Burda Style For people who sew

I have been working on mending the lining in a jacket for a friend, and after fixing a few tears I found that blanket stitches were giving me the most consistent, secure hold.
I have now spent hours using the blanket stitches to pull together tears, sew patches over holes, and I’m very excited to use blanket stitches to applique fleece to my next quilt project!!!

For anyone who is not familiar with blanket stitching, here is a link to an embroidery blog that features this versatile technique!
http://stitchschool.blogspot.com/2009/12/blanket-stitch.html

Jan 28, 2011, 05.27 AM by halokitty087

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  Jan 28, 2011, 04.54 PMby katensew

  Long and short, tops slanted or coming together. using two colours and overlapping them…. !! At school in the 60’s we used blanket stitch extensively ! For repairs , hems, neatening seams, embroidery etc. Also often overlooked is herringbone stitch !!

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    Jan 28, 2011, 05.40 PMby katexxxxxx

    I use a blanket stitch to finish the seam allowances and fix them down inside flatlined historic dress, when I’m doing the Gold Standard finish. Looks dead neat, is ever so durable, and it’s reasonably fast.

    Impresses the customers no end, too! ;)

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  Jan 31, 2011, 10.05 AMby ruthw

  Wow, katexxxx, your comment made me go and look at your projects. They are astonishing and fabulous.

  I have been thinking recently about reverting to older methods like blanket stitch for finishing seams. I like to sew with tweed but I find finishing seams with seam binding makes them very bulky. I don’t need or want my clothes to look like Ready-to Wear so old-style tailoring techniques are making a comeback in my sewing. (I prefer sew in and self-fabric interfacings these days.) What do you think? Would you use blanket stitch for modern clothing? Also, which would you prefer, serged/overlocked edges or blanket-stitched? (I am hesitating about buying a serger/overlocker).

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    Jan 31, 2011, 02.32 PMby katexxxxxx

    I use all sorts of methods, depending…

    Sometimes it depends on the price point:

    Is the customer willing to pay the extra for a complete hand finish? You want to know why a Savile Row suit costs so much? In addition to the top class cloth and the superb cut, you get about 90% hand finishing! Often the ONLY things machine stitched are the major seams!

    Sometimes it’s the fabric… Stretch Lycra for swimwear is far better serged. Heavy tweeds may be better with a serged edge for durability. Some light silks are better hand finished…

    Sometimes it’s the application: you need a hand rolled edge on a silk chiffon fichu, but a bias cut silk chiffon gown may be better seamed on the serger. A unlined suit may look better with a Hong Kong finish, but a historic or couture garment may hang better with a hand finish. Most wedding gown hems are better hand finished unless you are doing a horsehair braid hem, which is better done by machine.

    Sometimes it’s a matter of speed: the machine can be faster in most cases, but occasionally a hand stitch is quicker and easier than rethreading a machine…

    And there are some things that simply cannot be done by machine (whipping the edges of the clips in a flat seam on a flatlined garment, for example), or where the machine gives so much better or stronger a finish it would be daft to do it by hand (zips in tents come to mind).

    Neither is better than the other: it’s just that some are more suitable in some applications than others. Like anything else, you have to make the judgement and experiment a bit. There is no one true path… ;)