Sewing the Side Seams
Lesson 10 from: How to Sew Your First Skirt and Understand PatternsShaerie Mead
Sewing the Side Seams
Lesson 10 from: How to Sew Your First Skirt and Understand PatternsShaerie Mead
Lessons
Introduction & Overview of Skillset
01:00 2Pattern Envelope Overview
06:12 3Measuring Your Body
02:13 4Cutting out the Pattern
03:44 5Understanding Fabric Anatomy
02:02 6Cutting out the Fabric
08:25 7Cutting the Notches & Second Pieces
03:57 8Gathering Skirt to Yoke
11:18Lesson Info
Sewing the Side Seams
So now that we've sown the yoke to the skirt on both the front and the back, it's time to sew the front to the back were on step nine and your instructions if you want to follow along with the picture, what we're going to do is take the to skirt pieces and place them right sides together. We'll work on one side seem first, and then we'll do the same thing to the other one. What you want to look at here are lining up the edges of your fabric and also lining up your notches so there's not just that we cut out this is where they come into play, I'm gonna line up my first notch on my yoke, so they're right on top of each other and put one pin in, and then I'm going to come on down here and line up the notch on my skirt and put my second pin in, and now I'm gonna pin from the top to the bottom, all the way down the side seam of this skirt. So I'm making sure that the edges of the fabric or is even is they can be you want to check on both sides to make sure it doesn't look something like thi...
s? These are the things that will end up making sure that your skirt fifth you correctly when you're finished sewing it so paying attention to these seem allowances is really important trying to save them as accurately as possible projects like this that have a lot of straight stitching one of the best things you can use to practice so one more pin right at the edge of my skirt and again this is a permanent stitch so I'm going to start out with a back stitch and end with a back stitch and since it doesn't tell us where to sew in the instructions that means we're going to default to our seem allowance for this project five eighths of an inch or one point five centimeters if the last thing you did with zigzag make sure you go back to your straight stitch on your sewing machine and I'm gonna run remind you again not to so over pin so a little back stitch and then I can go straight down when you reach the scene where you've sound the skirt to the yoke we've pressed that seem allowance so it's pointing up and you want to make sure it stays pointing up when you so over it so if it hooks on your machine foot just lift up your foot to smooth it back under so it's pointing up you can also put a pin in it to keep it in place all the way from the top to the bottom on a little back such of the end pulling out and snip your threads and now we're going to switch right to our zigzag stitch and finish this edge these chiefs dishes together make up about ninety percent of your sewing so these air good ones to practice and when you have a zigzag stitch on the edge of your fabric that creates like I said before seem finish these two stitches together the straight stitch holding your family together and this exact stitch creating an edge finish these air going to be what creates a seam so this is going to be within my seem allowance I like to line it up with the one centimeter mark and just like we did with our seem that sowed the skirt to the yoke we're going to trim off that extra fabric where their little scissors and you're going to do the same thing to the other side of your skirt so lining up the fabric and pinning so in your straight stitch from the top to the bottom so in your zigzag stitch and trimming off any of that extra fabric after that we're going to press the side seems so that they point so the steam allowances point towards the back of the skirt right now the skirt looks the same on the front in the back so once you're finished sewing the side seams, turn it right side out, give it a little shake and see if there's a side of the skirt that you like better one over the other and pick that to be your friends once you've trimmed the seam allowance off the second side of your skirt and if you turn off the notches at this point, don't worry because they've served their purpose and we don't need them anymore. What I'd like you to do is turn your skirt right side out so you can see if there is a side that you like better than the other one. Give it a little shake, hold it up, you can even go over to the mirror and hold it up to yourself to see which side you like better this one's pretty much an all over print, so it doesn't matter so much. But if you had a bigger print and you really liked one side over the other that's the side that I want you to press the seam allowances away from, so we're pressing the same allowances away from the front, so they point towards the back. If you can't decide, then just pick one side or the other to press your seem allowances towards. So the first thing I'm going to do to press this is lay the fabric out, just like I sewed it and I'm going to press the stitches flat. Ironing is when you're going back and forth with the iron like you're getting wrinkles out of something, but when you so you want to press so we're going to take that iron and press right down on top of it without moving it and then I'm gonna lift the iron up and press it straight down on top of it like that basically we're squishing me stitches nice and flat just like that that really smooth everything out there any lumps created from your stitching that'll make it nice and flat now I'm going to open up my skirt and slide it over the edge of my ironing board and again I'm going to use the weight of the iron to help me make this seem nice and tight so I put my iron down on one side to hold the fabric will reach around with my hand and pull it so it's tight like that and then push that seem allowance in one direction same thing up here nice and tight right up to the stitching manner and then you can turn your iron around to get to this side so iron down to hold it nice and tight pull that right over and smooth it out if you like he can do the same thing on the outside of the skirt to make it really, really flat this almost blends in and becomes invisible when it's correctly pressed and if you have any little wobbles and your seem this is what's going to make it look nice and smooth, so you can't overestimate the importance of an iron when you're sowing. Same thing on the other side first flat, just like I said it, to squish those stitches and then sliding it over the edge of the board. This time I'm gonna press it in the other direction, so that both seem allowances point towards the back. So put my iron here and poll and sketch that seem allowance right over. I'm trying really hard not to press extra wrinkles into my skirt when I do this. So I want to make sure that the iron goes down on a flat part of the fabric and the same thing up here starting on this side and pulling it over so it's, nice and tight, one last press on the right side of my skirt. This is a step that you do not want to skip already, and now we're ready to start her him.
Class Materials
Bonus with Purchase
Ratings and Reviews
Diane
The course was as clean and precise as her sewing. I haven't sewn for some time, but the techniques Shaerie taught will serve me well. Thanks~
Jude
Shaerie is an exceptionally clear and focused teacher. She points out essential steps for beginner sewers and doesn't get caught up with extraneous details.
Melissa Fritzsche
Wondering if there's any way to still get this pattern. Thanks!