1. Right handed. 2. Needle goes right to left. 3. Back stitch. 3A. Back stitch, running stitch, hem stitch. 4. Flat felled or seam allowances pressed open and tacked down. 5. Ummm... not entirely sure, but quite short. Probably no more than 2-3mm per stitch. 6. Not often. I have covered a tunic's seams with herringbone stitch. 7. Oh yes, definitely. a. In general, don't buy cheap thread. It breaks easily and drives you insane. b. Thread is made to be used in the direction it unreels from the spool. Use it in this direction to minimise tangling. c. Use the finest needle you can manage. It will go through the fabric more easily and reduce strain on your hands and wrists. d. Think carefully about how you're going to finish the seams before you start sewing the garment together. e. Seam finishing may seem tedious, but it will make the garment more comfortable and increase its lifespan. f. Glue can be your friend. I use iron-on glue to fix fabric strip trims in position before sewing them down. g. If you don't want your linings to show, understitch and topstitch the edges. 8. Books showing extant garments and/or fragments, such as Patterns of Fashion and Costumes and Textiles can give a lot of information about technique. Articles like Dark Age Stitches http://www.42nd-dimension.com/NFPS/nfps_stitches.html. 9. I'm not such an authenticity nut that I use linen thread. I mostly stick to regular, high quality threads like Mettler and small sharps. I use perle cotton or flower thread with sharps for buttonholes and eyelets. I prefer to sew linens and light-medium weight woollens. 10. Both. Neither. My main reason for doing as much hand sewing as I do is that that's what it takes to achieve a certain kind of results. The degree of precision is much higher than I can achieve with a machine. And I can
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2007-06-23 09:13 am (UTC)2. Needle goes right to left.
3. Back stitch.
3A. Back stitch, running stitch, hem stitch.
4. Flat felled or seam allowances pressed open and tacked down.
5. Ummm... not entirely sure, but quite short. Probably no more than 2-3mm per stitch.
6. Not often. I have covered a tunic's seams with herringbone stitch.
7. Oh yes, definitely.
a. In general, don't buy cheap thread. It breaks easily and drives you insane.
b. Thread is made to be used in the direction it unreels from the spool. Use it in this direction to minimise tangling.
c. Use the finest needle you can manage. It will go through the fabric more easily and reduce strain on your hands and wrists.
d. Think carefully about how you're going to finish the seams before you start sewing the garment together.
e. Seam finishing may seem tedious, but it will make the garment more comfortable and increase its lifespan.
f. Glue can be your friend. I use iron-on glue to fix fabric strip trims in position before sewing them down.
g. If you don't want your linings to show, understitch and topstitch the edges.
8. Books showing extant garments and/or fragments, such as Patterns of Fashion and Costumes and Textiles can give a lot of information about technique. Articles like Dark Age Stitches http://www.42nd-dimension.com/NFPS/nfps_stitches.html.
9. I'm not such an authenticity nut that I use linen thread. I mostly stick to regular, high quality threads like Mettler and small sharps. I use perle cotton or flower thread with sharps for buttonholes and eyelets. I prefer to sew linens and light-medium weight woollens.
10. Both. Neither. My main reason for doing as much hand sewing as I do is that that's what it takes to achieve a certain kind of results. The degree of precision is much higher than I can achieve with a machine. And I can