What is a Stay Stitch? The Proper Explanation

Many people who are fond of sewing and who started doing it some time ago heard about stay stitching. What is a stay stitch? If you were in search, then I am sure that job is done, now you need to learn about stay stitch. In this article, we are going to give our comments and instructions about the sewing process with a stay stitch.

Glad to introduce you to step by step instructions about this area of sewing, read it and leave a comment.

Explanation of the stay stitching

The main thing you need to know about it is that it is a string of stitches made in the appendage of the seam to prevent stretching of the edges. Stay stitching is a stitch that you are going to do on curves, it secures the fabric.

How to have it be done more conveniently to sew curve shapes?

Stay stitching is a stitch that is inside of your seam allowance, therefore, for your convenience, you could put a chalk basting line or another sign on the fabric. This type of life hack will save you several minutes of your time.

Importance of learning how to stay stitching well

These techniques are good for beginners in the field of sewing, they can be learned by watching only one video or reading an article. It is easy to study to stay stitch and it has its own benefits.

Stay stitch will allow you to make a high-quality garment from almost every fabric you have at the moment.

Clothes that are sewn thanks to this method won’t be torn within several weeks after you completed them.

Sewing with a small stitch on stay stitch technique will allow you to produce clothes of any complexity, all you need to do is search for a cool design of clothes on a website or even create it on your own.

Why is stay stitching necessary?

When cutting out your pieces, they are usually on the grain line, but this is not true for all sides of a piece. They may be parts of it on the bias or on a curve, making that section off-grain.

If you are unsure, you can still do it as it won’t hurt the whole garment. This applies even to non-stretchy woven fabrics.

Why skipping stay stitching is unsafe?

Everyone wants to dress well, then stay stitching is important to do as not making it may harm your garment. It seems like a small thing, but if you skip stay stitching these areas can become stretched out or distorted during construction. It would be hard to match up pieces later or it won’t drape properly when finished.

It is considered preparation work, so it is usually the first step in the direction.

When should I stay-stitching?

We strongly recommend doing stay stitching immediately after you cut fabrics but before starting construction. However, making sure to make it well as the wrong cut may cost you a lot.

What are the benefits of staystitching first?

In this way, when you stay stitching in the early stage, your layer of fabric has no chance to stretch out of shape and will save its original appearance. It is better to do it right away than to regret it later.

Can I perform that stitch by hand?

Of course, you can, but only if you are sure that the pattern you want to make stay stitched is no longer that 2mm in length.

It needs to be skilled enough to not stretch the fabric during hand sewing a stitch – it is hand stay stitching main disadvantage and you need to be aware of it before start using it on necklines or other parts of fabric you want to turn into fashionable clothes.

How to stay stitch by hand?

If you are determined to sew this way by hand, then some recommendations will come in handy.

As we said before, stay stitch right after you cut the first fabric piece. And in this case, the hand stay stitch is not an exception. Make it from edges to center again. After that, make it short enough to make it easy for you to work with.

You must remember the shorter the stitch the stronger you should hold it.

Using a sewing machine to get a nice straight stitch or pattern is not necessary. It is only important to keep in mind to move in the direction from the outside to the middle of the fabric. A curved stitch will only bring you unpleasant feelings and reduce your willingness to work on the fabric you take as it happens with lots of beginners.

How to stay stitching properly?

Let’s check an example of sewing necklines with the stay-a-stitch technique. According to generally accepted rules, it is advised to start from the edge of a piece of fabric at one shoulder and sew to the center of the neckline. The next step is to start at the other shoulder edge and sew to the center of the neckline again. If you are unsure you can try to sew from top to bottom.

Is it important to remove staystitching?

Unless staystitching is a stitches row, you don’t have to remove it as we do with basting stitches.

On what parts of a garment can this technique be used?

Professional seamstresses usually recommend using the stay stitching technique when sewing diagonal seams or curves on armholes, both curved and slashed pocket openings. What is more, shoulder seams can stay stitched too because of their slight bias cut. Also. stay stitching can be used on the bust, the neckline, the waist, and occasionally the hip, but not usually.

A rounded neck or V-shaped neck which is used on the bias is still the most popular pattern that you can make using a stay stitching and stretching.

Recommendations about stay stitch length and seam allowance

Select a smaller stay stitch length when sewing a stay stitch. In this way, you may choose 1.5 or 2 on sewing machine settings. The stay stitch will stay in the garment.

If your seam allowance is five eights (5/8) of an inch, do your stay stitch at the half-inch mark. You are not stitching anything together, this is a single layer of fabric.

Do not stretch or pull the fabric while sewing. If you are concerned about this, use a walking foot on your sewing machine.

Doing a backstitch at the beginning and end is optional and not a necessity. In addition, you can decide to shorten the length of your stitch at the beginning and when you are finishing your stay stitches lines.

Once all your stay stitching is done, you can move on to the construction of the garment and feel confident your garment will drape the way that it is meant to.

Edge distance

It is important to sew all pattern pieces singly through a layer. Staystitching line is required to be done on a single fabric layer following the seam line. However, you may keep from 1/16 inch to 1/8 inch under the seam line to make stay stitching invisible when it is a turn to stitch a neckline.

Do stay stitching and basting the same?

Many people are confused with two similar to each other types of activities in sewing. There are lots of questions on this topic, for a long time people have been figuring out if it is really the same thing and now it is the best time to finally resolve this issue. Well, actually no.

What is the difference?

The main difference between these two is that in basting, where we need to connect two pieces of fabric with each other, the stitch length is quite bigger than in stay stitching. After that, a thread is removed after we have sewn the last seam on the fabric.

Oppositely, in stay stitching, we have stitched on one-piece fabrics, which are immediately hidden during sewing and thoroughly hidden under the clothes while we dress them.

Is it necessary to stay stitch whenever there is a curve?

We can advise you to check pattern instructions anytime you sew. If the pattern requires it then do not miss out on the step.

What is more, even if you can cut away a pattern, it is recommended to check to the patterns match the stay stitch you have.

Construction of the garment

Garment construction –  is a complex of skills that are used in order to complete clothes – edge finishing, stitches application, and many others.

Make sure that sewn pattern is directional in the right way and other parts like the neck, shoulder, and armholes are sewn in the way you wanted they are and have straight stitches to prevent curved patterns and bias.

How to assemble my pattern in the fastest way?

Also, you can choose a specialized website that may help you to construct your garment based on options to set: edge pattern, stretching direction and other parameters your patterns consist of. It makes sense to choose platforms that support the curved or straight directions of stretching patterns as the simplest pattern can be performed by yourself.

Video about what is a stay stitch in details

“Staystitching” means to sew a row of stitches on a single piece of fabric to help it keep its shape. It’s useful on curved or diagonal edges that may otherwise stretch out during the sewing process.

Useful conclusions

In this article, we reviewed what is stay stitching and how everyone can teach it.

We checked the most popular ways how to use this popular technique and perform with it as a real specialist.

What is more, we think that the most popular mistakes that happen in this deal and described in this message may be a good reminder and the best note for you.

The latest paragraph told you how to finish your clothes in the best way if you used stay stitch and a certain stitch length.

Hope that we managed to let you know some more about sewing and especially about stay stitching techniques. Give us your feedback and necessarily send a comment that describes your feelings about this information.

You will also like a detailed article about:

“How to Tie off a Stitch on a Sewing Machine or by Hand Stitching?“

Best wishes!

Helen Grant

Hello! My name is Helen Grant. I am glad to welcome you on my site about sewing. If you came here then you are probably interested in the sewing craft and everything connected with it. On my site you will find visual aids for sewing, subtleties and secrets. I worked as a seamstress for a long time and helped a lot of girls to master this profession in my footsteps. All who used my personal secrets, life hacks, now have an excellent reputation, have reached great heights and independently conduct master classes for beginners. If you are interested in the topic of sewing, sewing life hacks, as well as detailed analyzes of sewing machines and materials, then you are definitely in the right place!