Comments on: Making Notches

By: amber

amber — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 17:17:31 +0000

I am actually shocked that you’re a pattern cutter! I would have thought you were a tracer for sure.

I do snip into my notches. I started out doing tabs, but snipping is just so much faster. Most of the time my edges get finished past the snip point, and for curves like that armhole I’d be snipping into it before turning it out anyway, so it didn’t make sense to me to take extra time avoiding snips when cutting the fabric.

By: Rachel at Stitched in Color

Rachel at Stitched in Color — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 23:25:55 +0000

See now, you’re just so smart. I’m totally sold and will definitely go forward this way. I was notching in and it made me nervous.

By: Angela

Angela — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 20:03:28 +0000

I am exactly the same way! I learned to clip notches out, from my Home Ec teacher. It never seemed like a big deal to me to do, and even with all the quicker methods, I keep to my tried-and-true clipping out. It’s nice to be affirmed with all the reasonings in your post.

Like in football: laces out….
with sewing: notches out!

By: Bethany

Bethany — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 19:25:28 +0000

I learned to sew at a local school. The younger teacher told me to cut into the seam. I didn’t like this as it seemed counter-intuitive for the reasons you mention–weaking the seam and all that. The older teacher (who learned from HER mother) always said to “make mountains, not valleys” and that’s the way I do it. It feels more…”right” and I like the wiggle room, too. Besides, when finished you can always snip off the tags if they bug you.

By: Traci

Traci — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 19:08:37 +0000

I make mine the exact same way you do! And for the same reason: ‘cuz that’s how my momma taught me! And I agree that it gives me a little more “margin of error”, especially when I am a little sloppy with my cutting. By cutting into the seam allowance, I’m always afraid I would snip too far.