Beginners Sewing Course - Day 4 (zigzag stitches) Video Lecture | Sewing: A Tutorial for Beginners - Fashion Designing

hello and welcome to day four of our
beginners crash course in sewing so what
I really wanted to cover today with some
other stitches on the machine because I
know most of you look at the sewing
machine and you've got so many stitches
and sometimes that can be a little bit
overwhelming so I wanted to go through
the other stitches that really you need
to know about and they're predominately
the zig-zag stitch so we're going to
have a little look at the standard
zigzag and the 3-step zigzag and see
where we would use these stitches and
how they're going to help you with your
projects so join me back here at the
sewing machine so we can get started
before we move on to sewing on the
machine I wanted to have a little
refresh over the buttons and things that
you may need to change when working with
a zig-zag stitch now we're going to be
firstly it's working with the standard
zig-zag stitch which is number two on
our grid of stitches here the standard
zig-zag stitch moves from left to right
with each individual stitch so we need
to change our stitch selector button to
number two obviously I would recommend
that you check your own individual
machine to see where you need to make
the changes for this now I want to point
out where you will be changing the
length and the width for this stitch as
we discuss this whilst we're sewing now
this button here will be to change the
length of the stitch and the little
green dial here will be used to change
the width of the stitch so check with
your machine check the things that you
need to know and join me back here so we
can get started now we're going to start
sewing this exact stitch we're going to
start by positioning the foot on the
machine down holding the threads with
the left hand and turning the hand wheel
on the right of the machine to position
the needle into the fabric and this is
the best way to always start your sewing
now we're going to have a little go
sewing down this length of fabric with
our zig-zag stitch now I'm starting my
stitch on a one millimeter length and
five millimeter width as an example so
you will notice that the needle will
move from left to right
in the foot you're completing the search
now you may find you need to go
backwards and forwards it really depends
on what you're using or zig-zag stitch
for predominantly they're used for sort
of a pique or decorative designs so you
will find that you don't need to
necessarily have a guide on this edge
here you will be following something on
your fabric that you wish to adhere to
the fabric or to decorate now what I
really want from youth with this stitch
is to really have a play with your
machine and the width and length
settings so that you can get to know how
they work
so for example let's change our width
here and let's move our width down to
say two millimeters and you'll see all
of a sudden that the needle is now not
moving from as far left to right as it
was previously it's a much smaller width
to the zig-zag now what I would
recommend that you do is that you create
a line of stitching where you were just
the width gradually of the zigzag and
then do the same way you adjust the
length so that you can have a play with
how the settings work on your machine if
you join me back here in a second I'll
show you a couple of the settings that
I've used for the zigzag and what you
may use them for now I want you to have
a play with the zig-zag stitch have a go
at changing the width and the lens and
see how the stitch changes now on this
line here I've had a go at changing the
length of the stitch I started with a
one millimeter lens move to 2.5
millimeters and finally to four
millimeters and you can see how the
stitch has actually spread out on this
side I worked at changing the width of
the stitch and I started with five
millimeters move to 2.5 and then finally
0.5 millimeters and you can see how the
width of the stitch has changed have a
go at this and actually understand how
the machine is changing the width in the
lens and how that can affect the stitch
that the machine is producing so what do
I tend to use these stitches for now
I've got a couple of examples here and
these are the things that I do use quite
readily now the first one is something
that I use when I may be decorating a
product or I want to do some applique in
this case the width of the stitch is 5
meters and the length of the stitches 1
millimeter you want to have the width of
the stitch rather wide when working with
the pre-k so that it is picking up the
fabric that you are applying but you
want the length of the stitch to be
quite close together so that it hides
any of the fraying edges of the fabric
now another thing that I use very often
really is a stitch that would allow me
to sew on stretch knit fabrics ok so
that's a slightly more advanced
technique working with stretch knits but
this is a stitch that you can use when
working with them so that you still have
a little bit of stretch in the fabric
because if you're just working with a
straight stitch it can stop any stretch
taking place and can eventually break
your product so here we're working with
a width of 0.5 millimeters and a length
of 2.5 millimeters so you've got a
pretty much a straight stitch with a
tiny little zigzag in it which would
allow a slight amount of stretch to take
place finally the other thing that I
tend to use the zigzag for is to
finishing garments if you haven't got an
overlocker present now join me back here
in a second and I will show you how to
use that I also wants to go through with
you a little zig-zag stitch that you can
use to finish the edge of fabric if you
don't have an overlocker I want to
prevent it from fraying
now using the standard zig-zag stitch
we're going to change the length to 1.5
and the width to 2 millimeters as before
we're going to start with our foot down
hold on to the threads to position the
needle into the fabric now what I tend
to do here is actually line up the edge
of my foot with the edge of the fabric
because what would have happened is that
you would have already sewn your seam
and you would actually be doing this to
the seam allowances of a garment to stop
them from fraying so you would have had
a 5/8 or 1.5 centimeters seen and we're
going to be doing this in the seam
allowance so we can then trim it down
afterwards so run the edge of the fabric
along the edge of the foot here now
again we are going to start here by
doing a couple of stitches forward and a
couple of stitches backwards
and this will secure the stitch before
beginning and we're going to guide the
fabric again not watching the needle
we're only watching the edge of the
fabric in line with the foot down
through the Machine and this is going to
create a very very small little zigzag
that we're going to be able to trim it
next to in a second and this should help
stop fabric from fraying all the way to
the end of your seam allowance and then
we will be going backwards and forwards
at the end again only a couple of
stitches backwards a couple of stitches
forwards our needle is raised we can
lift our foot and you can have a quick
peek at the stitch now drew me back here
with a pair of scissors and I will show
you how we trim this down and how this
actually looks on a garment now we've
completed the little zig-zag stitch
we're actually going to trim down with a
small pair of scissors as close to the
stitch as possible now you need to be
careful here not to actually cut through
the stitches but you do want to cut as
close to the stitching as possible as
this will help prevent the fraying so
little embroidery scissors or something
that's very small sharp will help make
this easier work and you'll complete
this all the way down and then finish
your seam as you normally would with
pressing now if I show you you can see
what I've krypton just there now if I
show you a little garment that has had
this done to it hopefully you can see
the finished results now in this garment
you can just about from this side see
the little zigzag stitching if I flip
this over so you can see on the other
side you can see the little zigzag and
the cut that has happened very close to
it you can also see the seam that was
sewn and obviously that was pressed open
and this happened in the seam allowances
of the garment and it was then trimmed
down to work like this I find that it
works brilliantly and really does stop
fraying so it's fabulous if you don't
have an overlocker obviously your
machine may have an overcast stitch and
that would do a fantastic job as well so
I would recommend getting at your money
seeing what your machine has now you're
happy with working with the standard
zig-zag stitch I wanted to move on to
show you how to make the amendments to
the machine to produce the three-step
zig-zag stitch now the three steps exact
stitch is a stitch that will stitch
three stitches in either direction to
create the zigzag now the first thing
you need to do is choose the number from
the stitch guide that we've got up here
and our three-step zigzag on this
machine is number three obviously I
would recommend that you check your own
individual manual for these settings
because you have to be quite precise
with the length and width to get the
right looking finish with your 3-step
SIG's AG on these machines anyway so the
lengths it's required on this machine
for a three-step zigzag is not 0.5
millimeters so we're going to turn that
through to not 0.5 which is on this
little picture here of a buttonhole and
for the width of this stitch it needs to
be on number 5 which it's already on
join me back here we can get started now
we're going to have a look at sewing the
three-step zig-zag stitch now as before
our foot is down our needle is in our
fabric now this stitch works by creating
three small straight stitches in either
direction to create a zigzag as I
mentioned earlier with this machine it
does have to be on certain settings and
we can't adjust the length and the width
as we did with the other zig-zag stitch
however you will find with other
machines that this may be an option and
obviously I suggest that you have a play
now this stitch is predominantly used
when working with lingerie or maybe
stretchy fabrics but it's also very nice
as a decorative stitch
I finished this off with a couple of
back stitches and I will show you what
that looks like now is a lovely stitch
to do and as I said it does have some
function as well as decorative uses but
if you do have a machine that allows you
to play with the stitch length and
stitch width I would recommend that you
do so hopefully you've enjoyed learning
about the zig-zag stitch and the changes
in width and length on your sewing
machine
I hope that you have been able to learn
new techniques that you will use with
future projects from working with
applique and decorative stitches to
working and sewing with knits lingerie
or just finishing the edge of your
fabrics without an overlocker
thank you for watching this tutorial and
I will see you in day 5