Presser Foot Series: Overcasting Foot

Today we're talking about the overcasting foot.

I found this sweet embossed polyester-cotton blend in the remnant bin at Joann's and knew it was destined to be a skirt for Lily.

There was just about a half a yard there. I decided to make a modified version of Simple Simon and Co's Vintagely Modern Skirt. My main differences were making it less full (due to the fact that the fabric was only twice the width of her waistline instead of the three times width their pattern calls for), adding trim at the hemline, an invisible zipper in the back, and pockets.

I'm not going into detail on how I made the skirt, because you should really check out the link above. They explain it so much better than I ever could! To add the pockets I followed this tutorial over at Make It & Love It. But I did want to show you this handy little tool I used to add a seam allowance to the pocket pattern I drew. It's called a Quilter's Wonder Wheel, and I picked it up at Tuesday Morning ages ago for 99¢. Do you have a Tuesday Morning in your town? If you do, you should totally check out their sewing/crafting aisles. TONS of great deals! I recently found sewing machine needles there priced 3 five packs for 99¢. That's 15 needles for less than $1! Well, tax, but whatever.

Anyway, to use the wheel you just stick a pencil in the center and roll it around the edge of your pattern to add a perfect 1/4 inch seam allowance! Mechanical pencils work best because the hole it so small.

The overcasting foot came in handy here for finishing the seams of the skirt without using a serger. This particular stitch on my machine is one that I love because it seams and finishes at the same time, but you can use it with just about any finishing stitch, including a plain old zigzag.

The overcasting foot is designed with a guide for the edge of your fabric to make it easy to keep the seams even and to make sure that the overcasting stitches fall off the edge of the fabric as they're supposed to.

These stitches can generally be done with a standard zigzag foot, but I find that I get more consistent, neat finishing if I take just a second to switch to the overcasting foot.

Tomorrow we will talk about how to use the invisible zipper foot to install the zipper, and I'll show you the finished skirt, but here's a little peek at the pockets.