Understitching Tutorial
What is understitching, and why does it make such a difference to the finish of a garment? Understitching is a simple sewing technique that helps facings and linings stay neatly on the inside of your garment, preventing edges from rolling out and giving a cleaner, more professional result. In this tutorial, we show you exactly when to understitch, how to do it correctly, and the small details that make all the difference to necklines, armholes and finished edges.
I thought I’d do a little tutorial on UNDERSTITCHING, I’m sure most people know all about, but it’s something I love to do, so it will be appearing quite a bit in the instructions of Maven Patterns.
“But why Mrs M?” I hear you ask, “why such love of understitching?”
Well for a start, I feel a little sorry for it, understitching is an often neglected little process because when you’re rushing to finish a garment for yourself in between tea time and the next domestic disaster, it’s an easy thing to skip and do you know why I don’t skip it …because I’m lazy! This secretive, functional little stitch is the easiest way to make your facings, bindings and under collars (or under straps if you are making the Maria Wrap Apron) sit to the inside where they should be, without them rolling to the front. Once you get the hang of it you’ll understitch everywhere!
How to Understitch
1. First, sew your seam. Make sure you take the right seam allowance, MAVEN PATTERNS will only have a 6mm seam allowance for bagging out facings and collars, if you have a bigger seam allowance you may need to trim it down a bit if you are stitching on a curved edge. Press all the seam allowance towards the facing.
2. With the right side of the garment up, edgestitch ON THE FACING through ALL the layers, take care not to stretch the garment as you stitch. If you are stitching on an under collar or into a shoulder, just stitch as far as you can with your machine and then stop.
3. This is what the reverse side looks like, all the seam allowances are held flat to the facing with that edgestitch.
4. Now press it so the facing lays flat on the inside of the garment, it will naturally want to roll into place.
5. On the right side of the garment..you get a nice sharp edge and a flat facing that stays put!
There you see, so easy!
