat on the right as well as on the wrong side. If the felling is done with the machine hemmer, the wide edge must be on the opposite side. The seam may be basted with both edges even if preferred, cutting off one edge after stitching.
A French seam is sewed twice—first on the right side as near the raw edge as possible. Cut off all frayed edges, turn the material by folding on the seam or line of sewing, so the seam is folded inside and the second sewing is on the wrong side below the raw edges. This is not a good seam for underwear worn next the body, as it leaves a ridge on the wrong side, but it is useful for skirts of thin material, etc. It is more easily made than a fell.
Beaded seams used for fine white work have a line of beading overhanded between gores, hems, or gathers. The hem along the seam should be folded on the right side, leaving a perfectly flat surface to iron on the wrong side, and finished with an ornamental stitch covering the hem.
The slot seam, used in cloth dresses and jackets, requires exact basting with silk or very fine thread with small, even stitches. If a coarse thread is used, the material will be badly marked. After basting, press the seam open as if it had been stitched, and baste the strap or under strip of the dress material (which has been cut perfectly straight and even) over the wrong side of the seam, having the center of the seam on the center of the strap. Stitch any width desired beyond the center through the three thicknesses. This will hold the seam in position. Now remove the bastings from the seam and the slot effect is complete. If desired, there may be a double row of stitching, an extra row on the edge of the fold or plait. These seams may be finished at the bottom with arrow heads or stitched designs. The lines of machine stitching should not end without some ornament to appear to hold the plait.
In the lapped seam the edges are folded each within the other or one over the other so that both sides are alike. If made of heavy material, the raw edges are left unturned; in muslin or linen the edges are inturned, lapped, basted and the hem stitched on both edges or hemmed down on both sides by hand.
Flannel seams should be stitched, opened and pressed flat, either on the right or wrong side of the garment. If on the right side, taffeta ribbon should be basted over the seam, so that the raw edges of flannel will not show, and cat stitched or buttonhole stitched on both sides of the ribbon, or any fancy stitch—not too long—may be used. This is the Dorothy seam. For the seam on the wrong side, the edges should be cat stitched with fine thread. Any ornamental stitch may be used on the right side of the seam. Always press flannel seams and hems before finishing. Flannel should never be hem stitched.
PLACKETSA placket is an opening in a garment allowing it to be put on. The simplest placket is made by cutting a slit and folding a wide hem over a narrow one turned on the face of the goods; this makes a pleat below the vent. There should be a double line of stitching across the bottom of the hem to strengthen the placket.
The tape faced placket is stronger and may be used in children's drawers, etc., in place of a gusset to strengthen the end of the opening. A single piece of tape folded back as for a loop is stitched along all edges, making an opening without a lap. This offers as much resistance as a gusset and is more quickly done.
In a third kind of placket, the opening is faced with a continuous piece of tape on both sides and finished with a piece of material on the outside. See illustration. This makes a strong and simple placket. When a tape cannot be used, a hem or facing may be made on the under side of the opening and a facing on the upper side, over which the on-set piece is stitched. The on-set piece and facing may be cut from one piece, but the fitting is more troublesome. In figured goods, the piece set on should match the pattern exactly.
A simple placket for underwear is made from a single strip of the goods put on like an extension hem. On drawers it may be turned in at the buttonhole end, but not stitched down except at the band.
The placket of a skirt should have an underlap extending well below the opening.
SEWING ON BANDSDivide the top of unhemmed edge of the garment in halves and mark with a cross stitch, notch or pin. Gather from the placket to the middle of the front gore, if a skirt, apron, or dress. Take a new thread and gather the remainder. Put in a second gathering thread one-eighth to one-fourth of an inch below the first. Two gathering threads are better than one and they should be longer than the length of space to be gathered. Stroke or lay the gathers above and below the threads. Divide the band and pin the middle to the center of the garment, placing the right side of the band on the wrong side of the garment. Pin in the middle and at each end, secure the gathering threads by winding around the pin, adjust the gathers, and baste between the gathering threads. Stitch just below the line of basting. Fold the band over on the right side, press, baste over the line of stitching, press again, then stitch on the right side after having turned in both ends and over-sewed. Turn the top of the band over on the right side one-eighth or one-fourth of an inch and stitch securely. This upper fold keeps the edge from wearing and stretching and is a stay for children's skirts and drawers where button holes are used and serves as a finish for the top of the band.
For flannel, pleating or gathers may be used to put fullness into a band. Two rows of gathering threads should be used and the stitches should not be too fine. The band should be made of cotton or at least lined with it to avoid clumsiness and prevent shrinking. Ruffles are set in hems, etc., in the same manner.
In finishing the top of an underskirt, many like to dispense with the placket and fitted band. This may be done by using drawing tapes at the back. The upper edge is faced with a piece of material which should be bias in front to accommodate it to the curve, but may be straight across the back. Work a button hole at each side of the back, insert a tape through one button hole and draw it over an inch beyond the opposite one and fasten securely by two lines of stitching across the tape. A second tape is put through the other button hole and fastened in the same way. By pulling the tape on each side the fullness may be adjusted.
All facings around curves, such as arm holes and neck, should be a true bias which is cut by holding the warp threads diagonally across the woof threads. These strips for facings, pipings, ruffles, etc., should be cut exactly even in width. All bands, ruffles, etc., of serge, twilled, or diagonal materials should be cut across the twill and not with it, in order to have the ruffle hang well.
FASTENINGSThe standard fastenings are buttons and button holes, hooks and eyes or hand made loops, lacings through rings and eyelet holes, loops over buttons, and fancy frogs, clasps, studs, ball and socket, "notta-hooks," etc.
Button holes should be carefully measured and marked before cutting. They should be a little longer than the diameter of the button for flat buttons and one and one-quarter the diameter for round buttons. Having decided upon the distance apart they are to be placed, cut a marker from a piece of cardboard and measure off the space, marking with pins, French chalk, pencil, or thread. The distance from the edge (one-fourth inch), as well as the length of the button hole may also be marked with the card. The scissors should be sharp, the hand must be steady, and the cut should be made with one firm slash, not with two or three jerks. Great care must be taken that each button hole is of the same length. The goods should be cut to a thread, for it is impossible to make a neat buttonhole if it is improperly cut. In cutting a round end buttonhole for thick goods, a punch may be used for the end, after which the remainder of the buttonhole is cut directly on a line with the center of the circle.
The same marker may be used to mark the position for the buttons. All markings for buttons and buttonholes, or for hooks and eyes, should be made at one time.
After cutting, the button holes are overcast. This should always be done directly after cutting, especially if the goods ravels
Comments (0)