Hand sewing question

[stellar_muddle]

For those of you who hand sew (there are probably a couple of you reading...), a few questions.*

1. Are you left or right handed and/or don't care?

2. Running stitch - left to right or right to left?

3. Favourite stitch?

3A. Most often used stitches?

4. Favourite seam finishes?

5. Comfortable/average stitch length**?

6. Decorative stitches?

7. Secrets you are willing to pass on/tips you wish someone had told you years ago?

8. Favourite references/recommended reading? and/or horror tales..

9. Prefered thread/needle/fabric combinations?

10. Is it something done for pleasure? Do you find it relaxing or is it a chore to be gotten past as fast as possible?

* Getting my A into G and teaching a class on hand sewing at the local Collegium in August. Be good to know what are things I have just picked up and what is common practice, shortcuts etc. I may also road test references/ideas here or in later posts.

** Let's assume a nice medium weight linen. Of course it is going to vary depending on the fabric used. Ditto on your answer to question 4. Want to track down a bunch of references to get an idea for stitch lengths in different times and places, but will be limited by what is extant and what it is made of, since that will really affect things - the joys of small number statistics in certain areas.


1. Right handed.
2. Right to left. Needle generally goes right to left.
3. Whip stitch on hems where only picking up a thread of the fabric on the outside. Just from an invisibility perspective.
3A. Back stitch. Tend to do most seams that way, though if the fabric is light, I will mainly running stitch with the occasional back stitch to anchor.
4. Currently run and fell, with the finishing stitch basically hemming/whip stitched so it is as invisible on the outside as possible.
5. 2 1/2 to 3 mm, though it varies.
6. Mammen cushion herringbone. The threads going across the join seem to hold things together better than standard herringbone.
7. Good lighting!
8. Sewing Stitches Used in Medieval Clothing (more a catalogue)
Archaeological Sewing by Heather Rose Jones.
Museum of London "Textiles and Clothing"
Woven into the Earth
Patterns of Fashion 1
9. Wool/wool, linen/linen, silk/silk, though I have used silk for sewing wool as the colours matched and it was what I had. Cotton if the others aren't available. Polycotton last resort.
10. Fun and relaxes me - you don't want to see me when pissed off at a sewing machine and they don't travel on buses well.

Comments

[doushkasmum.livejournal.com]

1 Right handed
2 Right to left
3 I quite like a running stitch and use it all over the place I usually running stitch to fill the needle, then take a backstitch to start the next pass for extra strength
4 Flat fell
5 As small as I can manage 8->
6 Not usually for construction
8 Use a thimble, use a smaller needle
9 Match thread to fabric for linen or silk, tend to sew wool with linen Use the smallest needle you can possibly thread
I like to hand sew, and I made 2 quilts on the train, as you say the sewing machine doesn't travel very well

[mmy-me.livejournal.com]

1. Left handed.

2. Left to right.

3. I sew from the right side as described in Woven into the Earth; I guess that's a running stitch, but not as we know it, Jim.

3A. right sided stitch, whip stitch, button hole stitch

4. I fell the seam allowance either separately, or together and whip to the ground fabric. In some cases I'll just whip stitch the edge.

5. 2-3 mm.

6. Rarely. I do 14th C. If I decorate, it will generally be tablet-sewing.

7. I wish someone had shown me how to sew from the right side. Makes for tighter seams and a lot less work as I don't have to hold up the fabric.

8. Woven into the Earth, Textiles and clothing

9. linen thread for almost everything - most appropriate for me. Silk thread for finer work or actual silk. I often use a bronze needle.

10. I don't need new clothes, so every garment I make for myself is more about the journey than the product. Like to try things out. Definitely prefer handsewing, it's much easier around the tight corners, plus I don't have to 'set up', I can just pick up, stitch for a while and put down.

For references, the york finds have details on stitch length in viking times. I also do a class on handsewing, which in its last incarnation happened at collegium but took too long on the preamble and never got round to the practical. If you want to peek at the notes I have, let me know.

[pepperbeast.livejournal.com]

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

[vonstrassburg.livejournal.com]

Good grief. I've really only just picked up handsewing again after sort of learning it maybe 20 years ago and giving it away as something I have no skill at and best left to others. So I've been doing it the odd once or twice out of necessity.

I am right handed but really don't know how to do anything in the way of decorative stitches. I don't really know the difference between the different types of stitches, I have a basic running stitch and a basic backstitch worked out, but that's about it. So I'm more interested in the results of the survey than participating in it, maybe I'll pick up some tips.

[auntyyolly.livejournal.com]

Er, I go on so much here I've had to break this down into three posts. Sorry. I'm, what's that word? oh yeah, obsessed.


1. Right handed, though can fudge it with the left if needed due to multiple broken right arm/hand incidents

2. Right to left, unless in an awkward spot on something like a hat where I'll do it 'backwards'. Much slower backwards.

3. Oh dear, that's hard. I like stab stitch a lot, but I wouldn't say it was my fave. I use back stitch a lot, but same. I think maybe rolled hem stitch might be? Or herringbone, but I hardly ever get to use that. And the hem stitch where you take a tiny bit of the outer fabric then pass the needle through the fold of the hem is a big fave, too.

3A. Back stitch and stab stitch. Seams are my bane.

4. I love felling seams, just love it. I'll flat fell, open fell, whatever works best. If I can't fell, I'll usually whip or sometimes bind. Or use a felted wool. The other thing I really like is painting them with melted beeswax, but that's not so much in the sewing side of things ...

5. 1-3mm depending on the fabric and stitch. Saw some of my early stuff recently with 5mm stitches and was simply aghast, then remembered how proud I'd been at the time to keep them even. Then remembered more that it was quite a sensibly period stitch length for what I was doing at the time and accepted that I am now a wanker.

6. Yes please! I like a nice simple topstitch when you're pressed for time, or using stab stitches for felling in a contrasting or complementary thread colour and letting just a regular dot show. Herringbone is my current great love, but a good smocking stitch is a beautiful thing, too. Any further and we're into the dark art of embroidery, which I'm currently embracing. There I think couching might be my favourite thing of all, either side.

[auntyyolly.livejournal.com]

7.i. Learn to sew with a well-fitted thimble on the middle finger of your sewing hand. You want the type with grooves that have regular cross-bars on them, and can usually find them at good sewing or quilters shops. They have a grid of open-topped squares in the top, or you can buy them without tops if you get too sweaty. I have not punctured a fingerpad since I went to thimbles. For those whose fingers are too big (and there is really a giant range of sizes available, you just need to ring round till you find somewhere that stocks them), there are stick-on pads that can be used instead: Thimble-It is the brand name, by Colonial, an American brand.

ii. Good light. J bought me a daylight light with special tube and a magnifying lens and it's a wonder. No more squinting at night!

iii. For long straight seams that you will be sewing in front of the telly or while chatting to people, mark the seam in a washable pencil or chalk (or paint finely with watercolour). You will be distracted and realise you've been heading off true for the last six inches at some point. Not such a problem with curvy bits, I find.

iv. Quilters' needles are great for things that a short needle will help with, such as stab stitching and some hem stitches and herringbone. Anywhere that you don't want to be loading multiple stitches onto the needle at once, short needles will save you time and a nuber 10 or 12 quilter is fine but strong, and doesn't develop the big bends that I make in longer needles over the course of a garment.

v. Needle sharpeners will prolong the life of your favourite needle, keeping the point sharp and the shank free of rust. Make your own with fine riversand or graphite stitched into a pincushion, or buy one of the Clover ones that are small enough to tie to your sewing bag with a cord. Very fine grit wet-and-dry from the hardware works too, but is far less elegant.

vi. When working on a garment that is fitted exactly and the pattern is perfectly right, either mark the pattern precisely on the inside of each piece of fabric with washable pencil so that there is no risk of seam allowance shifting, or thread-trace the pattern onto each piece.

vii. For seams or anywhere else under weight or tension, wax threads. For all fine work, use a good handcream about 15 min before sewing so that your skin doesn't snag the thread. Cut a patch of white linen or vellum or some such to cover the work under where you're placing your hand if using fine fabrics or embroidering in the one spot.

8. I keep a general sewing book such as the Readers Digest one around for whenever I have mental blanks. If you have never taken a taxi to the head, this may not be such an issue for you, but every now and then I completely forget which direction I should be sewing or how buttonhole goes or something really obvious like that. Looking it up is fast and avoids the shame of mentioning it to others.

In terms of period books that have educated/inspired me with actual sewing rather than design: Patterns of Fashion 1560-1620, Woven into the Earth, Museum of London's Textiles and Clothing, Textile Conservation (from the Abegg, unbelievably good), Queen Elizabeth's Wardrobe Unlocked, Moda a Firenze (recently), Historical Fashion in Detail (a bit out of period, but great). In addition, I've pored over every photo and pamphlet ever obtained from the V&A and the Bath costume museum, and other museums and galleries with extant pieces. I've found looking at post-Elizabethan pieces in closer museums such as the Powerhouse etc to be helpful, too, as it gives ideas of what stitching should look like. Alas, I was not into this at all while actually living in the UK.

[auntyyolly.livejournal.com]

9. I like to use a thread that will give way before the fabric in seams. I can always resew it if it rips out, and will be wearing enough layers underneath there's no chance of embarrassment. For this reason I tend to use Gutterman silk in seams because it comes in a wide range of colours and is readily available. I don't mind their silk at all, but I dislike most of their other threads, especially the linen, which I find chunky and unyielding.

For fine work on linen I like a good linen thread. The best one I have found is Londonderry Linen 100/3 which comes in both a lovely soft white and an ivory. I believe it also comes in black but haven't found it here yet. I buy mine from the Crewel Gobelin in Killara (they are my fave thread shop and do mail order), although I just googled it and it turns out that you can get it cheaper on the internet and there are several other natural shades as well as black.

I have a love-hate relationship with cotton thread. I find it hard to find cotton that lasts as well as a waxed linen and most of the commercially available thread is spun from very short-staple cotton so it breaks and frays and generally pisses me off. I've just started using YLI's Select long-staple cotton and so far I'm loving it. It's described as a 40/2, tex 27, but is really very slightly finer than the standard sewing machine cotton. Vastly smoother and apparently stronger, though. I think this will become my standard machining thread at least. Only in limited colours at my local quilting store (Logans in Leichhardt), but apparently full range on internet.

Silk I just love. The Gutterman is fine for scutwork, and by far the nicest of their threads (I'm told it's reeled, though it seems a little too ready to snap for my liking).

I love Au ver a Soi's Soie Gobelins silk thread, though again, I can only get it in white despite there allegedly being hundreds of colours available in Europe. It is v soft but v strong and has a high sheen that makes it very pleasant on the garment. A little thick, about the same weight as Gutterman. (For embroidery, the same company's Soie d'Alger is far and away my favourite and has the same good qualities, just in a thicker yarn with five strands per 5m. The 60/2 silks from London's Hanweaver's Studio are also very good, but thicker again, so best for covering ground or else for weaving narrow wares.)

My current all-time favourite thread is YLI's silk thread #100, which is filament silk and about 1/4 - 1/3 the width and weight of most silk threads while just as strong and lustrous. I love it to bits and is the only thing I will use now on partlets and so on, where the stitching is fine and apparent. I find it hard to come by over here (Logans and the Crewel Gobelin have both had some in), but it's all over the net. In addition to the standard range (and the black and the white are both excellent), they have the perfect gold for goldwork, colour 078, though it's best in the #50 thread.

I like John James needles the best because they seem to last longest and they have the best beading needles I've ever used (the no.s 20 and 22 can still be threaded without going blind). I like using a short no 10 quilters needle or a smallish fine sharp or embroidery needle on most things. I've sewn with bone and bronze needles and am now happy to leave all that to the early period folk.

10. I love handsewing far more than machine sewing. I feel that I have better control and I also enjoy the physical act of constructing the garment. Additionally I feel that I have much more say in the way the garment will work on the body through the directions I choose to stitch in and the way I construct my seams and finish the item. I'm also assured of having something that lasts longer, and where any repairs will be simliar in nature to the original make-up of the garment. Very soothing, except when I'm on deadline and I've had too much on at work, in which case my shoulders go spac. I take it as a sign to not bother answering emails ... Should probably not also write essays in LJ comments ...

[auntyyolly.livejournal.com]

Au ver a soie and Handweavers studio are the two most egregious typos above ...

[alpha-angel.livejournal.com]

1. Right handed
2. Right to left
3. Back stitch
3A.Back stitch, hem/whip stich
4. Felled - everything seems sturdier and well, finished,..
5. 1-3mm
6. Stab stitch is probably the most decorative thing I'll do on a garment
7. Short lengths of thread. Longer lengths do not save you time.
8. Not that much of a sewing wonk.
9. Linen/linen, silk or silk/wool. I tend to use quite fine needles - don't pay any attention to the numbers though.
10. I like sewing things by hand - it's relaxing if there are no time constraints. If it's something I haven't made before then I'll often do the first version on the machine, but if I know that my pattern works I'll do it by hand because making the thing becomes part of the thing, not just having it, if that makes any sense. The stuff I make by hand seems to last longer, and is better constructed. Some things are just easier by hand.