How to sew understitching like the professionals 

I am a newbie and as I was watching the video I did wonder, could you please answer it, please? Thank you in advance!

Yes this felt incomplete

Th seam allowance faces away from the garment edge, and is understitched. This will force the facing to stay in place.

Are you stitching in the ditch (seam)?

You sew 1/16" away from the seam with the seam allowances underneath so they're caught in the stitching.

You don't need to clip curved seams if the seam allowance is narrow enough. Home sewing patterns always make the seam allowances way too big.

I will do this next time! Thanks for your advice!

Thank you! Now I will never forget it!

Loads of tutorials on RU-vid.

I learned it when studying evening gown construction, until then I had never heard of it! To get even more stretch, they often sew bias cut interfacing into the neckline of garments with really extreme curves like strapless sweetheart necklines. The bias helps add even another layer of stretchiness into the equation!

@@french.meadows Yes! A similar technique using bias cut interfacing is used in tailoring of men’s suit jackets to accommodate the curvature over the chest muscles.

Thank you 🥹

I'm so glad it was helpful :)

Thank you! How close are you to the seam as you are understitching?

I stitch about 1/16" away

Very interesting! I didn't know if there was an exact term for the technique!

Hmmm…I read your comment twice just to be sure I correctly perceived it. “Seam reinforcement” as you described in your comment seems to be different than what was demonstrated in this video. What you described in your comment is what I know as “stitching in the ditch,” which is stitching on the actual seam line where the threads that join the two pieces are. In quilting, if you actually press the seams open after joining two pieces of fabric versus pressing the seam allowance to one side or the other, “stitching in the ditch” is discouraged because the needle may literally cut or otherwise damage the threads of the original join. By doing so, you actually weaken the join, not reinforce it. That’s why, in quilting, we’re taught to press the entire seam to one side or the other; typically the side of the darkest fabric so the seam allowance doesn’t ghost and show to the topside (“right side”) of the finished quilt. What was demonstrated in this video is different than what you described in your comment because she pulled on both sides of the joined pieces while stitching on three layers - the seam ALLOWANCE plus the facing piece, I.e. understitching. In my opinion or assessment of what you described in your comment and what she demonstrated here, her method seems to be preferred over stitching in the ditch to minimize gaping of curved areas on the body. But I’ll definitely be testing the two methods for myself and will switch to a ballpoint or jersey needle when stitching in the seam line (“stitching in the ditch”) to minimize thread damage within the original join. Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful technique with all of us!

@@french.meadows I looked this up again today using chat GPT and got yet another result for a term; Ah, I understand now. You're describing the technique known as "stretching the seam." It involves manually pulling the previously stitched pieces apart while sewing over the seam again. This creates slight gathers or gathers, which help to reduce gaping on curved seams by distributing the excess fabric more evenly. This is crazy that there is no term gor this because when I saw your video I was thinking “stitch in the ditch” but then you pulled the fabric apart and then I was thinking “I’ve never seen this before so this isn’t stitch in the ditch”. Sorry, I really did t mean to start out as THAT PERSON…. I’m not handing out know it all things but this was out of the desire to correct my own terminology and anything I improperly learned. I used chat GPT as my tool for discovery. So I tried again today and, drumroll, got yet again a DIFFERENT TERM. Ugh. As follows; Ah, I u nderstand now. You're describing the technique known as "stretching the seam." It involves manually pulling the previously stitched pieces apart while sewing over the seam again. This creates slight gathers or gathers, which help to reduce gaping on curved seams by distributing the excess fabric more evenly.. Personally, I can get with this last term the best but, I still would like a ruling. 😂 Confusion not clearing up and I’m thinking that’s okay because I’m going to use Stretching the seam as it seems to follow the sewing descriptions of stitch in the ditch and other terms. Seam reinforcement doesn’t do it for me. I used chat gpt as google gave me nothing as well as every other sewing terminology website.

@@GayleHallAZ You may want to re read. Stitching in the ditch is typically used when attaching a waistband. It hides the additional stitching on the shown side while attaching the hidden side of the waistband. I also didn’t see any facing applied in this video. One question I DID have in this video was if the seam allowance was also separated. Other than that, I’m just looking for a term for this wonderful technique. I haven’t found one yet. Closest I’ve got was “ stretching the seam”this morning and I think I can be comfortable with this. In my research, google yielded nothing so I’ve been using chat gpt.

People like Gertie Hersch from Charm Patterns, Evelyn Wood from Vintage Sewing school, Professor Pincushion, Sew Anastasia, etc all call it understitching. Many of them have written books on sewing, otherwise own sewing schools. It's also called understitching in both New Look and Vogue pattern instructions. I have never once heard or seen it referred to as "stitching the seam." But let's trust Google over Vogue.

Thanks for your feedback! This video assumes you already know the technique of understitching i.e. where to apply the stitch, but yes, I need to work on my camera angles!

You can magnify the view to see more detail.

Understitching is a standard technique most people who make clothes are familiar with. If you didn't know what it was, you could have easily looked it up. This wasn't an understitching tutorial.

You don't need to press it first, and the understitching actually makes it much easier to press afterwards because it flattens the seam out

It depends on the size of your seam allowance. A small seam allowance may curve properly and not need any additional attention. RTW and European patterns don’t uniformly use the same size for all seams.

Thanks

I love my Juki! I've had it for over 6 years now with no issues. However, it is a lockstitch machine, so it's not very useful for stretchy fabrics. If you mostly sew stretchy fabrics, a domestic machine with many different stitch types will be better for you. If you want an industrial machine, you will probably need a combination of a serger and a coverstitch machine to sew stretchy fabrics.

I would say just out! You shouldn’t need to push anything through the machine, it will do that for you ☺️

@@french.meadows thank you!! Excited to try this!✨

I will work on this! I had the microphone clipped to my shirt but it wasn't actually working 🥲

I've got a Juki DDL 8700 and I love it!

I was wondering this as well.

Since the seam allowance is only 1/4” to begin with I don’t find trimming or clipping the inner seam necessary. I find it’s easier to catch the fabric in the understitch correctly if you do not trim it. If your seam allowance is more than 1/4” you should definitely trim it on any curved seams though!

It's because "home sewing" and "professional sewing" do things differently. It sounds like you're talking about "grading" the seam allowance (where you trim one side shorter than the other). "Grading" seam allowances and clipping curves are mostly home sewing techniques. Professional patterns would just use a narrow seam allowance (like 1/8" to 1/4") for curves like this. A narrow seam is easier, plus it lays flatter and makes a nicer curve (no "points" where the clips are) and you don't get the "notches" leaving visible impressions on the shell fabric when it's pressed. (I should say, professional patterns might need clipping in some places, but it's one of many "techniques" home sewing patterns rely on excessively to make up for bad engineering.)

She has 781 subs and, it's a video about understiching not stay stiching. Give her a break!

Because there's no need to stay stitch it. The seam that attaches the facing to the shell stabilizes at exactly the same way stay stitching would.

Thank you for your feedback! I am still learning this whole camera/filming thing 😅

You can turn on the closed captions

Well, turn up the volume! Bless your heart.