Do you know what tailor tacking is?  Would you like to know?  Well, you’re in the right place.

Tailor Tacking is one of those old, rather grueling sewing techniques that has taken it’s place in the modern world as something simple and fun.  It can add oomph! to seams or visual interest to a flat surface as a decorative stitch. Either way, it’s fun to learn about and fun to do!

According to the Free Online Dictionary;  “Noun1. Tailor’s tack – a loose, looped, sewing stitch used to transfer marking for darts, etc., from a pattern to material.”  So, this technique was once used in a purely functional form, and it didn’t even get to stay on in the finished project!

Shown in the picture is the technique employed to transfer markings from a pattern to a piece of fabric.  A loose stitch is formed through the fabric and the pattern piece then the stitches are cut, leaving a line of loose threads as your mark.

Lucky for us there are a wide range og marking products on the market that have taken the place of tailor-tacking and now we’re free to have fun with it!

When done on the sewing machine, tailor tacking requires a special foot.

On the Bernina tailor tack foot #7 , there is a tall ridge in the middle of this foot.  As you sew a zig-zag stitch, the ridge creates a lot of extra slack the stitch, leaving you some fringe-like extra thread to work with.  You can use it for the original purpose, or you can create fringe and imitation hemstitching (plus whatever you come up with!!!).

How we’ve used it:

• Imitation hemstitch:  Use the Tailor Tacking foot to create your seam.  Pull the seam flat, then use a triple-stitch on the “loose” threads between the fabrics.  I put all of the panels of this skirt together in that manner.
• Fun Decorative Stitches:  If you’ve ever been in the shop, you’ve seen this pillow!  On a project where several customers decorated the segments of a pillow, someone used a metallic thread to simulate the texture and shape of underwater plants…how fun!

Well, now it’s up to you!  Let us know how you’ve used Tailor Tracking (using the comment section below). If you have photos, tell us – we’d love to see them!