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Sewing a curved edge

oven mitt tutorial 042 [1] Ever have two pattern pieces that are supposed to be sewn together but are actually curved in opposite directions? You wonder how they are possibly supposed to fit together. Sometimes you’ll see this in shaped seams, like a princess seam on a woman’s top that must make room for the bust. Sometimes, in the case of this tutorial, it’s a flat seam (meaning, not convex) that is rounded for visual effect. It’s really not hard to do, and I’ll show you how.

Supplies

Rooster fabric (RORYEK) [2]
Rooster yellow/black (RORYEK)

Chicken wire yellow/black (CHEYEK) [3]
Chicken wire yellow/black (CHEYEK)

Lots and lots of pins [4]
Lots and lots and lots of sewing pins
These are the fabrics used in this tutorial. A separate tutorial on how to make this pot holder from start to finish can be found here [5].

Sew a curved seam

Pattern pieces [6]
Pattern pieces
Here are the two pattern pieces. Laid out like this, they seem to fit together nicely. But what about when you have the right-sides together for sewing?

Hmmmm [7]
Hmmmm
See what I mean? Now they don’t line up at all.

Start at the notch [8]
Start at the notch
Any seam like this should have some sort of notch on the pattern. This is where notches come in really handy. (Some people cut outward-facing triangles for notches, but I cut a tiny snip within the seam allowance to mark notches. It’s more accurate and easy.) You can click the photos for bigger views. Line up the notches and start pinning from there.

Go one way [9]
Go one way
Forget about one side for now and start pinning in one direction. Move a tiny bit at a time, and use lots and lots of pins. I know that sometimes pinning really slows down sewing, but in this case, it really helps. Don’t be afraid to use tons of pins.

One side done [10]
One side done
When you get close to one end, line up the ends and pin. Then fill in between the edge and the other pins.

Go the other way [11]
Go the other way
Now do the same thing in the other direction. Your pattern pieces will not lie flat.

Sew slowly [12]
Sew slowly
Now sew your seam, moving very slowly. Remove pins as you come to them, but not until you get right up on them or the fabric will shift. This part is easier if you have the least-flat piece of fabric on top so you can adjust it as you go, avoiding any puckers or folds.

Clip the seam [13]
Clip the seam
Clip into the seam allowance along the entire curve, every 1/4 inch or so. Get close to the stitches, but don’t cut through them, of course!

press [14]
press
Press your seam flat. I chose to press to one direction in this case. Sorry it’s so hard to see, but click for a bigger picture.

A nice, curved seam [15]
A nice, curved seam
And there you go! That wasn’t so had. To learn how to make this potholder, see this tutorial [5].