Chances are that your sewing machine has a few tricks up its sleeve — stitches that you almost never think to use. Whether you’re getting to know your machine for the first time or you’re starting to take your trusty machine for granted, it’s time to take a closer look at everything that sewing gizmo can do.
The basic machine stitches
Figure 1 shows the very basic machine stitches. Of course, your machine may offer more, or fewer, of these stitches. Compare them with what’s available on your sewing machine. You may find that you have more options than you realized!
- Straight: You use the straight stitchfor basting, seaming, and topstitching.
- Zigzag: The machine adds width to the straight stitch to make the zigzag stitch You use the zigzag stitch for stitching around appliqués, making buttonholes, sewing on buttons, and embroidering. The zigzag stitch is as practical as it is fun.
- Three-step zigzag: When used on the widest width, the ordinary zigzag stitch pulls the fabric into a tunnel and the fabric rolls under the stitch — not very desirable. To eliminate this problem, the sewing gods handed down the three-step zigzag stitch. The needle takes three stitches to one side and then three stitches to the other side, keeping the fabric flat and tunnel-free. Use the three-step zigzag for finishing raw edges, sewing on elastic, mending tears, and making decorative effects.
- Blind hem and stretch blind hem: The blind hem stitch is designed to hem woven fabrics so that the stitches are almost invisible when looked at from the right side of the garment. The stretch blind hem stitch has an extra zigzag or two that stretches to invisibly hem knit fabrics. Both stitches have decorative applications, too.
- Overlock: Many of the overlock-type stitches on today’s sewing machines are designed to stitch and finish seams in one step, simulating the serger stitches that you see on ready-to-wear garments. Some of these stitches work well on woven fabrics; some work better on knits.
- Decorative: Decorative stitches fall into two basic categories: closed, satin-type stitches (such as the ball and diamond) and open, tracery-type stitches (such as the daisy and honeycomb). Many newer machines can be programmed to combine these stitches with other stitches, elongate the designs for a bolder decorative effect, and even stitch someone’s name.
- The newest high-end sewing machines can also create intricate embroidery designs (like those you see on ready-to-wear garments) by using embroidery cards. Embroidery cards are small computer discs that can store several large, intricate motifs. Some machines also offer scanners, which allow you to add additional patterns to the machine’s stitch library.
Figure 1: Basic machine stitches.
Before taking your machine through its paces, you need to know how to select a stitch, set the stitch length, and set the stitch width.