Happy New Year!
The Christmas season passed far too quickly for my liking. A trip to visit our
grandchildren in a distant state kept us busy in December. We had a lovely time
celebrating together. Then it was home again just in time for Christmas.
And before we knew it, it was time to flip the calendar page. Here’s wishing 2017 proves for
you a year of health, happiness and successful endeavors.
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| Hand hemming Christmas coasters and runners |
The hems are
sewn by hand using the “Ladder Stitch”. Once the warp comes off the loom I use
a machine triple zigzag stitch to overcast both edges between each piece. After
cutting between these stitch lines hems are folded twice and Ladder Stitched. The
photo shows my needle taking a stitch under two warp threads on one side of the
hem, next I skip directly across to catch the very next two warp threads on the
other side. When the thread is pulled up the two sides of the hem are invisibly
woven together. You can find video demonstrations of the stitch on UTube. The technique is particularly effective on Rep weave due to tightly sett warp ends.
At the very bottom of this photo you
can spot the edge of a tiny wad of beeswax. Since I was in my teens, this same bit of wax
has lubricated and strengthened my hand sewing threads. If you prefer, there is
a commercial non-wax product available that does the same job.
Another helpful
tool are the colorful little clips seen here. They are called Wonder Clips and
work far better than pins to secure hems before sewing them. Even if they didn’t
work so well I’d want to use them because they are so cute. They come in various sizes and colors and are fun and easy to use. You can find them at your local fabric store, quilt shop or on line.
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| Ladder Stitch in progress Raw edges machine triple-stitch zigzagged |
Warp On/Weave Off,
RepWeaver
