This past week I had 2 students making their first pair of Pajama bottoms. Both women (yes, sometimes I do have grownups in my classes) were working with pretty cotton fabrics. Cotton is wonderful for PJ bottoms because the fabric gets softer with each wash which makes them very comfy for lounging or sleeping at night. However, cotton fabric does fray meaning the threads of the cotton become loose at the cut ends and loosen. If not finished in some way, the seams can become weakened from washing or wearing the garment.

There are many types of seam finishes but let’s look at 3 simple ways of finishing the seams.

Pinking Shears

Pinking shears are scissors with a sawtooth blade that cut the fabric in a zig zag pattern. Sew the seam, press it open, and then pink each side of the seam allowance. Be careful not to cut too much seam allowance!

Zig Zag Stitch

For this seam finish, before sewing each seam zig zag all the edges of the fabric pieces. As you sew the seams of the project, the seam allowances will be finished and press seams open when finished

2 Rows of Stitching

Before I had a fancy machine or a serger, I liked to finish my seams with 2 rows of stitching. First, sew the seam as stated in the directions. Next, sew a second row of stitches about ¼” form the first. Finally, trim your seam about 1/8” away from the second row of stitching. Press seam to one side.

Finishing your seams not only helps your fabric from fraying with washing and just wear, it also gives your project a professional look.

Now you know…

Recently I had a young student named Vera that decided she wanted to learn to sew. Not machine sewing, no way! Hand sewing would be her choice. So, we gathered up some supplies and started our sewing journey. Here are some basic supplies we needed to get started:

1. Several colors of felt (doesn’t fray and you don’t have to put it into a hoop)
2. A few skeins of embroidery floss to coordinate with the felt
3. A size 18 chenille needle (Bigger size needle for smaller fingers when learning to sew and it has a bigger eye to pull the thread through it)
4. A pair of 5” scissors preferable blunt at the ends of the scissor
5. Thimble (Optional)

The hardest part for Vera was choosing the colors of the felt and the embroidery floss! After all, even if it was just a doodle cloth to practice beginning stitches, it had to be perfect! Next, she needed to learn to thread her needle.

Very carefully, we pulled the end of the floss out of the skein. I told her to try not to pull out more than about 18” at any one time. We cut the floss and I had Vera hold the needle in one hand and the floss in the other hand. I told her to squeeze the end of the floss between her thumb and index finger. Then bring the needle to the thread and push the thread through the eye of the needle. Continue to pull the thread through the eye until she had a tail of about 4 or 5 inches.

Almost ready to sew but we had to knot our thread. At the bottom of the thread opposite the needle, I showed Vera how to make a small circle with the thread and bring the end up through the circle and pull to form a knot. Or she could twist the end of the floss around her finger and roll the end through to knot. It was easier for Vera to do it the first way. Now we were ready to stitch

Running Stitch

The running stitch is the simplest of the hand stitches. I showed Vera that they could be even, long, or short stitches depending on what you are sewing and the look you wanted to achieve.

To start the stitch, I had Vera bring her needle up from the back of her felt and pull the thread all the way through. About a quarter inch away from where she came up, I told her to put the needle back down in the fabric to the back and pull it all the way through. Her first stitch!  Then I told her to come up right in front of her first stitch and continue the up and down motion as she continue to sew the running stitch along the felt. As she became familiar with the stitch, I showed her how the running stitches could be small to go around a curve. She could vary the size of the stitches to add interest to her projects. She had fun with the stitches and was excited about her accomplishments.

As her thread became smaller, I wanted to show her how to tie off her thread so her stitches would not come undone. We took the needle to the back of her felt and I showed her how to make a small stitch near the last stitch. Before she pulled it all the way through I had her put her needle through the loop and then pull to knot. I had vera do this 2x and then cut the thread about ¼” from the knot.

Eager to try out her new skills, I sent her home with several pieces of felt and some floss to create some simple projects that she could design and make them her own. She couldn’t wait for our next lesson. Learning to sew and loving it!