How to remove serged seams
Today I'm going to show you how to remove stitching done with a serger. In the past year I've had to do this a few times and have finally figured out the easiest way to go about it. Your serger will give you a professional looking seam which is wonderful as long as you don't need to redo or remove it. I was making some pants the other day and my teenager came in my sewing room to chat with me when he got home from school. He asked me if there was a "reciprocating saw" on the machine that was cutting the fabric (oh how I love my son!!) and then told me "wow mom those look like professionally made pants!" as he grabs them and tugs at the seams. Yep, the serger gives you a beautifully finished seam that is sturdy and equally difficult to remove. That is unless you rip the seams in the right order.
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| the top of the picture shows where the loops have been cut |
First you want to remove the stitches that the upper
and lower looper have made (as you probably guessed, these are the ones that look like loops). I have found if I hold the fabric like I'm holding a sandwich, with the loops facing up, I can run my seam ripper right along it fairly easily.
After those loops are cut I can then move to the other 2 seams made by my left and right needle.
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These are tricky to find if your using thread that is the same color as the fabric (which will almost always be the case- that's part of what makes it look so clean and professional). Be careful not to grab any of the fabric in your seam ripper or you will have a hole where you didn't want one!
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| carefully pull apart your fabric to expose the stitching |
Once you get 1-2 of those stitches from both the left and right seam you should be able to gently pull the 2 layers of fabric apart. With these layers pulled away from each other a few of the stitches will be exposed. Now you can carefully start removing those 2 seams.
You will have a million little threads all over you as well as the fabric but they are really easy to just pull out. I hope this has saved you some headache and maybe even some tears!! What have you learned the hard way with your serger or sewing machine?
Happy sewing!
