How to… Fix your sewing mistakes
One of the least enjoyable processes of sewing is unpicking, it takes time, and patience. Most of the time, mistakes you can be avoided with some experience and knowledge, but whilst you’re learning unpicking is an inevitable and essential part of the process.
There’s no need to lose your mind over a couple of stitches, let me show you how to unpick painlessly when you need to.
What is a seam ripper?
A seam ripper or quick unpick is a small sewing tool that helps to unpick stitches. It has a long metallic surface prong with a small knife in the groove which catches the stitches and cuts them instantly. It has a small, usually red, stopper that helps you situate where the tool will stop to cut. This is helpful when you are using the tool to open buttonholes.
There are three common types of seam rippers
The most common one is the basic small unpicker which comes as an accessory with most sewing machines and is usually made in plastic with a plastic cover. This basic seam ripper that will do the job but could easily damage your fabric as it one doesn’t have the red safety stopper the others have. It is also a bit fiddly as it has a small, round handle.
Next there is the cheap flat handled large seam ripper, this is very effective and cheap but quite often these tools blunt quickly.
Finally there is the ergonomic seam ripper made to be the most comfortable and simple to use. It has a soft, non-slip grip area and is really easy to control and nice to use.
How to use a seam ripper
The easiest and fastest way to use your seam ripper is to either cut in the beginning and end of the stitching and pull the thread with your hands. If the fabric is delicate and you can see that pulling the threads will damage it or leave marks then use your unpicker to cut the seam every 5cm on one side then turn the fabric over and pull the back thread to remove all the stitches.
After this you will find a few threads remain loose on the fabric, to solve this here is a little tip, get your lint roller and use it to remove those stubborn threads.
If you want to unpick a long basting stitch you don’t need a seam ripper, you can just pull the back thread and then the whole stitch will come loose.
Sometimes after unpicking the fabric can stretch a little so after unpicking your seam it’s a good idea to press it on the iron to make sure the fabric is set back to its original shape.
What you should NOT do when unpicking:
Don’t unpick every single stitch, it takes up to much time and you will end up with too many loose threads, it will do the job but it's not the most efficient way to do it.
Unpicking techniques will differ depending on what fabric you are using, unpicking with a silky fabric for example will require more care and attention so you don’t end up ripping your fabric.
Be careful with the tools you use to unpick a seam, not all accessories are appropriate and they can easily damage the garment. Try to always use a seam ripper and if by any chance you don’t have it use small scissors instead of fabric/paper scissors or craft knives.
Don’t rush your sewing! Unpicking most of the time comes from rushing. Take your time, sometimes it’s better to lose a few minutes hand tacking, to make sure the seam is in the right place, than rush onto machine sewing and ending up having to unpick multiple times.
Don’t unpick the whole seam if you don’t need to. For example, if you are doing a topstitch and your stitch goes a bit wobbly, find the point where the stitch started and stopped being straight and put a pin on it, start unpicking there instead of doing the whole row of stitching again.
When is it ok to not unpick?
Although unpicking is necessary in some cases because it affects the construction of the garment, there is a fine line between enough perfection and trying to achieve impossible standards. When you find yourself unpicking a seam too many times and getting the same result is time to stop and move on to the next step.
Imperfect stitching is more common than you would think, even experienced sewists do an imperfect stitch at some point and it would be wrong to think all of our garments are perfect, so get on with your machine and embrace your imperfect stitching.
Also, think about whether the stitching will show in the garment, for instance, when you’ve basted in an invisible zip, then stitched it in tight, you don’t necessarily need to remove the basting stitch as it won’t be seen.
Finding yourself unpicking way to much?
It might be time to rethink some of your techniques, like pinning. Use the right pinning techniques and avoid the stress of unpicking.
