Stitching Room

Bound seam
A bound seam has each of the raw edges of its seam allowances enclosed in a strip of fabric, lace or net 'binding' that has been folded in half lengthwise. An example of binding is double-fold bias tape. The binding's fold is wrapped around the raw edge of the seam allowance and is stitched, through all thicknesses, catching underside of binding in stitching. A variation of the bound seam is the Hong Kong seam.

A Hong Kong seam is a type of bound seam. The raw edges of the seam are encased in a fabric binding, usually bias tape.

To construct a Hong Kong seam, cut a bias strip the width of a seam allowance plus 1/4". Place the bias strip on top of the seam allowance, right sides together. Stitch 1/8" from raw edges. Fold the bias strip over the raw edge and around to the underside. From the top side, stitch in the ditch or groove formed by the previous stitching, catching the bias strip underneath. Press seam open.

Tack (sewing)
In sewing, to tack or baste is to make quick, temporary stitching intended to be removed. Tacking is used in a variety of ways:

To temporarily hold a seam or trim in place until it can be permanently sewn, usually with a long running stitch made by hand or machine called a tacking stitch or basting stitch. 
To temporarily attach a lace collar, ruffles, or other trim to clothing so that the attached article may be removed easily for cleaning or to be worn with a different garment. For this purpose, tacking stitches are sewn by hand so that they are almost invisible from the outside of the garment. 
To transfer pattern markings to fabric, or to otherwise mark the point where two pieces of fabric are to be joined. A special loose looped stitch used for this purpose is called a tack or tailor's tack. 

Topstitching is a sewing technique. It is used most often on garment edges such as necklines and hems, where it helps facings to stay in place and gives a crisp edge. Decorative topstitching is designed to show, and may be done in a fancy thread or with a special type of stitch. Otherwise, topstitching is generally done using a straight stitch with a thread that matches the fashion fabric.

Pattern (sewing)
In sewing and fashion design, a pattern is an original garment from which other garments of a similar style are copied, or the paper or cardboard templates from which the parts of a garment are traced onto fabric before cutting out and assembling (sometimes called paper patterns).

Pattern-making , pattern making or pattern cutting is the art of designing patterns.

A custom-fitted basic pattern from which patterns for many different styles can be created is called a sloper or block.

Custom dressmaking frequently begins with the creation of a sloper or block, a basic pattern for a fitted, jewel-neck bodice and narrow skirt, made to the wearer's measurements. The sloper is usually made of lightweight cardboard or tag-board, without seam allowances or style details. Once the shape of the sloper has been refined by making a series of mock-up garments called toiles (UK) or muslins (US), the final sloper can be used in turn to create patterns for many styles of garments with varying necklines, sleeves, dart placements, and so on....

Home sewing patterns are generally printed on tissue paper and sold in packets containing sewing instructions and suggestions for fabric and trim. Modern patterns are available in a wide range of prices, sizes, styles, and sewing skill levels, to meet the needs of consumers.

Home sewing patterns are graded, that is, redrawn to fit larger and smaller sizes than the original design. Ebenezer Butterick invented the commercially produced graded home sewing pattern in 1863 (based on grading systems used by Victorian tailors), originally selling hand-drawn patterns for men's and boys' clothing. In 1866, Butterick added patterns for women's clothing, which remains the heart of the home sewing pattern market today.

Darning is a sewing technique for repairing holes or worn areas in fabric or knitting with needle and thread alone. It is often done by hand, but it is also possible to darn with a sewing machine. Hand darning employs the darning stitch, a simple running stitch in which the thread is "woven" in rows along the grain of the fabric, with the stitcher reversing direction at the end of each row.

Darning also refers to any of several needlework techniques worked in darning stitches:

Pattern darning is a type of embroidery that uses parallel rows of straight stitches of different lengths to create a geometric design. 
Net darning, also called filet lace, is a 19th century technique using stitching on a mesh foundation fabric to imitate lace. 
Needle weaving is a drawn thread work embroidery technique that involves darning patterns into barelaid warp or weft threads. 

Back stitch is a simple embroidery line stitch most commonly used in Cross stitch to outline an area of stitching or to add detail to an embroidered picture but it also has many uses in other types of embroidery and general sewing.

Although superficially similar to Holbein stitch, commonly used in Blackwork embroidery, backstitch differs in the way it is worked, requiring a single journey only to complete a line of stitching. A versatile and easy to work stitch, backstitch is ideal for following both smooth and complicated outlines and as a foundation row for more complex embroidery stitches such as Herringbone ladder filling stitch.

Shank (sewing)
A shank is a device for providing a small amount of space in between a garment and a button. Shanks are necessary to provide space for fabric to sit in between the button and the garment when the garment is buttoned. Shanks also allow a garment to hang and drape more nicely

Button Shank
A button shank is a loop of metal, plastic, or fabric on the underside of some styles of buttons. The hole formed by the loop is used to sew the button to the fabric or textile. Buttons with shanks have no holes in the button blank (the main part of the button) itself because they are not needed for sewing. Buttons with shanks are more expensive to produce than shankless buttons.


Thread shank
A thread shank is made of thread and is intended to be used with a shankless button (a button with typically two or four holes). It is created while a button is stitched onto a garment.

A CHAIN STITCH
In sewing and embroidery, a chain stitch is a series of looped stitches that form a chain. It can be used decoratively or constructively.

Chain stitches are also used in making tambour lace, needle-lace, macramé and crochet.

Common variants on the chain stitch include:

Back-stitched chain stitch 
Knotted chain stitch 
Open chain stitch 
Twisted chain stitch 
Zig-zag chain stitch 
Early sewing machines sewed with a chain stitch, which has the disadvantage that it can be pulled out easily. Later machines used the more secure lockstitch.

Chain stitch is also a technique used to shorten rope or cable for storage or while in use; see Daisy chain (knot).

Buttonhole Stitch

Buttonhole stitch and the related blanket stitch are hand-sewing stitches used in tailoring, embroidery, and needle lace-making.

Buttonhole stitches catch a loop of the thread on the surface of the fabric and needle is returned to the back of the fabric at a right angle to the original start of the thread. The finished stitch in some ways resembles a letter "L" depending on the spacing of the stitches. For buttonholes the stitches are tightly packed together and for blanket edges they are more spaced out. The properties of this stitch make it ideal for preventing raveling of woven fabric. This stitch is also the basis for many forms of needle lace. Examples of buttonhole or blanket stitches include:

• Blanket stitch
• Buttonhole stitch
• Closed Buttonhole stitch, in which the tops of the stitch touch to form triangles
• Crossed Buttonhole stitch, in which the tops of the stitch cross
• Detached Buttonhole stitch, in which rows of buttonhole stiches are worked to form a "floating" filling stitch

  Running stitch
A running stitch is worked by passing the needle in and out of the fabric. The stitches can be of varying length and there can be short/long running stitches.

The upper stitches should be of equal length and the under stitches should be about half their size.

There is also the double running stitch which is a variation of the backstitch and running stitch. Working from left to right, you come up through the fabric and then down then up a distance ahead and down. You can work another stitch ahead again or come back and fill in a previous area. Note that there are characteristics of the backstitch and running stitch.

Cross-stitch

Cross-stitch is a popular form of counted-thread embroidery in which X-shaped stitches are used to form a picture. Other stitches are also commonly used in cross-stitch, among them, ¼, ½ and ¾ stitches and backstitches. Cross-stitch is usually executed on easily countable even-weave fabric, or more rarely on non-countable fabric, on which a countable fabric is applied that is removed later, by drawing out every thread of it under the embroidery. This fabric is called waste canvas. The stitcher counts the threads in each direction so that the stitches are of uniform size and appearance.

This form of cross-stitch is also called counted cross-stitch in order to distinguish it from other forms of cross-stitch. Sometimes cross-stitch is also done on designs printed on the canvas, showing every single cross (stamped cross-stitch).

Aida fabric is one of the most popular and easy to use fabrics for cross stitch. It’s 100% cotton. 14 count is the most widely used in the group with the most color choices. The fabric consists of small squares that make it easy to count and even to stitch. It comes in several different counts as large as Herta (6 count) and fine as 18 count. 

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