Spent 3 hours on a dress pattern that fell apart at the seams, hand sewing vs machine?

I was working on this wrap dress for a client last Tuesday, spent all afternoon cutting and pinning, then the fabric started fraying bad at every seam. I fixed it by hand stitching the edges but now I wonder if that was a waste of time. Does hand finishing really hold up better than a machine zigzag for delicate fabrics like rayon?

2 comments

2 Comments

evan_harris1428d ago

Oh absolutely, hand stitching is worth it for rayon or anything slippery. I had a similar nightmare with a crepe de chine blouse last month, machine zigzag just made it pucker worse so I ended up doing a fell stitch by hand and it came out way cleaner.

evan_harris1427d ago

Try taping the seam allowance first with washable glue stick before you stitch. That's what I do with my rayon projects now, it stops the layers from shifting and puckering. Makes a huge difference, especially on curves like armholes and collars where the fabric wants to pull every which way.