Hands-On With Kleibacker: Lessons for Working with a Bias

comments (19) January 6th, 2010 in sewing, design, garment construction, embellishments

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In the Kleibacker studio, all neckline (and top back edges to many designs) were eased with seam tape to reinforce them and prevent any possibility of stretching. For the muslin, the seamline at the bust was eased differently. Here, a tiny hand-sewn running stitch was made both at the seamline and just above it in the seam allowance. These two threads were pulled to the desired measurement. The fabric was carefully pressed on the wrong side and then pinned to the corresponding seamline for slip-basting.

To Slip-Baste A Right-Side Pinned Seam

After carefully pinning any seam from the RS to establish its position or to arrange an eased seam, slip-baste by working a short needle through the bottom layer, using a running stitch that comes up into the edge-fold of the top layer.

 

When ready to sew, turn garment inside out, and unfold the seam allowance. Then machine-stitch on top of the slip-basting. Slip-bastings must be removed before you press the seams.

 

Lesson 5 - Baste some bias seams before cutting, and stretch them while machine-stitching.

After transferring the seamlines from the pattern to the layers of fabric positioned right sides together as described in lesson 1, the bias seams were always hand-basted while still flat on the cutting table and before the pieces were cut because bias edges tend to stretch once cut. Certain bias seams, typically center-front and center-back seams, edges of sashes and bands, and the narrow cording often called "spaghetti straps" were also stretched during the machine-stitching process, ensuring the seams would never break. (Bias seams joining asymmetrical pieces were usually not stretched.) To allow for this intense stretching, such seams must first be hand-basted with short, overlapping running stitches. To do this, start at the seam end with a knot, baste about 6 inches, and cut the thread. Then, without knotting the end, baste another 6 inches, overlapping the last few stitches of the preceding basting. Repeat about every 6 inches, tightly securing the basting at the very end. To make spaghetti straps, cut true bias strips 3/4 inch wide, fold them in half lengthwise, hand-baste with overlapping running stitches, and then stretch as strongly as possibly while machine-stitching along the center of the strip. Turn without trimming the seam allowances, allowing them to fill the turned tube. For maximum skinniness, stretch the straps on the ironing board, pinning the ends. Steam heavily by holding the iron closely above them, restretch, and let them dry.

Sew short overlapping lengths of basting stitches before stretching fabric, and stretch the strap while machine-stitching.

 

Stretch the strap while machine-stitching.

 

Charles Kleibacker stretches a bias band after it has been machine-stitched to make sure it shows no signs of broken thread.

 

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