This is a special weekend, because I have my overlocker back! The lovely man at Maury Sewing Machines in Hackney patched it up real good for me, and also gave it some general TLC – sharpening the blade, changing the bulb and giving it all a nice clean and oil. It’s like a new machine and I’m so glad to have it back in working order for only £50. I’ve spent all weekend sewing up the pretty knits in my stash into some much-needed basics to replenish my Kondo-ed wardrobe – tees, sweaters and casual dresses. I’ll share them soon, but for now I have a quick tip on how to speed up your overlocking process a bit by weaving in thread tails as you sew.
I first saw this technique mentioned as an aside during Heather’s Ginger sewalong, and it’s also outlined in the Simplicity sewing book, which of all my reference books is the one with some really handy tips, especially in the overlocker chapter. It’s a really useful time-saver to neatly finish an overlocked/serged seam wherever you’ll be leaving the start of the seam open (ie not crossed over by another seam) in the finished garment. For example at the shoulder seam if you sew on a neckband in the flat, a sleeve seam with a flat-set cuff, or some types of pocket bag. I hope the photos and descriptions make sense, shout in the comments if not!
1. Make sure you have a decent length of thread chain (a couple of inches) coming off the machine before you start sewing. Now feed in the seam and sew the first 1 or 2mm, so the needle is only just engaged with the fabric. Stop and hand-crank the needles to the down position if they aren’t already.
2. Raise the presser foot. Grab the thread tail and pull it round the left-hand side to the front. You want to pull pretty tight so that any stitches on the little prongs behind the needles fall off and become taut.
3. Pull that tail right around to the front so it’s in front of the presser foot in line with your stitching line. Lower the presser foot again.
4. Now keep sewing, and your thread tail will get caught in the seam as you sew it. After a couple of inches you can pull it off the right-hand side so the excess is cut off by the blade.
The result! Tidy seam edge, zero effort. Will you be giving this a go?
I’ll definitely be trying this! Thanks very much.
Nice trick, I will certainly try that! Working with an overlocker is relatively new for me and I spend ages tucking the tails in with a needle.
Great tutorial Katie! The photos and explanations are super clean and helpful – I will definitely be usinc this the next time I serge up something :)
Oops, that should be *clear and *using … I haven’t had my coffee yet….
so much easier than what I’ve been doing, thanks
A great tutorial Katie – unfortunately I haven’t got an overlocker of my own but I have access to one at work – so think I’ll use this neat little tip on my next serging adventure!
Love it, pure and simple as all the best tips are.
bestest daisy
Ps bought the book after reading your post and have ‘kondo-ed’ my bookshelf woweeee!
Fab, your bookshelf looks gorgeous!
Why have I never thought of this! So clever!!! LOVING the orange fabric you’re stitching, BTW!
I’m obsessed with this colour right now! Made a coat, t-shirt and dress all in bright rusty orange.
Great tip – thanks Katie!
Great tip, will definitely try this next time mine’s out.
Oh my god. I don’t know how I didn’t know this. I’ve been meticulously tying off the ends every time. Thank you for this time saving tip!
That was my reaction too – ‘whyyy didn’t I know this ages ago!’. Hope it works out for you!
yes! Yes I will be giving this a go! Such a great idea :) thank you for sharing xxx
Ooooooh! I’m a disaster for sewing but all tips are welcome, so thank you very much! With love,
Vera
http://theflashwindow.weebly.com/
Brilliant. Can’t believe I’m not already doing this. My usual routine is to go back and zig zag stitch the end in place over the serged seam. It ends up looking like your technique but is a lot more work . THANK YOU for sharing this!
I used to do this sometimes as well. Definitely saves time not flipping between machines!
Indeed I shall. Nice one! Thanks!
Just tried this – thank you so much.
Oh awesome! I remember my theater costuming professor showed me this, but of course I forgot. Now I’ll start using this method again! Thank you.
Carla, TinyAngryCrafter
Fantastic tip! Overlocker tails totally bug me so I’m totally trying this. Thanks Katie
i will definitely be giving this a go! Thank you for the tip!
Great tip, thanks! I’ll be trying this :)
Great tip! Do you still finish off the end of the seam with a needle as usual?
What I sometimes do at the end (another tip from the Simplicity book) is to flip my work around while it’s still attached to the machine, sew back up the seam a bit, then run off the edge. You can’t enclose the loose threads, but it’s cleaner to weave them in if they’re a couple of inches from the edge. Does that make sense? Maybe I’ll photograph that too!
It’s rare however that *both* ends of a seam would be loose in the final garment, so I just make sure to sew in the right direction so I have the clean starting edge where I need it.
awesome! thank you for the tip! I was looking for exactly this!
That’s a great tip – thank you! No more threading them in with a tapestry needle! :-)
Wow! This is so helpful! I can’t believe I haven’t been doing this all along. :-)
Very, very useful tip! I usually tie my overlocker ends or if I’m especially lazy, just chop them off and hope for the best (ahem)! This will give a much more professional finish. x
Erm yeah I’ve definitely snipped and dabbed with fray check in the past. No more though!
Ooh, what a smart technique! I’ll definitely try that. Weaving in ends is one of my least favorite sewing activities, even though it doesn’t take that long…
Hi Katie,
I would love to team up with you on the blogging. Can you please get in touch with me?
Best regards
Kate
http://Www.theonewithart.com
Amazing!! Thank you for the tip! x
Mind…BLOWN! Thanks!
So cool! Thanks for sharing your wisdom, will definitely give this a try! :-)