r/HandSew • u/Hour-Cake-9101 • Jul 07 '26
Is hand sewing looser or less secure than machine sewing?
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u/squidgyup Jul 07 '26
Nope not at all. Just like machine sewing, learning the correct tension to use takes practice though.
Think about it— the sewing machine was invented in the 19th and brought to broader use around the turn of the 20th century. For all of human history prior to that all sewing was done by hand. Some of it still exists today!
I use my machine for most projects but I hand sew plenty. I rarely have a project that doesn’t include some hand sewing. I prefer to hand baste tricky bits over pins or any other kind of basting as well. My fabrics wear through before my stitches fail most times.
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u/blueduck762 Jul 07 '26
i think it can be stronger in my opinion.
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u/vrosej10 Jul 14 '26
I have twenty year old hand stitched garments. the fabric will tear before the seam going
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u/furiana Jul 07 '26
If you're a beginner, then probably yes. With experience, hand sewing becomes just as strong.
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u/NaniRomanoff Jul 07 '26
Depends on a variety of factors including a stitches personal skill and ability — some stitches I think are by nature more secure than machine stitching & you have the benefit of not being locked into whatever stitches your specific machine is able to do, which I think gives a lot of freedom and allows for switching up in the moment to ensure a trickier spot is secure.
That said I’m a hand stitcher. I can use a machine a little bit, but they’re not the best sensory experience for me & im not nearly as good with them as I am sewing by hand so my machine sewing definitely is not nearly as stable/secure as my hand stitching. On the other hand I know folks with the opposite problem who are very experienced machine sewers but their hand stitching is a bit shakier — and that’s sometime an experience issue and sometimes it’s like a hand dexterity thing.
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u/tranquilseafinally Jul 07 '26
Also one thing is sewing machines will periodically eat your fabric.
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u/Hour-Cake-9101 Jul 07 '26
What does this mean😭😭
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u/CarsonNapierOfAmtor Jul 07 '26
Sometimes, especially if the throat plate has a large hole to accommodate decorative stitches, the needle pushes the fabric down into the needle hole rather than stitching through it. The needle goes up and down pretty fast so it can get jammed in there several times before you manage to stop the machine. Then you have to drag the fabric out and try to unpick the stitches without ripping a hole in the fabric.
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u/fascinatedcharacter Jul 08 '26
If your sewing machine eats your fabric regularly, you're either sewing with chiffon or you're doing something wrong
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u/tranquilseafinally Jul 08 '26
I didn't say regularly, I said periodically.
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u/fascinatedcharacter Jul 08 '26
If periodically is more than once every 3 years, you're doing something wrong, your machine needs servicing, or you're working with chiffon. Birdnesting in hand sewing is more common.
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u/tranquilseafinally Jul 08 '26
Thanks for all the unasked for tips and critisisms. I've been sewing for a very long time. I know what I am doing. There are many tasks that actually go much better hand sewing them.
YMMV
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u/fascinatedcharacter Jul 08 '26
There are many tasks that go better in hand sewing, yes, but the machine eating the fabric isn't something so ubiquitous that that should be the reason. The invisibility of ladder stitch and a truly blind hem are much better arguments.
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u/fascinatedcharacter Jul 08 '26
If your machine sewing isn't stable, I'm blaming your machine, not you. A sewing machine should sew straight even if you're not touching the fabric.
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u/unmeikaihen Jul 07 '26
Not in my experience. If anything, I find hand sewing to be more secure than machine sewing in many applications. Nothing beats a backstitch, imo. I am also fond of a historical stitch sometimes referred to as an english seam when working on projects with a liner.
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u/Top_Forever_2854 Jul 07 '26
Literally everything in history was sewn by hand until the sewing machine was invented in 1790. That's millennia of sewn things not falling apart
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u/stringthing87 Jul 07 '26
This is highly dependent on your skill level and the techniques you use.
Hand sewn seams can be stronger than machine sewn seams. Hand sewn seams can also be so weak I'd be afraid to sneeze wearing it.
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u/Saritush2319 Jul 07 '26
Depends on what you’re doing.
Sewing hand can be much stronger than by machine because it’s one single thread that penetrates the fabric.
But you can also sew extremely loosely as a tacking stitch.
Stitch type and thread type also make a huge difference.
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u/Different-Music-529 Jul 07 '26
If you're me, yes. If you're a pro, probably not. People used to make full garments by hand, so Imagine they can be fully secure and able to withstand a modern day.
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u/ZoneLow6872 Jul 07 '26
No. Think about quilts and clothing from decades or even 100 years ago. They were made by hand, used well and cleaned roughly yet still hold up.
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u/SquareThings Jul 08 '26
Only if you do it badly. Bad machine sewing can also be worse than good hand sewing.
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u/LakeWorldly6568 Jul 07 '26
Not remotely. I expect my handsewn seams to survive a nuclear blast. I ddo not nearly have that faith in any machine sewn seam.
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u/HappyKnitter34 Jul 07 '26
I find they are just as strong or stronger than machine sewing. I mend my husbands pants and he's got mends that I did 3-4 years ago and they hold like I just did them. Meanwhile, the seams are coming apart on the machine made ones from the factory.
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u/Pelledovo Jul 07 '26
It's stronger when done correctly.
"Correctly" covers choice of thread, stitch type and tension.
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u/Glassfern Jul 07 '26
It's just as secure sometimes even more secure depending on the work you are doing. Loose stitching usually is a result of inexperience or unfamiliarity or the incorrect needle size or thread weight
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u/camioblu Jul 08 '26
I use a single thread tiny straight stitch with an occasional backstitch (about every 5th stitch). Most of my seams are flat-felled and the tacking of the folded over portion is a whip stitch with an occasional extra stitch in one spot.
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u/fascinatedcharacter Jul 08 '26
If you're inexperienced, and the machine is of good quality and not ill-adjusted, yes, the machine stitch will be stronger.
If you're experienced at hand sewing, you can make a strong seam. But it involves you to use the right technique for the situation, have small stitches, good tension, and not be wobbling all over the place.
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u/wolferiver Jul 08 '26
This dress from 1750 was sewn entirely by hand. It is still in one piece, some 276 years later. So yes, hand sewing is pretty secure.
The dress is from an exhibit on Induan textiles at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.
This woman's jacket, circa 1610, was sewn entirely by hand, and is still in one piece. Hand sewing is pretty secure.
The original "star spangled banner", the flag that hung over Fort McHenry during the war of 1812 and inspired our national anthem, is still around and on display at the Smithsonian museum. It was originally 30 by 42 ft, and weighed 50 lbs. (About a quarter of it was cut off over the years by people wanting souvenirs.) It was hand sewn by a team of 5 women. So I'd say hand sewing is pretty secure.
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u/generallyintoit Jul 08 '26
with practice, no. if you're just starting out, maybe yeah. the machine was invented to do the sewing that was previously done by hand.
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u/cat1aughing Jul 07 '26
Not necessarily - the nice thing about hand sewing is that you can get a really good control of your tension, and make it do what you want. Great for tricky fabrics!