Famous Last Words...

Inevitably, the question arises on the sewing boards of how to properly sew a serged seam. Many believe that sewing the seam first and then serging is the way to go, and I've always kind of pooh-poohed it. "Oh no, I've never had a serged seam come out. You don't need to sew and then serge. You can just serge and be done with it."

By and large, I stand by my opinion. I still haven't had a serged seam on a garment come undone. However, I did have fabric totally shred past the 2 stitching lines of a 4-thread serge today:


I had a wardrobe malfunction at the office and fortunately, I live close enough to downtown that I could drive home and change into something else.

The fabric is rayon, and I'm not sure if an extra line of conventional stitching would have prevented the shred-out of this seam. Rayon is a notoriously weak fabric, and this skirt has been worn many times since I made it almost 2 years ago. I later found some other areas on the body of the fabric that were quite worn and on their way to becoming holes and another seam that was preparing to shred out.

So, farewell Romeo and Juliet Tango skirt! Time to make a replacement with wider serging (and a line of conventional stitching, just in case).