Clipping and Notching Your Hills and Valleys....
Friday, 14 September 2012
Many times I get an email from someone asking me "Do I really need to clip seams?" or How do I "Clip Seams".....YES! If you want a professional finish, you DO ....BUT never fear...the process is so simply! It makes a HUGE difference to the way your finished project will look.....and that is wether you are making a BAG or some other sewing project!
So just HOW and WHERE do you need to Clip?
In any typical project you might have what are often referred to as hills and valleys. Like in this bag I am currently working on:
So do you need to treat the hills and valleys differently? YES...you do! The hills, so to speak, need to be notched....i.e. you need to cut little triangles out of the seam allowance to remove the bulk of the fabric so that once these hills are turned, your seam will lay nice and flat by giving the extra fabric somewhere to go:
This isn't the best photo in the world...LOL...But hopefully you can see that the once turned, the notches are closing up so you don't get excess fabric bunching up:
A Nifty trick for your hills is to use Pinking Shears, like this:
Pinking is GREAT where you have a tight hill like the one shown! There is a LOT of bulk in such a hill and the pinking shears does a great job of removing it for a super flat finish! :)
The valleys however, need to be clipped, i.e. take your sissors and simply snip in towards the seam allowance..... so that once turned, the seam allowance can spread apart a little and will be able to lay flat and not pucker up!
In the photo you can see (Hopefully! LOL) that the notches are opening up as the fabric stretches, avoiding puckering:
Always make sure you do NOT cut into your seams stitches! You can always stitch over your seam a second time after notching and clipping if you suspect you have clipped or notched your seam by accident or if you just want to be sure you won't have any problems!
Simple BUT the results are well worth the effort so next time you think you will take a shortcut and skip this step, don't! You will be glad you made the extra effort! :)
Happy sewing!