For today’s “Doll Clothes Sewing Chat,” let’s talk about finishing off a seam. Personally, I use a backstitch, so I’m going to define what that means to me before we get the chat underway…
DEFINITION:
A backstitch is when you stitch in one direction, you stitch backwards from there, and then you stitch in the forward direction again. This can be done by hand or on a sewing machine.
This is my own definition, but you can find the Collins Dictionary definition here as well.
The video above comes from the Let’s Learn to Sew YouTube channel.
At the start of 2024, a lady named Ann used my website’s contact form to send me the following question: “I was just wondering if I have to finish off my seams, and if yes, then how? I really don’t want my seams to come undone if the fabric is fraying… And when cutting the seams, how close to the seam should I cut? As close as possible or keep a few millimeters?”
What a great question! It took me a while to get around to it, but I really wanted to share this question (and the answer I gave her via email) with all of you in a blog post. So my correspondence with Ann has been sitting in my gmail inbox since January, to help me remember to do a blog post on this topic.
Before we tackle the answer to this question, I need to make my required disclaimer statement: As an Amazon affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases. To learn more about how affiliate marketing works on my website, please go to the Privacy Policy page. Thank you!
Ann’s first question is about finishing off the seams. She was worried that her seams would come undone.
When using a sewing machine, I finish off my seams with a backstitch. To explain what I mean by that: at the start of a stitch, I sew, reverse stitch for half a dozen stitches, and then continue sewing. When I get to the end of a seam, I do this again. This effectively creates a sewing machine style “knot” that makes it hard for your seams to come undone.
Finishing seams when sewing by hand is as simple as tying a knot, both at the start of my stitching and at the end of my stitching. If you need help tying a knot with a needle and thread, you may find this tutorial video helpful.
It’s an older video, so my videography on that one isn’t the best, but as I’ve said in other blog posts, I’m working on updating these older tutorials.
When sewing by hand, I also use a handstiching backstitch to make it less likely that my seams will come apart, and I always double my thread, using two strands of thread rather than one. Here’s how you do a backstitch, when sewing by hand (or when you embroider by hand):
When sewing clothes for a human being, we sometimes use an interlocking stitch to finish off seams. This is especially helpful when working with jersey fabric or a fabric that frays.
That’s because the clothes we make for human beings will be worn a lot, washed in the laundry, and they must feel comfortable when being worn.
However doll clothes serve a different purpose. Yes, they will be taken off the doll and put back on the doll a lot, but they will rarely be washed, if ever, and they don’t have to “feel comfortable” against the doll’s skin.
Furthermore, people’s clothes require a 5/8 inch (15-16 mm) seam allowance, whereas doll clothes use a much smaller seam allowance. A lot of my doll clothes sewing patterns use a mere 4 mm seam allowance. My sewing machine doesn’t even offer an interlocking stitch that small!
So to ensure that my doll clothes’ seams don’t unravel, I nearly always use double-fold hems, and I make a lot of patterns that are designed to use a lining.
Ann’s second question was about cutting seams. I think you may mean “clipping” the seams. These are tiny little cuts that we make, usually when the seam is curved, to allow “give” in the garment.
When you clip seams, it’s up to you to decide how close you want to get to the actual seam. Some people who are afraid they will cut right through the seam will use a type of scissors called “pinking shears” instead of clipping seams. They cut the whole garment out with pinking shears, which creates a zigzag edge to the garment piece. Then they don’t have to clip seams at all.
I find pinking shears to be too bulky and clunky when I’m cutting out tiny doll clothes, but not everyone feels this way.
So instead of using pinking shears, I choose to use my Fiskars Mini scissors to clip my seams VERY close to the seam itself. On rare occasions I have actually cut through the seam. That happens to me about once every two or three years, and sometimes I have to start all over because of it! But sometimes I just make it work by using my seam ripper (AKA unpicker) and re-sewing a garment piece.
It does help to use the little tiny scissors (Fiskars Minis). These will give you more control as you clip seams.
DISCUSSION QUESTION:
How about you? How do you finish off your seams? And do you use pinking shears when sewing doll clothes, or do you clip your seams, or maybe you do both? Please add your advice/suggestions/ideas in the comments section below! Let’s have a doll clothes “sewing chat,” so we can all learn from each other!
Come back to this blog post at the end of the coming week, and see what comments other people left!
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Chelly Wood and the ChellyWood.com website are not affiliated with any of the doll or toy companies mentioned in this blog post, but Chelly enjoys designing her doll clothes to fit a variety of dolls. To learn more about the doll companies mentioned in today’s post, please visit the doll or toy company’s website.
If I am making a doll outfit with a very ravelly fabric, i sew my seam n then i zigzag stitch the edges.
I know a lot of people use the zigzag stitch effectively with doll clothes, but I agree with you that it’s especially helpful when sewing with fabric that tends to unravel.
I do a backstretch at the end of a seam. Sometimes I will tie off instead. Depends on the fabric. I will use pinking shears to cut out a pattern if the fabric frays a lot. I do snip close to a seam on a curve. I line most of my outfits as well. Whatever is appropriate for the fabric at the time.
I use a variety of different methods too. The more methods I try, the better I get at judging how to finish off my seams. And like you, it often depends on the fabric.
I recently ordered a 3mm ‘roll’ hemmer for the Barbie clothes I’m making for my granddaughter. Haven’t used it yet. Any tips on how that will work for hems?
Most of your commercially-made Barbie clothes patterns are going to have a seam allowance for a single-fold hem. In order to use a double-fold or “rolled” hem, you’ll want to extend your Barbie clothes’ hemline, cutting the pattern pieces 1/4 inch longer on all outside edges.
My patterns already allow for a longer hem, unless they’re lined garments.
I learn something every day! Please expand on the ‘rolled hem’.. how and where to use, advantages etc. Thanks
Here’s a link to a tutorial on a rolled hem.
The primary advantage of a double-fold (or “rolled”) hem is that your fabric won’t get little strings hanging from it when kids play with their doll’s clothes.