For the at-home seamstress, using these ten industrial sewing techniques can take your project to the next level in professionalism. These tips are easy to follow when sewing cotton, canvas, and many other fabrics. For your next textile project, contact Commercial Bag and Supply.
Industrial Sewing Techniques Guide
- Reduce your seam allowances. Typical home sewing patterns have seam allowances of 5/8″. For collars, cuffs, and waistbands, this larger allowance often results in the garment looking bulky. Reducing the seam allowance on enclosed seams to 1/4″ will save you time on trimming, grading, notching, and clipping.
- Mark your notches by using 1/8″ nips. Rather than cutting diamond shapes, nipping will make your seams less susceptible to fraying.
- Instead of pinning down your pattern to the fabric, hold it down with weights.
- Make sure your piece of fabric is large enough that you can cut and mark all the pieces needed at once.
- Sewing continuously will result in a cleaner looking final product. Butt your pieces end to end and stitch from one seam to another. When you get to the pressing station, then you can cut them apart.
- Try to sew as many seams as you can before the initial pressing.
- Save time by sewing flat. Sew the details first (collar, cuffs, waistband,etc.), then move on to the rest of the garment. Do as much sewing as you can before you sew together the side seams.
- Sew buttonholes. When you’re ready to put the actual buttons on, open the holes with a punch rather than a seam ripper.
- Avoid using pins as it distorts seams and slows down the process. Match corners at the start and finish of seams. Use both hands to sew and keep raw edges matched while sewing.
- During the final pressing, start with the details. Move to the sleeves and the body. Press your buttons from the wrong side. Allow pressed areas to cool down before you begin pressing a new section.
