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| McCall's 1878 |
Oh for the love of basting. This technique is an amazing habit that will save time and improve your sewing. Basting is a large loose stitch that holds a piece in place but offers no long-term durability. Before a couple of months ago, I never temporarily stitched pieces together, instead I used countless straight pins to hold things in place while I machine sewed the pieces permanently in place. While the stack-o-pins method works, basting makes things easier and safer from pin-pricks. Sure, it seems like it can be a waste of time to "hand sew" things together that are just going to be machine pieced; but think of this, basting stitches can stay in place before, during, and after the project's life cycle. A most useful place to use a baste stitch is for placing a pleat.
In this picture, the basting is done just below the seam line as well as an additional time below that to ensure pleats stay in place until the garment is complete. Holding the pleats in place will avoid puckers in the fabric while assembling the neckline.
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| Simplicity 2245 |
In this picture, I used a basting stitch to adhere the neck interfacing before top stitching. This is probably my favorite use of this technique because it helps ensure the interface is completely tacked in place.
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| Vogue 8805 |
For my block dress, I wished to finish the seams by taking the allowance folding in half and then top stitching each half in place. Pins would have been difficult to navigate, but by basting the material in place, I was able to tack the entire dress at one time, flip it to the right side, and sew the decorative stitch as it would be seen.
There are so many ways in which a basting stitch can be used besides these. For example, placing a sleeve, tacking multiple layers of material together, and as a sizing guide. When a pattern calls for basting, now days I strongly consider the recommendation and often employ the technique without being asked.
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