The Most Dreaded Word In Sewing - Your Weekly Guide from SewingArtistry 😧

Published: Fri, 03/12/21

Basic

March 11, 2021

As any good sewists will know, you have to have a good cadre of seam ripping techniques. Not one specific one will work on every project. For me, I deal with a lot of different fabrics, and stitching techniques. Everything from the tiny-stitched, mass-manufactured stuff, to the delicately hand-sewn heirloom wedding gown - and yes, I've had those before and they are a treasure to sew on because I know they were made by a family member with so much love I can feel it in the garment. Obviously the later takes way more care than the former, although they are both on the delicate side.

There are several factors to consider before you start seam-ripping, and once you know these, then you're well on your way to making the seamripping a less onerous chore and even one that can be done effectively and (dare I say) fast!!!!

FABRIC TYPES

Fabric Durability
So the first thing you have to determine is the durability and stability of the garment. You may have a very durable handkerchief linen, but it's most likely not that stable. At the same time you may have a very nicely weighted fabric, but it's in the heirloom age, which I consider 50 or more years old, and silk which means the press lines have been there so long that the fabric fibers have more likely been broken making that press line very delicate.

So durability means the ability to withstand some stress. That means that you can put some pressure on it and it will take it. Fabrics like a strong linen, even a blouse weight linen will do, and of course suit and coat-weight fabrics are very durable. Canvases, duck cloths, trigger are all weaves but they are strong and very durable weaves. Even heavier silks can be classified as durable.

There are obviously different degrees here of fabric durability and I can't possibly include every fabric, so there will always be a bit of trial and error on determining the right seamripping technique, and the truth is there may be more than one right technique to use on a fabric. I've been known to use 2 or even 3 techniques to see which one will work the best and the fastest. It's knowing these techniques that gives you the empowerment to choose which ones will work for your specific project.

Lightweight Fabrics
These need a little more care, even if they are made with a heavier yarn, they are usually woven very loosely and the weave can be distorted easily by too much manipulation.

This can also include the fabric that is woven with more yarns per inch, but the actual yarn is very light-weight. These can include light weight man-made filaments as well as lighter weight natural fibers.

Stretch Fabrics
These have their own category of stitching used and how to removed those stitches. At the bottom of the list of techniques I've included some of the stitching used on stretch fabrics.

SEAMRIPPING TECHNIQUES

1. Seamripper
Most of these can withstand a sharp seam-ripper. This isn't just any seam ripper. The best ones I can find are the Bernina seam ripper as they have titanium in the cutting section of the ripper and they work beautifully over time. )You can call your local Bernina shop close to you. Call them and give them your CC# and they will send it to you.) Here's a secret I use on my Bernina seam ripper because the handle is sort of dinky. So I pull out the ripper part, and put it in my favorite ergonomically designed seam ripper and take out the dinky seam ripper mechanism and insert the Bernina seam ripper

2. Razor Blade, Razor Knife, Exacto Blade, Surgerical Tool
All of these involve a very sharp edge, and the key here is a sharp edge. Once these get dull, you can get into trouble. While they are sharp they are excellent tools.

3. Ripping and Scratching
Sounds violent doesn't it? But actually it's not. I usually pick the bobbin side first and take out about 5 to 10 stitches (depending upon the length of the stitches) usually about 3/4" at the most, less if the stitches are long. Take out one side then the other.

4. Pulling out the Bobbin Thread
Of course if you have a machine that has close tension so that it's pretty much equal, this may preclude using this technique. My machine has a little more tension in the bobbin, making the top thread have just a tiny loop on the underside. This makes my top stitching look very nice with no bobbin thread showing at all. And this means that I can usually pull up to 2" to 3" of thread before it breaks, and this makes for a very easy pull and cam some times pull out whole sections and seams this way.

5. Cutting one Stitch At A Time
For this you will need to spread the fabric and use a cutting tool (make it sharp and this will be a breeze), on the stitch that is exposed and pull, cut, pull cut, etc.

7. Removing Seam One Stitch At A Time - In Between Seam
Pulling the seam apart, then picking out one stitch at a time can be a fairly tedious process, but can guarantee hardly any stress on the fabric.

8. Removing Seam One Stitch At A Time - From Top or Bottom Sides
Obviously this is the most time consuming and the least stress to the fabric. This is for those delicate fabrics, like a very sheer chiffon, gauze, voile, lace as well as any heirloom garment. This will guarantee the least amount of stress to the fabric and is the ultimate solution if you're not sure about the fabric being damaged.

KNIT STITCHING

9. Overlock Stitch
As many of you know, I recommend the overlock stitch on the machine. And the reason is that it is perfectly stable for a knit, and yet you can take it out fairly easily. The problem with a lot of the machine recommended stitching is that it often goes back and forth and it's the devil to remove. The overlock stitch makes a beautiful, stable and sturdy seam AND you can remove it a lot easier than the other stretch stitches.

What makes this so much easier is that you can pull out one of the long width stitches in the intermittent zigzag which occurs about every 3 or 4 stitches. If you're on the bobbin side, it comes out a lot easier.

10. Double Needle Stitch
Probably the easiest of all stitching to remove and of course this makes an elegant top stitch for hems, cuffs or even collars that need to have a little top-stitching to make them lay flatly. Simply turn this over on the back side, and pull that bobbin thread out. It is usually in a zigzag pattern, so it's not that hard to find or to pull out.

11. Serger Seams - 3 Thread
Believe it or not, this isn't that hard to take out. The secret is finding that base thread, and once you do, you simply pull that sucker and inches and inches of serger seams come undone.

12. Serger Seams - 4 Thread
These are a little more difficult and I use two techniques here:
A. Find the two base threads, one will be the seam line, and the other will be in the overlock stitch.
B. Using a seam ripper simply slide the ripper on the edge to release the looper stitching then working through the two base lines, you can either rip those or find the base thread and pull it. It's much easier to find now that the looper stitches are removed.

RTW (aka Ready To Alter) Seams
One last word here. RTW, especially foreign-made RTW, is made with very little seam allowance, with fabric that has very thin yards (the part that is woven) and even the weaves are less per inch than what we can buy in the US. On top of that, there is the propensity to use the tiniest of stitch lengths adding even more stress to a very weak seam.

In most cases doing any altering and seam ripping with these garments is a huge risk. It's amazing to me some of them even made it through the packing and shipping process to get to the store, much less try on and wear for any length of time. But you know where I am on that. Often taking out the stitches one at a time, is the only, most effective technique to use is altering these garments. And thus, the reason I charge a lot of $$$$ for altering RTW, particular the cheap kind.

To make this a little easier - here's a short video on these techniques to show you how to do them and how it looks.

So now why learn so many techniques? Seam ripping isn't the most fun thing in the world to do, and the faster you can get through it the better. Knowing a variety of methods to use, can make that chore a lot faster, more efficient and easier and believe me, I'm all about making this easy.

At the same time, you will have very delicate garments that you know you can't mess with too much or they will literally fall apart in your hands. You know up front that this is going to take some time to do it correctly and end up with an exquisite result.

So don't fear taking out that seam. Yes, it's taking a few steps backward, but it's so that you can take many, many more steps forward and end up with a gorgeous, well-worn, cherished garment.

And that's what this is all about.

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