NLS 7.1 , Seam Secrets and Understanding Understitching

This post was prompted by some very frustrated newer sewists. I'm here to help. In the period of a week and a half I saw 4 separate posts by newer sewists on various forums, all tanking and trashing the Big Four patterns. All four posts were accompanied by pictures of their problem. Each photo was followed by an in depth rant of everything wrong with Big Four "tissue" patterns. One complainer did actually add indie patterns into her complaint as well. Then the pile on began. You know how the internet is. No one knows you, sees you, works with you, lives with you and everyone feels they can say anything. I thanked my lucky stars I did not own the business they were trashing. Let's stop there and back up a bit. I saw the first photo and before I even read the first sentence from the poster I knew what the problem was. The photo was an awful mess of unmatched seams that the sewist had ripped and sewn several times  and they never matched, ever! Disgusting, awful tissue patterns!!! All their fault!!!


Well, no. Immediately, the photo showed me that the sewist, in every case, matched the cutting lines  and not the seam lines. In three of the four the sewist never eased where they were told to ease on the tissue. Experience can be a tough teacher but I think our sewists have now learned what their issue was and I will go over it here in more depth. Before you cut into any fabric, before you pin any pattern to fabric, there is work to do, "Pattern Work". This is standard operating procedure. I am not going to go into all of that here but Threads Magazine, in issue #200, January, 2019 has a superb article on Pattern Work by Sara Veblen illustrating 10 necessary skills and how to do them. I highly recommend reading this for more in depth understanding of the Pattern Work necessary every time you want to cut a new pattern. Let's look at the photo above in the meantime.

Bodice front on the left, bodice back on the right. They are different, aren't they? This is a pattern with the front bodice on its own tissue for each size. The back bodice has all the sizes on one tissue. This is the same pattern. Look closely at your pattern pieces. Make sure you are cutting the correct pieces. You can't see it, but on the shoulder of the back bodice is printed EASE. So you need to ease. That means making a larger pattern piece match up to a smaller pattern piece.
Let's put this shoulder seam together.

Pieces are matched AT SEAMLINES, not at cutting lines. This means a starting match point needs to be established. On the wrong side measure in from each corner 5/8ths of an inch or whatever size is specified. You can see it's easy to do with a gridded ruler. I just put the dot in the corner. Why? They have to match perfectly.

Crap, the back is longer than the front. We need to pin.

Stick a pin in that dot we made at the corner and match it to the dot we made on the opposing piece.  Pin. Do the same to the opposite side.

Oh, no, there is a big blop of fabric on one side. It doesn't match. Well, it is not supposed to. You will find on nearly all well drafted patterns certain areas almost always are eased in. Back shoulder seams are eased into the front should seams. Upper inseams on pants are often eased into their opposing seam and on and on. You will learn this as you sew more but for now be really critical in looking at your pattern pieces to make sure you don't miss little words like "ease". Why are we easing the back shoulder seam? Because we all have shoulder blades and this allows them to have the extra room they need to function. They are not flat and the easing accommodates them .

Now you will very slightly stretch the seam out on the table  until it is flat and put a pin in the middle of the seamline. You will put a couple more between that one and the end pins. This spreads out the fabric to be eased equally into the front shoulder seam. Now let's sew the seam. Go to the machine and sew, with the larger piece on the bottom, touching the feed dogs. This way the machine will do the work for you and the feed dog will ease in the extra fabric, really, and do a nice job of it. If you have IDT on your machine, this is when you disengage it.

Now we will head to the iron. Press it as sewn. Press it open on the wrong side. Press it open from the right side and voila, above. We have a seam that appeared to the unknowing to be "cut wrong, doesn't match, no good" matching beautifully and providing space for those lovely angel wings on our backs. On to the next phase.

The next problem that kept appearing among newer sewists in my visits around the web were lots of complaints about facings and bindings rolling out despite all effort to keep them inside the garment. Let's talk about the "U" word.

Understitching!

There were a lot of misconceptions about understitching. It is necessary, friends, and a well done understitch is a joy to behold and a sign that you may not be a newbie sewist. I learned this way from the late, great Nancy Zieman and am pleased to pass it along to you. Let's start at the beginning. We will put a facing on the armhole of this polka dot bodice. 

Above you see a seam sewn on the facing that matches the shoulder seam. Notice how it is trimmed. One of the big rules of sewing that I actually try and always follow is "reduce bulk whenever possible". This facing seam is sewn and then trimmed back to the 5/8th seam line. You should be trimming back any seam that will cross any other seam before sewing it, back to the 5/8 seam line as you see above. press this open. 

Next we will stitch the facing to the armscye seam. We will then grade the seam.

Grading is trimming back the seam, usually on enclosed seams, to reduce bulk and facilitate movement. Above you can see the facing is trimmed back to 1/8th inch. The bodice/armscye is trimmed back to a 1/4 inch with pinking shears (not necessary but nice). The seam allowance that is on the PUBLIC side of the garment is the one that stays the longest. This helps pad out the rest of the seams from the public eye, real important when tailoring. The graded seam is then clipped to prevent lumping when the seam is turned in and pressed.

Press the seams toward the facing. Now go to the machine. Put your fabric under the presser foot so that the facing is on your right and ALL the seam allowances are under it, facing right as well. The bodice side of the seam is only one layer, the bodice, and on your left. Set your machine up for a triple zigzag stitch. This stitch really flattens the bulk of those seam allowances  and they will not be flopping out at all when complete. I used a 4.5 width and a .7 length. I stitched all around the facing on the facing side, catching in the trimmed seam allowances all along the way. Once stitched go back to the iron and press your facing as sewn. Using a ham helps hold the curve on this but not a must do.

But we're not done yet. We have one more bit of work to do to insure this facing never turns out. The red arrow is pointing at the shoulder seam. Once your facing is pressed into place find where it lays under the shoulder seam and pin. Go to the machine. Set  your machine at 1.5. Put in a matching thread. I did not do matching thread here. If you have an edge stitching foot or blade type foot, put it on the machine with the blade in the well of the seam. Put your shoulder seam under the presser foot with the neck edge about a 1/4 inch in. Stitch for about an inch and a half in the well of the seamline, where the red arrow is pointing. Try and spread the seam apart as you sew. When you reach the end remove the fabric from the machine leaving long threads. Pull your threads to the inside of the garment and tie them off and cut. This will insure your facing will not turn out. I used white thread in mine but covered it up with Derwent Inktense pencils. Love them.  You dip them into a bit of water and they turn to paint. Then you heat set with an iron and they are permanent. My Inktense pencils have hidden a lot of mistakes, a lot! I used the pink pencil on the white thread in the ditch to show you.

Give  your facing a good press over a soft surface and a ham for the best results. Pretty professional, eh?

This lesson has aimed to help those I saw struggling and ranting last week and all others who need to understand how you match seamlines, not cutting lines and for those who may miss the "ease" directions on the pattern tissue and think their pattern is poorly designed because their seamlines don't match. This post is also dedicated to those who just could not get their facings to lay down and stay inside their garments, very nice garments and were also blaming it on the pattern. I hope this Nancy Zieman method of understitching give you that professional touch and saves you some aggravation.

Please forgive all the Sharpie marks, the better for you to see what was going on here and for me to keep track. Any comments or suggestions are greatly appreciated. I will keep monitoring the web for those techniques that are driving our beloved new sewists up the walls of their sewing spaces. We are all here to encourage and help you along.........Bunny

NLS #4, Pattern Talk , updated 3/21/2019

Let's start with the actual pattern envelope. There is so much to be gleaned from this little package. The front of the pattern will give you the Pattern number, which can belong to more than one company or even be used more than once by the same pattern company! For whatever reason the numbers seem to be recycled which a google image search clearly shows as well. If the pattern is a designer pattern, like the one below, their name will be on the front. Different versions of the garment are shown, each having it's own letter designation. Some are drawn. Others are photos. The letter is important for following the cutting layouts and instructions inside the envelope.  But here is what I really want to impress on you. Before sinking money into a pattern purchase, look at the photos REALLY CLOSELY.   Notice below view B is no where near as full as the other views, but the other three views show lots of volume in the sides and back. Do you want the voluminous look or the more shape hugging look? 

This is when you have to flip over the pattern and look closely at the technical drawing, also known as line art or schematic. Are they all the same volume and maybe the collar or closure is what's different? The tech drawings will give you much more information than any model pic on the front. The front picture gives you clues. The tech drawing gives you reality.

We can see all these vests have the same volume in their technical drawings and it is the way the photo is styled that makes them look different! Or is it Photoshop, or maybe even clamps at the back of View B? The line drawing also shows the separate pieces that are necessary to make this garment. and their seamlines. It's hard to see  that in the photo. Beware photos with print fabrics!

Pull your pattern out of the drawer, if your store lets you, and really look closely at both the photos and line drawings to see what  you are getting. I don't hesitate to pull the directions out of the package to make sure I see what I am getting. 

This is the Donna Karan dress I recently made into a jumper for myself. I did not look at the pattern closely enough. The bodice on this dress has issues that are clearly visible but I was so taken with the design I did not see them. Love is blind and it applies to patterns and their buyers too.

The little black arrow is pointing to the diagonal wrinkles. This woman has no bust to make those wrinkles.  My garment didn't get the diagonal wrinkles until I wore it a few times. The bodice is cut on the bias. There is huge volume in the lined skirt and therefore heavy and pulling weight on those bias straps. This could have easily been solved with some fusible interfacing to counterbalance the bias and weight making those wrinkles. There are no instructions in the pattern to interface this area. Do you see how on the left side of the dress here hair is covering them up? Beware of hair being pulled around to the front and over the shoulders to hide fit issues. Children's patterns are particularly notorious for this. Read these pictures and lines!  ( I still love my jumper!) Look for gaping, wrinkles, questionable hair placement, arm folding,   how low sleeveless armholes are, etc.... Really analyze the photos. Last year I took a class in photoshop. I will never trust a photo again!

The models used are generally stick thin, beautiful women. They are "selling the sizzle". We need to see beyond the sizzle and ask, is this a really good design and will it work on my own body? If the model looks "hippy" in the photo and hips are your styling concern, you can bet the farm it will look even more hippy on a real woman with glorious hips.  (Feel free to call your own wide hips glorious as I do mine.) We all need to be more objective in our pattern purchases. If it's for kids, how are the sleeves hanging? Is the crotch dragging? Where is the shoulder line? Buyers beware. 

Some garments on pattern envelopes do not fit the model well at all and it shows.  Do you love the pattern enough and have the skills to make the pattern work with alterations? If so go for it.  If you are a bit squeamish about your skill set, look very closely at the fit on the perfect body of the model. If it has issues with her, it will definitely have issues with a real woman and move on.  Don't buy it unless you are up to a challenge and then, make a muslin first!

According to McCalls Pattern's blog, this post,   you are seeing the actual designer garment in the photo on the cover of any of their designer patterns. 

On the back of the pattern you will always find a description of the garment. It almost always starts with something like "loose-fitting" or "fitted" or some other words of how the garment fits the wearer. If  this is confusing, and it is mysterious for sure, in the back of the pattern catalogs and on the websites of the Big Four you can find "ease" charts which well tell you exactly what that description means in inches of ease in the garment. I highly recommend you check that out when pattern shopping.  These ease charts are specific to the pattern company so don't cross reference them. This ease business is critical to the fit of the garment. If I am making what is described as a "semi-fitted" jacket, that means there will be 4 3/8 to 5 3/4 inches of extra room in the bust area of the jacket. That does not include any additional ease added in by the designer for his/her design. So my 37 inch bust can have a jacket that is over 42 inches wide in the bust. Do you see where this is going? So if I bought a pattern by my bust size (don't do that, nuther story, nuther post), this thing would be huge!!! In my many years of sewing I have found that 95% of fit complaints about the Big Four result in a misunderstanding of Fit Ease, Design Ease and Pattern Description words. I highly suggest Nancy Zieman's books on fitting, any of them and there is information on her site as well on getting the proper size Big Four pattern. I've never run into the issues others have with "huge" patterns from the Big Four since learning how to buy the proper size from Zieman. 

Solving the Pattern Fitting Puzzle  with Nancy Zieman

There are suggestions for fabrics on the back of the pattern. A few years back I had reason to get involved with customer service at I think Simplicity.  They answered my question about my pattern and then we had a nice discussion. I learned from that conversation that the first fabric listed on the pattern is the one the designer used to make the original garment as well as the fabric that is used in the photo on the front of the envelope.  Suggested fabrics are really important to follow. Two things always stand out to me as the sign of an inexperienced sewist, lack of  ironing and the wrong fabric for the pattern design. Read the fabrics listed, ask the store clerk for help or look at the more detailed fabric descriptions on line. Don't stray from the suggested fabrics until you have at least worked the design out in the specified fabrics.  Getting fabric to work with the pattern is one of the toughest things to do in sewing and it can take years to acquire that skill. Let the pattern help you. Follow it's suggestions. 

Notions are listed on the back of the patterns of the Big Four, not necessarily on all the Indies. It's nice to come home with everything you need to start your project so this list is worth looking at. On this Sandra Betzina pattern I am currently working on the pattern actually tells me  what to get for notions, specifically.  

Not all patterns get this specific with the notions list but I like how Betzina's patterns do. 

Also on most patterns are finished garment measurements. I can't tell enough how important this is. If you are not the standard 5'6", B-cup body that the pattern has been sized for,  you can now look at the finished garment measurements, measure the pattern pieces as they are laid out flat and compare to your own. This is where that amount of ease and the word description of the fit gets meaning. You will learn what will need adjustment. 

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Let's discuss differences in patterns. There are the Big Four: Simplicity, Vogue, McCalls, Butterick.  (As of 2019, Simplicity is now owned by BMV, therefore, now the Big Five)  My understanding is the Big Four all use the same sloper based on measurements taken many years ago from many women across the country. The book "Overdressed" gets into exactly this. If you know the alterations you need to make to get a garment to fit you well, you can usually do them to any of the Big Four and get the same results. Nancy Zieman says there is no difference in their slopers and I have read that elsewhere as well. I know many sewists feel there is. My personal experience agrees that there is none. I can do the same alterations for my shape to all of them and get the same results. 

There are also Indie patterns, as in Independent, not associated with the Big Four. Indie patterns run the gamut from very professional designs by trained and educated pattern makers to the most basic design for a child that a SAHM mom has had success with and now markets through her blog.  Here are some of the differences I see:

* Big Four patterns can often, in the U.S., be purchased for as little as 99 cents on a regular basis. PDF and paper Indie patterns can run from some promotional freebies out there on the web  to 32.00., like one I saw the other day, a wide variation. 

* Big Four patterns are almost always on thin tissue paper which some use to fit directly on the body. Marfy and Sandra Betzina patterns, part of the Vogue family, are the exception, using better quality papers. Indie patterns, depending on the designer,  are often available only in PDF format which you download, tape together and either trace or cut out. Some Indies  put out paper patterns as well. PDFs are generally less expensive than paper patterns. 

*Big Four patterns subscribe to the same measurements for their slopers. If you learn to fit one, you can fit them all, and I can personally attest to that. Many will tell you that only Vogue fits, or they only have to adjust such and such on Simplicity but I really think it is more the nature of the design, not the sloper that they all share. (See my thoughts above on ease and fit wordds.)  Many are introducing patterns with different bodice pieces for different cup sizes, Hoorah! Indie patterns are often geared to a specific body shape, which I think is wonderful, as well. Some are designed for C cup bra wearers. Some are designed for the "Petite Plus"  or the "pear" and so on. There are many variations you can seek out for your specific fitting challenges with the Indies. Just be aware of these differences. If you are slim hipped and buying a pattern designed specifically for a "pear" you will have to make adjustments. 

*Big Four pattern companies have access to the big name designers. Cynthia Rowley is one of my favorites but there are so many. You can literally follow the runway shows and see the designs come out in patterns not too much later.  Indies are designed by themselves, so there is a wide range of ability and experience and name recognition. Many designs are redundant, just think tee shirts and pencil skirts! However the Indie world has great industry trained and educated designers providing us with designs that are innovative, flattering and well drafted as well.

* Big Four patterns have those technical drawings. Some Indies have them, some don't. I know many Indie aficionados who will not buy them any more unless there is a technical drawing, front and back!

* Big Four patterns aren't hand holders and may not give all the instruction a newbie sewist may need. But most of the Big Four have patterns specifically aimed at the beginning sewist now, so those are worth checking out. This is when a great sewing book comes into play. I've made a few Very Easy Very Vogues and liked them. Do you know why they have that name? It is because of the limited number of pattern pieces. They are not necessarily easy as they can have welt pockets, plackets, etc, but just a few pieces.  Some of the indie patterns are really good at the hand holding type instructions and assume the sewist needs every bit of instruction along the way. Not all are like this but I think those that are are really filling a niche and I applaud them. 

* I would advise any and all to check out the pattern they are interested in on Pattern Review, be it Indie or Big Four.  PR has over 450,000 sewing members and I would venture most have done a review at least once.  They have every pattern company imaginable on the site. Search out the opinions. If five people have made a pattern and each one had the shoulders hang too low, well, watch out for those shoulders! It's a fabulous resource!

* The Big Four all have websites and Facebook pages. Many of the Indies have sites and FB pages as well but quite a few of the children's designs are marketed through blogs as opposed to a separate business site so may be more difficult to find. 

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About sizing: Pattern sizing has absolutely nothing to do with ready to wear clothing sizes, ever! 

This is the most important thing you need to know about a pattern. Big Five patterns are made for a 5'6" tall woman who wears a B cup bra. You don't wear a B cup? Fully expect that any pattern won't fit well until you learn to do a Full  or Smaller Bust Adjustment for your cup size. It won't fit, I tell ya, until you do. 

Not 5'6"? Big Four patterns all have adjustment lines in the bodice and skirts and pants legs to lengthen or shorten and even lines to "petite" the pattern. It won't fit correctly until you make these adjustments. Some of you know I am petite and in my tutorials are lessons on petiting a pattern. I also run through this with each garment I make and post on the blog.

Sewing is Fitting. I read somewhere that there is only one woman in a thousand who has the same figure as Barbie. I would venture that the odds are even higher in reality. But I think the odds of anyone buying a pattern, cutting it out and sewing it as printed and having it fit perfectly are just as high as the Barbie odds. If you want to sew, fully, fully expect to make alterations to get your garment to fit. Sewing is Fitting. 

There is sooooo much more about Patterns that I want to share so I may do another chapter of this next week. I think we need to get into the actual tissue and that could be fun. I have a few tricks regarding that part. This post has been pretty much expository, but it sets the groundwork for what is to come with using patterns and sewing. Below the pic I have printed some lingo you may find when dealing with patterns.........Bunny

photo courtesy asewingjournal.com

Some lingo:

the Big Four---this is the term for the four major pattern companies in the US. They are McCall's, Butterick, Vogue and Simplicity. Today McCall's,  Butterick and Vogue are one company and Simplicity is its own separate company. (Now the Big Five with Simplicity under the umbrella.)

BMV---Butterick, McCalls and Vogue, again, the same company

McVoguerick---same as above.

KS----Kwik Sew patterns, reknown for their great knit and undie patterns

Simplicity---. The Simplicity Creative Group owns New Look patterns as well as other needlework related companies. They are currently owned by the Vogue/McCall family.

Burda---European pattern company. Their paper patterns are available in the US at the chains. Those have seam allowances included. They are also available in their magazine, without seam allowances.

Burda magazine---Published in several languages in Europe, including English,and available here. There are many patterns in each issue. The patterns are "nested" with all sizes and styles on a few sheets that must be traced in the proper size to make the pattern. Direction assume you know certain techniques and they are therefore not mentioned. Directions are chancey and patterns have no seam allowances included.

Marfy - Hand cut designer patterns from Italy that are fabulous and come with NO directions. They are under the Vogue umbrella and are famously drafted well.

Indies----These are pattern companies unaffiliated with the previously  mentioned companies. There are many and more new Indies every day, Indies as in "independent".

OOPs---These are Out Of Print patterns. You may be able to pick them up from Ebay or Etsy but often they are still available on the pattern company's website.

Technical drawings--- These are the line drawings on the back and inside of the patterns of the big four. They show the details/seams  without the distraction of fabric prints or body posing by the model. They are found on all of the Big Four patterns  but only some of the Indies. I find them critical to making my decision to buying and making the pattern. They are sometimes called "line art" or "schematics".

Views---These are the garments shown on the front of the pattern envelope.They have letter designations and each vary somewhat from the other. These letters need to be matched up to the  fabric amount needed on the back of the patterns for the style chosen In order to have the right amount of yardage