Constructing A Garment

[Lolli]

Apologies in advance if this is a daft question 

When making a garment (in this case a dress which is made up of a 5-piece bodice, a midriff front & back and a 2-piece skirt), when would I use the overlocker?

I'm a complete novice at overlocking but I'm going to attempt to use it to make said dress.

Do you sew each seam first on a sewing machine and then neaten it off with the overlocker?
Or go straight in with the overlocker? (which could prove to be dangerous with my lack of experience).

[UttaRetch]

I don't have an overlocker - work Satan as far as I am concerned - but I tend to neaten the seams before assembly.  Bear in mind, however, that you may have to 'grade' (trim down) some seams, so neatening will be lost.

[b15erk]

I wouldn't neaten the seams first, unless the fabric frays badly.  If you are still finding your feet, there is nothing wrong with doing the seams on your SM first, and then going over with the OL.

Unless you think there will have to be alteration in the future, I would just just do a straight OL seam, otherwise finish each seam with the OL and join as usual with your SM.

You will quickly get a 'feel' for what is right for you. 

Have a look at some of your rtw dresses, and if you like it, pinch their idea!

Jessie

[mammafairy]

No right or wrong exactly. I like to overlock everything first, if possible. There are exceptions, of course. Overlocking stabilises things and I find my garment goes together more smoothly. It is also less fiddly that trying to overlock after the seams have been sewn.
I batch the overlocking, so I will run one piece after another through, doing one edge on each, when I run out, I cut them apart and start on the next side, and so on.  I take the absolute minimum off each edge.
If you plan to gather something though, like a sleeve head, you may wish to do that bit first, as the overlocked edge does have more bulk than the raw edged fabric. And once the sleeve is in correctly ( yes, I normally cheat and put the sleeve in 'on the flat') you can overlock the raw edge to the armhole edge, and neaten both in one.
If you plan to overlock instead of flatbedding,  rather than as well, plan everything as flat as possible, before you start making stuff go 3D.

[DementedFairy]

I use my overlocker for knits, and only occasionally for neatening seams on wovens.  I rarely if ever use it for seams AND neatening on a  woven garment as I find the remaining seam allowance dangerously narrow, and some woven fabrics pull against the overlocking and end up splitting.

[Efemera]

I sew the seams and then overlock..that way if there’s any alteration I don’t have to overlock again...but there’s no hard and fast rule. When sewing wovens I sew a normal seam and the press open and overlock both edges... but do what’s best for you.

[UttaRetch]

I rarely if ever use it for seams AND neatening on a  woven garment as I find the remaining seam allowance dangerously narrow,

Something to bear in mind when dealing with the usual 5/8 seam allowance.  If you overlock first, you need to take into account that you have shaved off some of this allowance.

[Ploshkin]

For novices I would suggest only using the overlocker on the long, straight seams.  For the more fiddly bits such as setting in sleeves use a zig zag stitch to finish the seam edges after sewing. 
An overlocker takes no prisoners and once the knife has cut through an unintended bit there's no way back.  It's quite tricky to manoeuvre fabric accurately under an overlocker foot.  As you get more confidence you will know what you can and can't do with it.

[BrendaP]

It depends on the fabric.

If it's a knit, or a woven with a bit of stretch I tend to use the overlocker with 4 threads and stitch on the seam line so that it joins and neatens in one go.  That way the seams have a bit of give.

If it's something which frays easily I might overlock the edges first, just shaving off a whisker so as to preserve the full seam allowance, and then stitch the seam.

The advantage to overlocking first is that it's easier, the disadvantage is that you loose the balance marks (notches) if they haven't been marked in some other way.

Have a look at your RTW clothes.  Most of them will just be overlocked with 4 threads, or overlocked with 5 threads which makes a chain stitch on the seam line and both edges overlocked together with narrow (3 thread) overlocking. 

[Lolli]

I don't know if my fabric is knit or woven so I've zoomed in on my camera....maybe one of you can tell me? It stretches one way (crossways) if that helps?

Right side
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Wrong side
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Selvage edge
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Cut edge
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[DementedFairy]

woven
most obvious in your 2nd picture- see how the threads are going over and under?  That's weaving

[Lolli]

Brilliant, thank you @DementedFairy. At least that's a start and I now know what I'm working with.

[DementedFairy]

you can usually tell at the cut edge of your fabric too...if it frays, and you can pull out threads across the width, it's woven.  If it isn't fraying, and looks like unravelling knitting when you stretch it hard across the width, it's knit/jersey.  Some klnits are tricky to tell, but they don't usually fray or look scratty on the cut edge

[BrendaP]

Yes, it's woven, and if it's got stretch in the cross direction then it has elastane/lycra included in the warp threads which go across the width and are cut at each side making the fringe effect.

[mammafairy]

It's a frayer, I would definitely overlock first, to keep sane!