The Sewing Place
Machine Talk => Overlockers & Coverstitchers => Topic started by: Gernella on May 21, 2019, 16:35:12 PM
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Brother in law has died and sister in law asked DH if I would overlock a hem to take up dress for the event! I picked it up today and it is not overlocked but coverstitched. I spent best part of last Thursday trying to sort out just the sleeve stitching on some fine jersey fabric. I got there in the end but had lots of test pieces and this dress, barely anything to test on. I'm banking on the fact that this is a Roman Originals dress and their fabric always feels heavy when you feel it and this isn't lightweight fabric, I think :S.
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Oh dear, I don't envy you @Gernella ! I would go into a tizz too if asked to do something like that. I'm fine if it's for myself, but for someone else - makes me shudder.
Have you any similar fabric that you can practise on?
Do let us know how you get on.
Condolences on the death of you BiL too. Always sad.
Jessie
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If you haven't got a coverstitcher just overlock the edge, tuen a single hem and then use a twin needle to to hold it down. It looks very similar and a non-sewist wouldn't know the difference.
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Depending on wether it needs to stretch at the hem sometimes I just overlock the bottom turn and do 2 rows of top stitching, this does depend on your sewing machine though,
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Oh I've got the coverstitch and it will probably be fine, it's just the fact that I really need a decent piece of the fabric to try out. I'm just hoping that because it is not superfine fabric it will be okay. Best thing I can do is unpick the current coverstitched hem, trim some off and double up the trimmings to try out on that. But yes, you are right @b15erk, this is why I only sew for myself.
Worst part about is she is a bit of a perfectionist at the best of times, same as DH, but at least if something goes wrong for me I don't have a meltdown. Her daughter in law was there when I picked the dress up and quibbling over the colour of the thread she wanted to give me that she'd bought (one reel). I declined, got plenty of my own, although not many navy, not a colour I like using, it will get a navy thread but I'm not looking for an exact match, who the heck looks down there, plus it has some white flowers on in any case.
At least I've got while next Thursday to do it. :'(
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Find the Big-Girl pants and put them on take a deep breath and -
A very good tip is to fuse a strip of lightweight stretch interfacing to the hem edge you are going to turn up and coverstitch.
If you don't have stretch interfacing then cut a strip of lightweight fusible interfacing on the bias and use that.
Fuse the interfacing from the edge and down over what will be the fold line.
Next press up the hem.
Make sure that off set the seams - lovely pics showing how here (http://coverstitching.com/doku.php?id=hemming)
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That's a good site @Morgan, some great examples. We got home early this afternoon so I've taken the coverstitching out, which means when I cut the hem down I have enough fabric from the leftovers to double up and practice.
This fabric I would say has a viscose content. Last hem I did on on a viscose type fabric was straight forward, I shall have to make sure the bottom of the hem doesn't budge. I'm going to use this 'favour' initiated by DH, to lean on him for something else, which so far he has refused. Or as a professional lady said to me yesterday, "is he still breathing".
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Well I've done the deed. Used the cut off hem for try outs. To avoid the potential for tunnelling and running out of try out fabric I didn't bother aiming for the edge. Stitch was perfect going over the main fabric but bit dodgy on the raised pattern fabric, but when I looked at the amholes my stitch was better than the manufacturers. Also they'd used a heavier thread and mine was Gutermann, the fine stuff for overlockers/coverstich.
The hem had already been pinned up so all I did was move the pins to the edge so I had more room and added a few more pins. Apart from the white pieces the thread could barely be seen on the main colour. The only thing I did notice is that when I'd finished and held it up there seemed to be a dip at the back. She's got a bit of a dowager's hump so I'm putting it down to that -<.
No comment yet, but don't really care. I had to finish off the bottom of my top using the overlocker and sewing machine, because if she did want anything changing I'd got nothing more to practice on so I left the navy thread in.
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Well done - she's very lucky.
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Well she rang this morning, dress is fine, just right and the lining doesn't shown.
What a flipping relief.
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Glad it went OK.
The link from Morgan was really interesting but the machine and the process look really complicated.
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Well it was the funeral yesterday so my work was on view for me to see. Couldn't see a flipping thing apart from a faint different colour on the white raised brocade type pieces and since they had bits of blue going through, barely noticeable.
However the daughter in law who was bitching about the colour match, was wearing a jersey fabric handkerchief dress in black and cream/white and trust me the stitches (in white) stuck out like a sore thumb (although I was probably the only one looking). ;)