Hints and Tips 16 - One Thread Sewing

Hope you like this hint and tip for today. I am about to go and get into my pj's and curl up on the couch with my kitty cats in front of the TV and be waited on for the rest of my birthday. Had a lovely lunch at my Mum's.

One Thread Sewing- a great little technique

One thread sewing is a technique used by bridal dressmakers etc on sheer fabrics such as chiffons, laces etc .

It is particularly useful for darts in sheer fabrics in heirloom sewing for folded tucks that start part way down a piece of fabric. This technique eliminates the tail of thread at the beginning which are difficult to end of in a way which is pleasing to the eye.

The one drawback is that you must repeat the threading procedure each time you make a new dart or tuck

 

Sewing a dart

1.   Remove the top thread from your sewing machine

2.   Ensure that the bobbin thread is coming up through the throat plate of the mach.

3.   Thread the needle backwards i.e. from the flat back side of the needle through to the front so effectively back to front through the eye.

4.   Remove the needle if you are unable to thread it from back to front with the needle in place. 

 

5.   Replace the needle back in the machine as you would normally

                          I would not use the machine's needle threader here.

 

6.   Ensure that the  thread comes out the centre of the foot

7.   Take a loop of the thread in your hand pulling a fair length of thread out from the bobbin and effectively working backwards from the needle threading the machine up as you would normally

8.   Once you have finished threading the machine pull the tail of the thread taut and leave it hanging off a  hook or wind onto a bobbin or similar at the top of the machine. As you pull ,the bobbin should unwind and you need to ensure that you have enough to sew the length of the dart.

9.   Commence sewing the dart from the point not the wide edge, move the wheel one stitch by hand and do not back stitch as that defeats the purpose of this method.

 

Sewing a tuck

1.   Bring the bobbin thread up through the fabric where you are going to start your tuck by taking one stitch and then pulling the bobbin thread up.

 

2.   Repeat steps 2-8 as above for the dart

3.   Lower the presser foot, first stitch by turning the hand wheel as above. If you have a loop as you start sewing lift the presser foot and gently tug on your thread to make it taut again and then continue.