Replies

1. 
   SEWSERIOU1 | Aug 08, 2003 02:07pm | #1

   I am not sure that you are really referring to a true picot edge.  I imagine it might actually be a shell stitch.  Can you find a picture of the edge finish and let us see it? 

   As far as I know, a picot stitch can be duplicated on a machine, but I have not seen the instructions on the 'net, only books overing the technique.

   The following website shows a picture of a picot edge. 

   http://americanribbon.com/Images/PetitePic06B.jpg

1. 
   Mala | Aug 09, 2003 07:00pm | #2

   yes, your picture shows ribbon with picots. the term comes from lacemaking i think, a loop of twisted thread, and is used in crochet also. i will explain why i think what i describe was so called, though it does not fit closely.

   but first. i cannot show a picture. as i said this was just a memory until recently when i saw it on an Anne Klein blouse in my local mall. in a hurry at the time, i planned to come back in a few days to examine and make a drawing. when i did the blouses were all sold. it did seem exactly as i remembered from an eau-de-nile crepe dress my mother made for me and my sister.

   she took the un-finished dresses with collar and patch pocket pieces, to the local Singer Sewing Center (i was with her) and in a day or two collected them. the patch pockets and collar had been edged (in ecru thread) with a stitch that bound the edges, perfectly flat, with no turn under. the ecru colour of the stitches was visible - picture a slightly frosted edge - and the cut edges of the fabric showed, barely visible, as a minute tuft between each stitch. i suppose this tuft could be seen as a 'picot' because, while not a loop, it did stand proud of the edge. i do remember Singer called it a 'picot edge' or 'picot hem'.

   i heard my mother and her friends discussing this new wonder and one of them speculating that it was some kind of hem stitch that was 'cut through'. however this was done, it was done on a 40s Singer machine.

   my original letter to Threads got this reply from April Mohr.

   You're right the picot edge has been around for a long time. The famous designer Vionnet used picot edges on sheer fabrics. This would be a great topic to bring up on our discussion board Gatherings...

   i don't know what Vionnet's picot edge was like but i'm willing to bet it was not a shell edge.

   i have carried this small quest in my head for over 50 years! besides dressmaking i can see uses for it in heirloom sewing. i am hoping you and our fellow sewers and Threads readers can help me finally track it down.

   Mala.

1. 
   SEWSERIOU1 | Aug 09, 2003 11:16pm | #3

   Here is part of the mystery solved.  I did a google search on singer picot machine and here is what I came up with.  Singer had a hemstitcher/picot edger attachment for their sewing machines.  See a picture of it here.  http://www.ismacs.net/singer/hemstitcher.shtml

1. 
   SewTruTerry | Sep 16, 2003 02:22am | #4

   I am so glad that I opened your attachement and took time for it to load.  When I get done here and get dinner on the table for the DF I am going to look at my attachments that I got with my Featherweight I think I might just have the attachment that you are talking about and never new exactly what it was or how to work it.  My day just keeps getting better and better.

1. 
   rjf | Sep 16, 2003 02:59pm | #5

   It's a really interesting gizmo, isn't it.  At first glance, it looks like the ruffler attachment that came with my Singer in the early 60's.  That worked fine but I'd never heard of the picot edge attachment or seen anything produced with it.  I hope you'll post a picture if you get results.  Question:  Won't a serger do the same task?  (if one had a serger)      rjf

2. 
   SewTruTerry | Sep 16, 2003 03:06pm | #6

   No a serger doesn't do the same thing.  I still haven't had time to look for it because as soon as I had time it was midnight and time to get to bed.  Got 2 more orders last night for embroidered shirts so was working on them.