You know how sometimes you meet someone, and there is an instant “click”, and you can talk and laugh together as if you have known each other forever? I often have that experience with my sewing students, and sometimes we squeeze the sewing in between our conversations about life.
Enter Michelle. She contacted me about learning to sew, we set up a few lessons, and she was off and running. Like many of my students, she made “pajama” pants. Which means of course any pant that is kind of loose around the legs, with an elastic or elastic/tie waist, and appropriate for both sleepwear and other uses depending on the fabric. We did actually manage to get the pants constructed, in between solving many life problems. Think about it people—sewing is WAY cheaper than therapy and more fun too! (So far no one has cried in my sewing studio. Fingers crossed! 🙂 )
At her final lesson, I showed Michelle how to do a “double turned” hem and stitch it using the blind hem foot. I love this technique, and it almost always produces flawless, straight stitching on your hem allowance. Turn the hem allowance twice and press. Insert blind hem foot on sewing machine, move needle one position to the right, place hem edge against blind hem foot guide, and stitch with a straight stitch of any stitch length you prefer. Simple enough, right? I have done this same technique on various parts of garments with plenty-o students.
After I got her started by demoing the technique, Michelle took over and stitched away. Did I mention that Michelle was using cotton lawn fabric? When I checked her stitching, she had a few spots where the stitching was only on the “garment” side and not on the hem. Decorative, maybe, but not functional at holding the hem in place. So I had her stitch again. And again. And pretty soon we could not stop laughing. Channel stitching, Michelle—that is what you are doing on your pant leg hem! I am not sure how many times she went around her pant leg before I stepped in to help, but the laughter quotient was very high. Always a great way to end a lesson. Thanks for the fun, Michelle! I hope you enjoy wearing your pants. (Yes, we did move the needle 2 positions to the right for the second pant leg. More effective, but not nearly as fun-filled. 😉 )
Happy sewing!
Maris Olsen