misseva

LOL maybe it was laziness on my part - seems like doing double duty to cut out the pattern with regular shears then turn around and pink the edges after sewing. It's kinda like killing two birds with one stone to just cut out the dress with pinking shears to start with. BTW I didn't have a sewing book until I had been sewing for years. Learned to read a pattern in Home Ec in 8th grade which was a looooooooong time ago.

Rodney

I would think in this era of cheap ready made clothing that if you are going to make an article of clothing for yourself it would be something really special. Why would you spend the effort on the rest of it then just pink the edges when there are so many other more durable edge treatments? They may take longer but isn't the final result worth it?
Rodney

Cari-in-Oly

You make a good point Rodney. Yes nowadays I'll serge the edges of things, or if I'm being really time thrifty(read-lazy) I'll serge instead of sewing when I can but you have to remember that sergers weren't readily available for home use until the late 70s I think(someone correct me there if I'm wrong). In garment sewing, the usual practice is to sew a 5/8" seam and then trim the seam down. That trimming is where I was taught to use the pinking shears on any fabric that would ravel or shred. I don't do a whole lot of garment sewing any more but I do use my serger whenever possible. It's an ancient 1982 Tuffylock I call the Beast. My last project was a pair of the ugliest(used a butt ugly piece of scrap fleece) pj bottoms for a 3yr old kidlet that took about 20 minutes start to finish. She loves them, lol, she would wear them 24/7 if allowed.

Cari

manicmike

Don't think you're wrong at all Cari. The earliest domestic I've seen is early '70s (green Janome), mine's a Singer brand from early '80s around which time there was a surge (ha) in availability. My GF gets me to overlock rather than pink, but not using the electric thread monster never bothers me: The pinking looks more authentic and much neater than an ugly nest of thread.
Also, I'm in no hurry. Carefully pinking is what my grandmother did, and that makes me smile.

bearisgray

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I agree with you that knowing where and when to ponk an edge can be sn "experience" thib