Exploring Construction
Seams:

In order to have a garment that can be worn reversible, I wanted to spend time exploring how to change the construction of the seams. I first cut out the fabric pattern pieces and then utilized the leftover fabric scraps to test seam options. Spending time upfront with the experimentation of the seams saved me a lot of time, in the end. Once I decided how to construct seams and adjusted the different sewing machine tensions up front, I was able to more quickly (in the end) sew up the top.

The first idea seam idea that I wanted to try was flat lock seams with the Serger/overlocker. You see this seam frequently in commercial, athletic garments.

I’ve found it helpful to use different colored threads when testing with fabric swatches. It is very helpful to easily see which threads are off tension and then make the adjustments needed more quickly.

I first tried the three thread, flatlock seam. I walked through the suggested tensions and settings from the manual and experimented more from there.

I then switched to a two thread, flatlock seam to experiment some more.

In the end, I wasn’t happy with the seams in the swatches and an idea dawned on me. I switched fabrics to test a lightweight jersey scrap from my stash.

I found that the thinner jersey knit fabric worked much better for the flatlock seam application. I realized that a lot of the athletic wear fabrics that I’ve seen in commercial garments are a thinner material. I’m sure there are other ways to go about making flat seams with this material but I decided to abandon this seam method and come back to flatlock seams in a future project (with a thinner weight knit fabric).
My next step is to think about how to a different approach to sew a reversible seam. I decided to serge the edges of the seams and then sew this seam flat. I tested the serger thread tensions with a swatch.

The serger settings that I picked for this project are shown in the following photos (for reference):

I serged the edges with the grey fabric as the “right side” (but there technically isn’t a wrong side to this garment).

To be continued….

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