II Back-Stitching, Over-Casting, Creasing a Hem and Hemming, Rolling a Hem, French Hemming, Sewing on Tapes and Hooks and Eyes
Stitching is witching,” the song book says, and it is true, for after we know that stitch there are a hundred and one things we can do. Some people call it back-stitching and we must try to remember that, so that we shall understand of what they are talking. Get mother to give you a piece of material to practise on that has a stripe in it. Now take your scissors (Figure 9) and cut out two three-inch squares. Baste the two squares together a quarter of an inch from the edge. Hold the square over the first finger of the left hand ready for the back-stitching. Let the basting run up and down over your finger. Start from the top and make a small stitch backward, on the right side of the material, instead of forward as you did in running (Figure 10). Pass the needle under until you have a stitch twice as long on the wrong side as that on the right. Take the next stitch backward close to the end of the last one on the right.
Remember that the stitch you take backward is only half as long as the one you take forward. Stitching always looks very different on the wrong side, but on the right side it ought to look like machine stitching. This stitch might be called the lion stitch, because it is so strong. It is used to join two edges together, as for the seams in bean-bags or cushion covers.
In places where there will not be much strain we use a quicker stitch, which is called the half-back stitch (Figure 11). This is very much like the stitching of which I have been telling you. The wrong side will look about the same, but on the right side instead of the stitches touching there will be a space, then a stitch of equal length.
The next stitch to learn is the combination-stitch, which is made up of both the running and the back-stitch (Figure 12). It is a stitch that is greatly used for sewing long seams, as on underwear. By this stitch we can cover the distance in about half the time that back-stitching would take.
Whenever you can avoid making a knot, do so, because it spoils the look of your work on the wrong side. You can start your work, if it is a seam, for example, by making two or three stitches on top of each other. Follow the thread of the warp or woof of the material as much as possible. After fastening your thread, make two fine running stitches forward and one back. Keep the stitches the same length.
Over-casting is used on unfinished or cut edges to keep them from fraying (Figure 13). The stitches all slant from right to left. Take the stitches one eighth of an inch deep and one quarter of an inch apart.
Over-handing is fine over-casting and used to connect two finished edges together (Figure 14), as when sewing lace on ruffles, or joining selvages. What is the selvage? It is the edge of the warp. The next time mother goes shopping ask her to take you with her. When she tells the salesman she wants so many yards of goods, whether it is for kitchen towels or a dress for herself or for you, notice how the goods is measured. The salesman will measure along one of the finished sides of the goods. These finished edges are called selvages.
Make the stitches in over-handing as small as possible, keeping the stitches even. Sew through both pieces of the material. Hold your work between your thumb and first finger. Here again it is not necessary to make a knot. Let a half-inch of the end of your thread lie on top of the material toward the left side; the over-handing stitches will cover this end. When the over-handing is finished run your thumb-nail along the stitches on the right side. If your stitches are too deep there will be a seam on the wrong side, whereas if the instructions have been followed carefully the material will lie perfectly flat (Figure 15).
Now we are ready to help mother hem the new kitchen towels. First see that the edge you are to hem is straight. If it is not, pull out a thread so as to mark a line to cut by. You must take a thread that runs the entire way across the end of the towel. Cut carefully along the space out of which the thread came. Get a piece of card that has two smooth or straight edges and make a notch one-half inch from the corner (Figure 16). A half-inch hem is the one commonly used on a towel.
If mother likes to have her towels with a wider or narrower hem, notch the card the size she wishes. Turn the material back one-quarter inch and crease it down with your thumb-nail. A second fold is made the width of the hem. Take your measuring card and, placing the end of it on the double edge, see if your hem is exactly the width desired. Baste along the first folded edge to hold the material together for hemming (Figures 17 and 18). Hold the edge to be hemmed toward you. Do not knot your thread. Insert the needle at the extreme right of the hem. Pull the needle through, leaving a little end, as in over-handing, to be fastened down with the hemming itself.
Your needle should slant as shown in the diagram (Figure 19). Take a stitch right through all the thicknesses of the material. Be sure that it goes through to the other side. The fewer the threads taken on the needle at the same time, the neater the result will be. The stitches should slant from right to left. The stitches must be close together if we want fine hemming. Let each stitch be the same size as the other and slant in the same direction. The right side of the hem looks like a row of short dashes.
If your needle gets “sticky” when you are sewing, you should pass it through your emery-bag till it is shiny and sharp again. The needle is apt to get that way if your hands perspire. Ladies who like to keep their sewing looking fresh and white, as if hands had never touched it, find it a good plan to wash their hands in a little vinegar, or lemon and water.
It is very necessary to sit so that the light falls over your left shoulder. A little straight-back chair is another good help in sewing. Do you know that many of our English great-grandmothers had very straight backs? When they were little girls they had to sit on a very straight, tall chair, an hour or two every day. A foot-stool was placed under their feet, and their shoulders strapped against the chair. Of course they did not sit there idle, but a piece of fine sewing was given them to work. You see they did not have the opportunity to run around and play as you have. Their chief recreation was their dancing lesson.
The towel finished, the next thing to learn is how to turn a corner and hem it. Shall we make a cover for Sally Ann’s bed or a dust-cloth for mother? In either case cut a piece of material eighteen inches square and turn a hem and baste it as you did for the towel. The next side is folded the same as the first. The corner should form a perfect square (Figure 20). Sometimes the material is very thick and the hem wide; in that case it is wise to cut a little oblong piece out of the corner as shown in the illustration (Figure 21).
Napkins and table-covers should be sewed with a French hem. Make a turn about a sixteenth of an inch deep. The second turn should be about three sixteenths of an inch wide. Fold the hem back so that it touches the right side of the material. The hem is connected to the material with tiny over-hand stitches. Open the hem, when finished crease with the thumb-nail till it lies perfectly flat.
A pretty new way of finishing a handkerchief is to roll the material for the edge instead of folding it. Over-cast or, as we sometimes say, whip it with delicate-coloured cotton, (Figure 22). The nicest material for handkerchiefs is fine linen, but lawn is cheaper for practice work. Hold the wrong side of the material to you. Then roll about one eighth of an inch between the thumb and first finger of your left hand. Do not roll more than an inch of the hem at a time. Take a needle and thread it with a piece of coloured cotton. In this case it is permissible to make a knot. Insert the needle at the beginning of the roll. Over-cast or whip the rolled edge. The stitches should encircle the roll and not go through it. When the rolled inch is over-casted, roll another inch and repeat in this manner till the whole handkerchief is worked. If you desire, when you have finished one side, you can whip in an opposite direction toward the point at which you started, thus forming a cross with each return stitch (Figure 23).
Lace is sewed to raw edges by rolling and whipping the material and connecting the lace at the same time.
Tapes should be on all towels and on all your skirts and dresses that are to hang on nails or pegs. Take a piece of fine tape about five inches long. Crease one end down one quarter of an inch (Figure 25). If the tape-loop is to be sewed on a towel find the direct centre of the top edge of the towel. Lay the tape with the creased end open flat on the towel (Figure 26). Sew along the creased line with back-stitching. Fold the other end of the tape over, baste it down so that it entirely covers the stitches already made and with small hemming stitches connect the tape to the material (Figure 27). There should be two tape-loops on your dress or separate skirt. There is usually too much weight for only one loop. Place a loop in each armhole of the waist or dress. For the skirt, measure the waist-band and place the loops so that the band is divided in thirds.
Do you know that very few people sew on hooks and eyes properly? Yet there is no difficulty in sewing them correctly and they look much nicer. Take the eye, connect it to the material with two stitches that make a cross. With the same thread pass the needle to the left-hand loop. Insert the needle in the material so that the eye of the needle is within the loop and the point of the needle comes just outside. See that the thread passes from left to right under the point of the needle. Draw the needle through and repeat in this manner until the two loops of the eye are firmly connected to the material. Sometimes it is necessary to cover the upper part of the eye. In that case cover the metal with fine over-and-over stitches as shown in (Figure 28B).
The loop of the hook is sewed on in a very similar manner at the base, while the top of the hook is caught with eight or nine over-and-over-stitches (Figure 29). These stitches are taken under the hook portion and connect the under side only. Measure accurately just where every eye goes and place the hook so that when it meets the eye it will be straight. A sixteenth of an inch out of the way spoils the appearance and is apt to pull the material crooked. Another point to remember is that it is not a good plan to place the eyes on the extreme edge. A margin of some size is most necessary to extend beyond the eyes. Sometimes it is necessary to sew a piece of material so that it extends one inch beyond the eyes if the eyes are sewed on the extreme edge of the finished garment. This piece is called the fly piece.