Hate ripping seams? Me too—until I learned this.
I recently learned how they rip seams at sewing factories, and I think it’s going to change my life, so I had to share it with you!
Ripping Seams – the Old Way
This is what I used to do: pick 3 stitches at a time with a seam ripper… and repeat. It took forever, and I poked holes by accident. I’ve spent hours undoing seams on skirts.
Then I found this faster method:
Pick a stitch with the sharp end, then insert the red ball end of the ripper into the seam and just push. It rips through quickly!
Well, this works, but… It always makes a mess with little thread bits, and I’ve accidentally ripped fabric doing this many times.
If that’s you too, here’s a new method I love:
Ripping Seams – the Better Way
Use a seam ripper to snip just the backstitch ends.
Then grab a tailor’s awl. Use it to lift the thread from the front, then back.
Then hold a thread on the front, give it a little wiggle, and break it.
Do the same on the back.
Front, back, repeat—that’s it!
Honestly, at first I thought it appeared rough, but when I tried it, I realized the only thing that’s breaking is the thread, and it’s way gentler on fabric, and the seam rips in seconds!
It takes a little practice, but once you get the hang of it, it’s much faster and safer than ripping stitch by stitch.
How to Undo Serger Stitches
For serged seams, first trim the thread tail.
Then use your awl to pick the straight thread that runs parallel to the fabric edge. Pull that out.
And the rest just unravel like magic!
Same with a 4-thread seam: pull the bottom straight thread, then the one in the middle. The rest unravels cleanly.
Want to Put This to Use?
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Try these seam-ripping tricks, and if you want a great project to test them on, this 25-yard tiered skirt is super popular and so fun to make!
Thanks for reading, and keep sparkling!
P.S. Pin this on your sewing trick board!
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