Inside out! The bits we usually hide.

[Kate XXXXXX]

The insides of three recent projects:

The Tudor Boy's Gown:








The kirtle:






The smock:

[Lady Rosalind]

I find that I like the insides almost as well as the outsides of well made garment! Very nicely done, Kate!!!!

[Jon Foster]

Excellent work! I like the lace edge on the smock.

Jon.

[Lady Kathleen of Olmsted]

Kate always does lovely work!

Hiding stitches is tricky, but it can be done. From a distance, trims and other embellishments look as though they are held together by magic.

[Kate XXXXXX]

I find that I like the insides almost as well as the outsides of well made garment! Very nicely done, Kate!!!!

Me to!  And thank you.

I once gave a jacket for a man's suit, made for a school play, Hong Kong finished seams!  Mad, or what? 

[Kate XXXXXX]

Excellent work! I like the lace edge on the smock.

Jon.

Thanks, Jon.  That was a bit of a cheat: zigzagged on the old Bernina!  A matter of having thread that matched exactly and a steady hand.  You hold the lace next to the finished neck edge and zigzag them together, a bit like a sort of machined whip stitch...

[Kate XXXXXX]

Kate always does lovely work!

Hiding stitches is tricky, but it can be done. From a distance, trims and other embellishments look as though they are held together by magic.

Thank you, Lady K.

I love hiding the stitching...  And hand finishing is sometimes the easy option!

[Adriana Rose]

WOW!!

Since no one has asked how do you do that? My seams always look like poo when they are turned inside out....

Please share your wisdom!

[Auryn]

is it wrong to daydream about seams??

[Kate XXXXXX]

Not wrong at all.  Slightly dotty, maybe...   

Hiding the tatty bits is fairly easy once you get used to it.  Where there;'s a full lining, it;s easy.  You just need to be careful to sew accurately so that the lining seams match with the outer seams where they are supposed to.  When pinning in place, line up the seams first and then you can see where you need to fidget things in a bit...

If I'm flatlining, I tend to either overlock the seam edges or bind them with light weight bias tape.  Or Hong Kong them.  This looks the same from the front but is a bit less bulky on finer fabrics.  The only problem area here is the stitching -in the ditch' - basically, along the line between fabric and tape.

Hiding the stitching takes a little more skill, but it comes with practice.  Where the stitches cannot help but show, like round those kirtle arm holes, choose a thread that matches VERY closely and keep the stitches even and small.  Remember not to pull the thread tight, or you get dimples and ripples...  PRESS CAREFULLY FROM THE WRONG SIDE when finished.

Same goes for the sleeve of the robe, really.  I was lucky to have a good match with the thread, and keeping the stitches small and even certainly helps.

The slip stitch down the fronts of the kirlte lining are easy, but again take a bit of practice as you have to slide the needle between the layers.  It's very easy to go through and have a very obvious stitch on the outside!  But once you can do it right, you could sew a black lining to a scarlet outer with green thread and it shouldn't show at all.

For single layer stuff like the smock, the best way to keep it all flat and tidy is the good old felled seam.