Sewing Tips: Staystitching

Video Transcript

" Hi! I’m Stephany of Stephany’s Simply Sewing on behalf of expertvillage.com. I’d like to show you how to do stay stitching and explain why it’s important in your garment construction. Stay stitching is done on the curve of your garment. For example, on this shirt we have the curve of the neckline. The reason why we need to stay stitch is because curves are cut on the bias and they will stretch. As you handle your garment, your curve will stretch out of shape. If it stretches out of shape, it makes it very difficult to put on collars. Let me show you how to stitch your curve. I have my sewing machine, and for demonstrations purposes, I have marked out a 5/8 of an inch line. I measure from the point of my needle over to edge of this paper and taped this paper down. Most sewing machines have lines, but due to the age of this sewing machine, I only have a small hole and I wanted you to be able to see what I’m doing. When stay stitching, it’s important to stitch in the same direction on both halves of your garment, that way any movement will be uniform on the garment. This is my front neckline, and I’m going to put my presser foot down lining up the edge of my fabric. I like to stay stitch just a bit inside my seam line so that it doesn’t show when I put my collar on. I like to hold on to the back of my thread or my thread tails when I begin stitching, so it doesn’t get sucked down; and I begin to sew. When you’re sewing on a curve, the part of the curve seam you want to look out when you’re measuring is next to the needle. So off the edge of your fabric, use your hand wheel to raise your needle, your lever to raise your presser foot, and your scissors to clip your thread. Your seam is now stabilized so that it will not misshape or become out of shape when you’re handling doing the rest of your body of your garment. That is how you stay stitch. "