I Know Knot What Top

It’s a technical sewing blog post today.

I traced both the Burda knot top pattern and the Sinclair Patterns Linda twist top this week. The construction methods for each top are quite different, even though the end result is similar. The Burda top has five—five—pattern pieces just for the front, and the neckline is finished with a facing. Those Germans, LOL. They overengineer everything. The Linda top has three pattern pieces total—fronts, back, and sleeves—and the pattern says, ‘Finish the neckline with binding.”

I am going to split some hairs here, although technically, I don’t think this distinction is incorrect. If you specify “binding” in a pattern, I am going to assume that you are referring to a strip of fabric that folds over to enclose a raw edge, like the binding on a quilt. The binding is visible on both front and back. If, on the other hand, you specify a “facing,” I am going to assume you mean a separate piece of fabric sewn to one side of the piece, then turned to the other side where it may or may not be sewn down. That piece of fabric won’t be visible from the public side of the garment. A subtle distinction, perhaps, but they are not the same.

I see a lot of patterns where those terms are used interchangeably. The Linda twist top is one, although Sinclair Patterns is based in Australia, so maybe the convention is different there. Who knows. I saw “binding” as I read through the pattern and thought to myself, “Hey, this would be a great time to try out the binding attachments for my coverstitch machine!” And then I took a little detour.

I’ve had those binding attachments for almost as long as I have had that Janome 3000 coverstitch machine, which will be two years in November. Have I used them? No. In order to be willing to bushwhack my way through a new set of skills, I either have to be in the right mood or it has to be an emergency. (I have been known to schedule a class on a technique just to force myself to learn it.) I haven’t had a good reason to make anything with binding.

One of the benefits of procrastination, though, is that if you wait long enough (like two years or so), other people will have blazed a trail and left signs in the form of YouTube videos and blog posts. Coverstitch machines are fairly new to the domestic market compared to sewing machines and sergers and it has taken some time for the collective body of knowledge to accumulate. I pulled out all my binding attachments. I have three. One does single-fold binding and the other two will do double-fold binding. They differ in what width of finished binding they create—either 9mm, 12mm, or 15mm.

This is what a binding attachment looks like on the machine:

There is a base plate that screws down to the bed, and each specific attachment is screwed down to the base plate. The binding—a narrow strip of fabric usually cut on the crosswise grain—feeds through that gate on the right-hand side and into the triangular-shaped tube, where it is folded into shape. Just in front of the needle, the binding makes a right-hand turn and gets sewn to the main fabric, which is fed in between the layers of binding.

[I bought the $30 binding attachments off Amazon. The Janome-branded attachment (singular) is over $200. I can report that this one works just fine.]

I read several blog posts and watched a couple of YouTube videos. I grabbed some rayon spandex tissue knit that was sitting on my cutting table and cut a strip 1-1/8” wide. That wasn’t necessarily the best choice for my first attempt. A more stable cotton knit would have worked better, but I was curious to see what would happen.

First pass through the machine:

Hmmm. Not bad. It sort of looks like underwear, and indeed, the concept is similar. I needed to dial the differential way down, though, to eliminate that gathering. Also, the strip of rayon fabric needs very little tension on it as it feeds through the binder. I accidentally fed it through so the purl side of the binding was facing out, but I left it that way.

The second attempt was better, although eventually, I dialed down to the lowest differential setting:

And this is what the reverse side looks like:

On single-fold binding, the reverse side isn’t folded like it is on the front. The coverstitches are supposed to cover (get it?) the raw edge. You can see that there is some raw edge sticking out past the line of coverstitches. I think that can be addressed by adjusting the position of the binding as it feeds into the machine.

So back to that Linda top . . . I looked at the pattern more closely. The “neckline binding” is actually a 1” strip of fabric sewn/serged to the right side of the neckline, then turned to the wrong side, the raw edge folded under, and the fabric sewn down, either with machine or coverstitch. Again, I am probably splitting hairs here, but I would call that a facing.

In any case, I think I will start by making the Linda top, as it looks a bit easier. I will play around with the double-fold binding attachments on my machine. I’ve had a few requests to teach a class on coverstitch binding attachments, and this would be a good time to schedule one. I already have first quarter 2024 classes on the calendar. Teachers who submitted proposals for Sew Expo are supposed to be notified by mid-October at the latest.

*****************

I canned 28 quarts of tomato sauce over the past two days. I have another 11-12 quarts ready to can—maybe this afternoon—and there are still a dozen gallon bags of tomatoes in the freezer. I might make salsa with those. Next week is full up, though. Our craft co-op market is next Friday and Saturday. Set-up is on Thursday. I pulled out all my inventory for market yesterday. It’s in piles in the living room waiting to be priced. I also finished a stack of potholders.

I’ll be at market on Friday but I’m teaching a class on Saturday. I didn’t intend to double-book myself, but Saturday class slots are scarcer than hens’ teeth and I took that spot when it was offered to me.