How to do overlock stitching by hand?

2024 Author: Sierra Becker | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-26 03:46

Sewing is a wonderful and rewarding hobby, but it doesn't come without some challenges. Which actually are not and can be completely solved even with minimal tailoring skills. And today we will bring up a question that baffles most beginners in the sewing business.

What is it about?

Every novice craftswoman worries about one essential moment. Being engaged in tailoring almost any product, one has to deal with such an important operation as seam processing. They perform it in different ways, but most often thanks to a device called an overlock.

Neatly stitched on the overlocker, no doubt it is pleasing to the eye. The product at the same time looks downright "branded". And in general, this technical device can make life easier for any craftswoman.

Unfortunately, not all of us have this expensive device. Meanwhile, any seamstress wants to do all the work from beginning to end beautifully and accurately.

What to do?

Don't let the lack of overlock bother you. You can sew overlock stitches by hand. It's not that hardas it may seem at first glance. Of course, you will have to spend much more time, but the result may look very decent outwardly.

What is an overlock stitch? We use it for the final processing of fabrics in the sewing process. At the same time, they can fasten individual panels. Thanks to this, you can get a very neat tissue cut. And there are several ways to perform overcasting seam manually. And in our article we will try to touch on some of the subtleties of this work.

How exactly does a hand-made overlock seam look like in the product, the photo below demonstrates quite clearly.

Let's get started

So, we don't have an overlocker. Before doing the overlock stitch by hand, let's estimate our resources. We take the highest quality needles, preferably from a well-known manufacturer. It is best if it is a needle with a special coating in the region of the hole, which in this case is called the "golden eye". Thanks to him, the thread will be easy to thread and slide smoothly through the fabric.

The numbering of needles used in hand sewing has a gradation from 1 to 12. What do these numbers mean? This is a tenfold increase in its largest diameter in millimeters.

Never take a needle for work if it is dull, bent or rusty. And do not forget about the consistency of its thickness and thread. After all, the larger the diameter of the needle, the more serious the effort required to push through the fabric. Accordingly, the threadmust be thick enough.

What else you need to know

In addition, you should not take an embroidery needle that has a blunt, that is, specially rounded tip. It will not be possible to make an overlock seam manually with its help. Its purpose is only to display cross-stitch patterns on the canvas.

It would be useful to use a thimble. It will protect your fingers and nails from accidental damage. And the sewing process will go faster with it.

The materials that are easiest to process are those that have a high density and do not crumble very much. Working with them is easy even for beginners. With thin and loose - a little more difficult.

Overlock stitching by hand - how to start?

Getting started, insert the needle from the wrong side to the front side. The knot tied on the thread will remain on the back, that is, the wrong side. Then, stretching the thread, bring the needle back (away from you) to the wrong side. When pulling the thread further, leave a small loop and pass the needle through it along the edge of the fabric without piercing the material.

The loop must be carefully tightened, holding it with your free hand. After which the procedure is repeated. You pull the needle towards you, then back, insert it into the loop and gently pull it up. The result is a series of neat, strong stitches.

What else can hand overlock stitches be? There is a so-called twist, it is used as a finishing, making out frills and cuts. When sewing a product in the atelier, it is changed to a rolled seam.

What does it look like?

Overlock seam manually in this case is performed as follows. First, a thin, tight roller is twisted from the fabric. Then he gently pulls on the left hand (on her index finger), while holding on to the middle and thumb of the same hand.

Needle with fine thread must be prepared in advance. With its help, the roller is tightly wrapped with a thread - stitches, which should fit together as tightly as possible. The direction of the puncture with a needle is towards yourself. The thickness of such a roller should not exceed a millimeter.

What is buttonhole stitch?

Sections of the product can be processed with the so-called manual buttonhole seam. To sew a loop, you need a thread of sufficient length, it should be enough to process a whole loop or at least half.

The procedure in this case is as follows:

• Having built the first loop, we thread the beginning of the thread into it and tighten it. Then the thread is neatly placed on the side of the cut.
• If the thread is already running out, leave the end of it and use a new thread to make the next stitch without tightening the loop.

• The end of the old thread and the beginning of a new one are threaded into the loop formed, after which the loop is tightened. Both tips should be laid on the side of the cut.
• Similarly, the desired number of stitches is sewn. The thread ends are pulled up and trimmed.
• The last of the stitches is repeated twice on the same volumesame place, with the fabric turned inside out. The needle is brought under a couple of last stitches, pulled out and cut with scissors.

Having gained some experience, any of the beginner craftswomen will find out which of the seams is more convenient for her to perform and what exactly comes out neater. She will then be able to decide on her preferred way of processing the tissue sections.

Other Hand Overlock Stitches

There are other varieties of such seams. One of them, called oblique, is quite simple. When processing the fabric, the stitches do not tighten much, arranging them obliquely so that from 3 to 4 pieces are placed in each linear centimeter of the cut. In this case, the length of each of the stitches should be about half a centimeter or a little more.

Slightly more difficult is the overcast seam, called the cruciform. It is done almost like the previous one, but, having reached the edge of the cut, you should turn around in the opposite direction (without turning the fabric over) and move in the opposite direction. Stitches overlap each other crosswise.

As a result, the cut of our product is decorated with a row of neat crosses. It should be ensured that throughout the seam the uniform height of the stitches, the step between them, as well as the same angle of inclination are observed - the stitches must be parallel, otherwise the work will not look neat.

More options

How to make an overlock seam manually in a more complex version, with imitation of processing on an overlock? They work similarly to the case withbuttonhole stitch, but at the same time, the needle should be pulled through the top of the triangle of stitches twice.

The same technique must be used when processing the corners of the product. The needle must "visit" each apex of the triangle at least twice!

Let's hope that this short article was useful to our hardworking readers, and now everyone understands that small difficulties in the sewing business are quite surmountable. Good luck to everyone in mastering this beautiful form of creativity!