Machine Stitching

Is of course, in 2016, the predominant method of joining pieces of fabric to form a garment.

(www.sewingindustrialmachines.com)

I won’t go on too much right now, as I’ll be chewing your ears off soon enough about the virtues of hand stitching. But know that sewing by machine, while being a SH*T ton faster than hand work, is limited in a number of important ways.

Hand Stitching

Because different parts of the body move differently, the garments that cover your body need to take this into account, and stitching is one way of ensuring ease of movement. The great draw-back is obviously the amount of time it takes to sew something by hand versus speeding it through a machine.

The Tailor’s Method

But of course, a profession as old as tailoring has long ago tackled this problem head on, and there’s a particular method of stitching which enables a tailor to sew as fast and accurately as humanly possible.

You can check out my video on the tailor’s hand below, but for those who prefer to read…

 

1. Holding the needle

You need to hold the needle in the middle, perpendicular to your hand, which enables your stitches to be formed by a wrist movement rather than by moving your whole arm.

2. Driving Finger

You should use the side of your middle or fourth finger as the driver,  rather than the top of your middle finger. This permits a more natural movement of the hand while stitching.

3. Wrist motion

The most important part of the tailor’s hand is to use your wrist to form the stitch, inserting the needle, driving it through the fabric, and pulling it out the other end all in one fluid motion.

This is the fastest method of sewing by hand, and also allows a more rhythmic and unconscious experience. This in turn helps keep the stitches as neat and uniform as possible, which is no easy feat when working by hand.

What’s Next?

From here I’ll be introducing a few of the basic stitches used in tailoring and explaining what makes them so awesome. For now be sure to join the email list here to get the inside scoop on tailoring

And definitely check out what fashionable things are on sale in our shop.