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In the world of couture, many sewing is done byhand. The advantages of hand sewing are:You have much more control over shaping thegarment,

You can reach places and sew by hand whereyou can't come with your sewing machine,You can sew very precisely,When you need to remove stitches, thedamage to the fabric is less than with stitchesdone with a sewing machine. This is becausethe sewing by hand is done with one singlethread, by machine it is always with two.

Masterclass Lesson nr. 3Hand stitching

What I love about hand sewing is that it can be very relaxing :) Turn on the radio and just go withthe flow. Before you know it time has passed without noticing.

The Dressmakers Academy

© THE DRESSMAKERS ACADEMY 2019

In couture, handstitching is used to mark the patterns by thread tracing. I use thread tracing quitoften when I make a garment because you can see all marks and pattern lines on both sides ofthe fabric, a big advantage to using tailors chalk. For this technique a double cotton bastingthread is used. I have made a nice video on how to thread trace: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muNrmdx1x44&t=3sPlease watch the whole video :)

I Here an example of athread traced part of askirt pattern. The threadtracing can be seen onboth sides of the fabric.At one side as astitchline, and at oneside as little cut threads.Very handy because youcan see very well whatthe right side and wrongside of the fabric is.

THREAD TRACING

The Dressmakers Academy

© THE DRESSMAKERS ACADEMY 2019

THE BACKSTITCH

I The back stitch is the strongest stitch for hand sewing. This stitch is used for setting sleeves and forsewing zippers in garments. Again the stitch is very easy to apply but very useful in hand sewing. Tomake the stitch even stronger, bees wax is often used on the thread. Here you can see how to sew the backstitch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnpXC1dXcIg

The Dressmakers Academy

© THE DRESSMAKERS ACADEMY 2019

THE FLANNEL STITCH

The flannel stitch is used to hold one edge of the fabric flat against the other. It is an very elastic stitchthat moves with the seam when you wear your garment. So perfect for seams of coats and skirts, butalso for example to attach a facing to the garment. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2xP9Gorgf8

The Dressmakers Academy

© THE DRESSMAKERS ACADEMY 2019

THE HALF LADDER STITCH

I use this stitch often to close a seam on the right side of the fabric. It can become invisible when doneprecisely: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gv4URGapTE On below picture I used a half ladder stitch to attach the lining to the zipper.

The Dressmakers Academy

© THE DRESSMAKERS ACADEMY 2019

THE USE OF BEESWAX

To strengthen your thread and to prevent it from tangling, beeswax can be used. How to use beeswax:Pull your thread through a piece of beeswax and place it on a piece of kitchenpaper/tissue.  Now use ahot iron to melt the wax into your thread and voilà! Your thread is ready! Very handy for thread tracing (your thread will not tangle), setting in sleeves and sewing buttons on aheavy winter coat (the thread will give extra strenght).Tip: Because it is often hard to find tailors bees wax, I use beeswax candles for my sewing. I meltthem in a pan on hot water and when liquid, I poor the hot wax in a silicon ice cube tray. Let cool downand your wax is ready for use.