Stay Stitching versus Basting

No, not basting like a turkey. I am the absolute last person from whom to seek advice on cooking. I’m talking about sewing, and the two seemingly interchangeable stay stitch and basting stitch. Note: they are NOT interchangeable and anyone that uses them as such needs to stop it now. Here’s why:

• Stay Stitch – a straight machine stitch worked just inside a seam allowance to strengthen it and prevent it from stretching or breaking. Sewn through 1 layer of fabric, ~1/8″ from seam line, ~1.5mm stitch length (smaller stitches are stronger.)
• Basting Stitch – a temporary running stitch used to hold pieces of fabric together or for transferring pattern markings to fabric¹. Typically sewn with a very long stitch length to make it easy to remove.

I bring this up because it drives me bonkers when I read instructions that use one term for the other because they mean such drastically different things. It also became a huge source of confusion on my Duchess Skirt from DIBY Club.

The Confusion

After cutting, the directions tell you–very adamantly–DO NOT SKIP!–to stay stitch around the waistline of the skirt piece to prevent it from stretching out of shape.

K. But…

• A stay stitch is a short, straight stitch, and
• you say at the end of the instructions to remove this line of stitches, which
• sounds like a basting stitch to me

Also

• I’ve stay stitched things before (woven), and that alone has a tendency to distort, which kind of defeats the whole purpose
• I tested a few straight stitches on circular scrap pieces of this ITY and all it did was create a motherload of puckers

So

• Since I had no plans to swing from the treetops with this piece of fabric before sewing it, and
• the fabric I tested on was turning into a train wreck,
• I decided to ignore the dire warning and skipped that step.

Guess what.

Turned out fine.

In fact, I’m fairly certain if I had done what the instructions told me to do, it would’ve created a lot more problems than it prevented.

Sooo…stay stitching aside…

About the Pattern

The Duchess Skirt can be made out of woven or knit fabric. The woven version requires a zipper, but the knit version is an insanely quick sew (if you ignore the 3 to 5 days of head-scratching over the instructions.)

What I Did Differently

• Skipped that stay stitch.
• I used pinking shears along the back skirt seam rather than finishing it. Trying to avoid any puckering as much as possible.
• I didn’t hem. Raw edges bug a lot of people, but not me. I like to let fabric this beautiful be as untouched as possible.

Notes for Next Time

• Size according to my hips. I dove right in like a moron and it didn’t dawn on me that I’d chosen measurements for my waist (like the instructions tell you to) when I hate wearing things around my waist.
• Make sure I have 3 yards of fabric. Next time I’m going for maxi length. This pattern begs to be made of ITY at maxi length.
• Do not stay stitch. SKIP THIS STEP. That’s right. I rebel.

Project Settings

¹Smith, A. (2018). The Sewing Book: Over 300 Step-By-Step Techniques (pp. 388, 391). DK Publishing (Dorling Kindersley).