If I had an unlimited amount of time, I would finish every bit of garb I own by hand. Hell, I would likely be hand sewing most of my garb as well. My day-job, unfortunately, interferes with this dream.
To take up the slack (and fill my need for lushly embellished garb) I employ my machine to do some decorative finishing for me.
I tried, only a few times, to use the machine's built-in stitches to finish the edges of garments. I was never happy with the results, they always looked machine made.
Then I discovered Madeira's Lana Wool machine embroidery thread and I was blown away with the handcrafted look that you can get by using these threads.
I have done some embroidery with the thread, but the machine is temperamental about using the thread. You really have to tweak the designs to get them to work and you definitely need the titanium needles made specifically for these threads. I hope to eventually get the bugs worked out and be able to do some very hand crafted larger pieces of embroidery at some point.
What does seem to work well is decorative stitching. Not every stitch works well with the thread, and of those, not all aesthetically work for garb. Above is the border of a linen Norse coat I made this year for my boyfriend. This arrow-stitch seems to work very well on earlier period garb.
To take up the slack (and fill my need for lushly embellished garb) I employ my machine to do some decorative finishing for me.
I tried, only a few times, to use the machine's built-in stitches to finish the edges of garments. I was never happy with the results, they always looked machine made.
Then I discovered Madeira's Lana Wool machine embroidery thread and I was blown away with the handcrafted look that you can get by using these threads.
I have done some embroidery with the thread, but the machine is temperamental about using the thread. You really have to tweak the designs to get them to work and you definitely need the titanium needles made specifically for these threads. I hope to eventually get the bugs worked out and be able to do some very hand crafted larger pieces of embroidery at some point.
What does seem to work well is decorative stitching. Not every stitch works well with the thread, and of those, not all aesthetically work for garb. Above is the border of a linen Norse coat I made this year for my boyfriend. This arrow-stitch seems to work very well on earlier period garb.
This is an apron dress with decorative stitches done by machine in wool blend thread. The diamond shaped stitches in pale blue are similar to the stitch in red in the next image. I used a tapestry needle and royal blue thread to weave in additional stitching by hand. The Herringbone stitch was laid down first by machine in a thread that matches the base fabric. I then did a hand stitch over that (effectively hiding the base row of stitches). The garment is an aprondress out of silk/linen/wool plaid with a 100% silk fabric used as a trim for the upper edge. The plaid is not a period plaid, but the fabric felt amazing, was very light weight and was normally $60 and down to $10 with a sale and a coupon I had, so I could not pass it up.
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Another aprondress, this time in 100% linen with a silk border and two different types of decorative stitches by machine using wool blend thread.
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