I bet you look on the Internet, you'll find so much
conflicting conversations around
should you hand sew something or should you machine sew something
that is the big question that we are talking about today.
So you can decide the best stitching that to use for your comments that you have,
because I want you to make the best use of your stitching time
Welcome back, my sewing friends.
My name is Evelyn Wood and I'm the creator of VintageSewingSchool.com.
And here on this channel we talk everything about garment sewing
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This came up because in a recent video
I was talking about what I learned from looking inside vintage garments.
And one of the points that I made was that I learned
was that how much hand sewing went on in these vintage garments.
I'll link that video here and you can go watch that ten below later
And so the question was then asked after this was,
well, what should I hand sew and what should I machine sew?
And I thought, good question.
Let's talk about that.
There is, of course, no one right answer.
And the answer would always be, well, it depends.
And so that's what we'll do.
Let's take a list of our main construction,
like sewing techniques, the construction techniques that we use.
And we'll list them out.
And we'll say or talk about why it might you might hand best machines.
So and then I will tell you what I do mostly
on those occasions for those techniques.
Sounds good.
Okay.
I'm excited because you might just learn one new method of sewing or open your eyes
to a different, different way or a different method that might just then
give you the results that you're after
because there is no one right way to do anything.
And there's always another way to learn how to do something.
I certainly have learned that in my years of sewing.
Okay, let's get started with seams.
Well, you can either hand sew, machine sew, and you could do both.
I would say that you would hand sew.
Seems if you were obviously doing some historical
accurate clothing and needed to hand sew for that,
or you didn't have a machine, what do I do?
Machine sew. There is absolutely no way that you would find me
hand sewing the seams unless that was the point of what I was doing.
Of course, being so, you know, historically accurate.
But that's not the kind of thing that I do.
I think it's quite widely recognized that the seams,
which are sort of hidden stitching, definitely do it by a machine to save time.
It's a stronger straight, a stitch that is from my hand.
Sewing in a straighter, stronger stitch.
And so it almost seems a definitely, definitely a machine I forgot to mention.
Keep yourself a list.
I want to hear your answers down below.
So as we go through these, either put machine or hand, put the
the one that we're doing.
So, for example, themes and then write down yours, the Hansa or Machine.
So I love to hear all of your answers are down below.
So take notes and put up your answers in below in the comment section.
What about waistbands?
And so we mean by waistbands generally
not the actual construction process, but say that end finishing, you know,
when you fold the waistband over and you could either wear the band
is across here, you could topstitch along the top
to hold the two facings in place, the two pieces you could
ditch stitch through there or you could hand.
So it on underneath is a few different methods.
And so obviously most of that comes into visible stitches being topstitching, etc.
Stitching is fairly invisible.
You don't see it,
but it's still machined and a hand sewing you would do most to be invisible.
What do I do?
I do both.
So I will
hand so those waistbands down on garments that I really want
and I sort of more couture looking finish feel to it
potentially if it has a lining or a lighter softer fabrics
or otherwise, I would usually ditch stitch the waistband down.
It's still invisible, but it's a lot quicker if it's a more
heavy use type item.
I definitely want that ditch stitching.
It's a bit more security than the hand stitch
if it's for sort of a heavy use item.
So that's what I do.
And let's talk about facings, either via spacings or shaped facings.
So shaped facings
such as the ones that are shaped in the, say, the shape of a neckline, etc...
So we talk about not be selling it to the garment
or the understitching or anything like that.
But would what do you do with the flat side?
Would you machine or hand sew this down?
You could do either
a shaped facing generally, you wouldn't machine
sew it down much because it would be a line right out here.
Right. Actually, basically, imagine
my neckline, this square here but it was underneath as a facing.
You just have random stitching out here and it might be decorative,
but usually, you wouldn't do that.
You would usually hand-stitched those in place.
But just like my around my under my armhole seams here,
this is a bias facing around here and which case it's just
a thin little strip and hand so machine so
so well there are two choices and mostly comes down to either being invisible
or visible for those cases and that's why you might choose one or the other.
What do I do?
Well, it depends.
And again, I like to hand-stitched down or shaped facings.
I would never machine stitch that down, but a bias facing either hand stitch
or machine stitch.
This one is machine stitched on things that I want again, a little bit heavier
wear things somewhere that I don't mind having that visible stitching.
It sort of blends in with the design like it does here.
I like it.
I like the finish.
It's nice and solid, secure, sturdy.
But I do very, very often hand-stitched.
Those by facings down as well to get an invisible, neat,
crisp finish and we move on to hems.
This one is a good one.
So a hem could be machine stitched could be hand-stitched
and again is usually due to being either visible machine stitching.
You can do invisible machine stitching.
So I find pretty much there's only good for sort of thicker, fluffier fabrics.
I've never I don't employ it in my sewing routine.
I would only do invisible ones by hand.
Or you can mostly machine stitching is visible on top
and then the hand stitching is usually done so that it's an invisible
hemline that's generally
and you have a little bit more control of a hand stitching hem, particularly
if you have a circular skirt and trying to ease in that extra fullness.
And stitching gives you far more control over certain areas like that.
What do I choose?
Again, it is both.
So I would hand stitch hems for when I want invisible finishes
and I would machine stitch hems when I want something that is a bit more
heavy-duty, wear something every day
I used to have a problem a lot of wear on skirts
if I would hand stitch them if I was in my job,
like bending up and down all the time and my heel would really often get
get caught because it's just a little bit loose and get stuck on the hems.
And so that's when I started to machine stitch all my sort of regular heavy,
heavy aware skirts
for that reason, just so that I just
definitely won't get caught in anything and just last a little longer.
So that's what it is from my hems trims ooh, this is a good one.
So we mean like trims, ribbons,
you know, little all sorts of decorative little trims.
Would you hands sir or machine.
So so you could hand sew them on obviously will give you a very delicate
fine again in more invisible type finish to machine sew.
What on you might see this stitches a bit more
but maybe it is appropriate on that particular trim
and it really is going to depend on the actual trim that you're using.
It might be raised, it might be wide, it might be bendy
going around curves or straight.
There really is no right one.
And so it would just depend on what you're doing.
What would I choose?
Yeah, you guessed it would depend, sir.
I might hand stitch on a trim if it was a very delicate
fine lace, if I wanted the stitches to be invisible
and a bit finer and to not see that, see that on there.
But that said, it would be more lace or something like that.
Generally, I would try my very hardest to actually machine
sew trims on either be be it a straight stitch.
If it's something that straight or usually as zigzag stitch is what you're used to,
someone trims because it breaks up the stitching line
a bit and becomes less obvious, particularly just from a short distance.
It's less obvious
being a zigzag, and it actually covers obviously more area of the trim
and is what's used for most trims if you're ever going to machine sew
anything on so that's I would always try and machine so it on
because my goodness have saved so much time
and usually, you get a really really nice result topstitching
well well you could absolutely do your topstitching by hand
and this is where it would be more decorative looking
so topstitching is obviously where you can see that
the stitching on top of something being held together generally
and so what would I choose. Ha.
I have machine sewing that every single day of the week.
My hand sewing is now in the air neat and tidy and straight
enough to do a straight seam.
I definitely do.
Don't do that.
My hand sewing is reserved for hems
and like more functional items, not decorate
if you're going to do this as decorative, your hand stitching needs to be so good
to be super straight and neat and
oh my goodness, I think that falls into the,
you know, more embroidery
and decorative hand stitching than it does for functional hand stitching.
So I'm choosing I'm definitely choosing a machine
to do all my topstitching if that is the point.
Otherwise, by hand, it would be invisible.
What about zips?
You can hear a lot about this handprint as it for a beautiful couture type finish.
Maybe you've heard of that.
Maybe you've just heard about that.
For the first time, I thought, how is it even possible to hand sew a zip on?
Generally, you would hand sew a zip.
Of course, let's say you do have access to a machine and that's what you're doing.
You would be hand sewing it so you get that couture invisible.
So instead of that topstitching that you see around the zip,
that would actually be
little hand bricks that you barely even see, just like an invisible hand.
So there is absolute use for that.
And a machine obviously is every other zip that you've probably done before.
What do I do? Yeah, you already know the answer.
I definitely machine sew like that all the time.
I don't mind. I do sort of a vintage style.
Lapped zip is my favourite kind of zip.
So one of the sides is actually hidden under the lap.
So you only see that one, one side of stitching.
And I find for me on a zip, that gives a neat enough look that I'm very happy with.
It gives it a beautiful finish.
So I machine for those.
Now we have based stitches. Hmm.
So what are basic stitches?
In case you don't know,
basting stitches are temporary stitches to hold something in place
and you can even machine so or hand so basting you would machine sew based
something together to maybe have more like just to keep it in place.
Choose your longest length
you know you could do this around
then the edges of the garments before you see them together.
You use it for lots of things, lots of things, you could be baste zip in place.
You could baste a hem in place before you saw it.
You could baste a seam before you actually sew up properly.
All sorts of things you could baste here.
So there are different reasons to do either or a machine-based
will generally give a
more closer together stitches
and you can't do it in more visible places.
If you hand base, you could baste something
through the middle of the garment and probably get away with not seeing
so many like home marks or anything like that.
And you can do a longer need to base.
You obviously have far more control over doing it by hand.
And what do I choose?
Well, it depends on what I'm doing, but basically for all those reasons
that I was just saying, I would machine based on something, I would usually
and these the basting stitches around as I say,
stitch on neckline edges, hemline edges as a stay stitch.
Other than that, usually basting I would do it by hand
because I want that control.
The point of usually when basting is because I want it to stay exactly where
it is and does not move an inch because it's really hard to sew under the machine.
So that's why I would hand based at first to then so it with the machine
I know so many of these are it depends and a bit of both depending
on what you're doing.
I would absolutely love to hear your answers down below on what you do as well.
Remember to read them because there is no one way to do anything in sewing
and maybe you have just found a new idea on something
that might improve your garment skills or get you the results
that you're looking for, whether by machine or hand sewing.
And if you are really in loving this type of content and want more,
you can always come and join me
at Vintage Sewing School because this is exactly what I do.
There is we take your garment making skills to the next level
and really develop the the foundational skills you need to start
creating things depending on what you have in front of you.
So I believe I leave links down below.
I would absolutely love to have you in-class and see your skills grow.
Okay.
Remember, leave your comments below on your score.
Which one do you do?
They hence so machine.
So I can't wait to see those
and until next time I sewing friends happy sewing by