DARN those RAGGEDY RAGS and patch with your Vintage Sewing Machine

Washrags and towels getting raggedy? 

• Trim off the strings around the edges of washrags and towels
•  Use your standard zigzag presser foot
• Stitch Width- widest setting (My Morse Superdial does up to 5mm), 
• Zigzag cam (if yours is built in, just use the zigzag stitch)
• Stitch length setting of 1.5mm 
• Zigzag around the edges, allow your needle to stitch off the edge to the right, to enclose the edges.
• TIP-loosen presser foot pressure, if your machine has adjustable presser foot pressure, to help thick toweling fabric feed better
• TIP- you can match your thread to your towel, or use a contrasting color of thread. I chose white to use on all of my towels I was mending and darning today.

Darning Raggedy Rags with holes, using denim scraps

• Stitch Width- widest setting
• Stitch Length- 1.4mm (too short of stitch will make it stiff)
• Mending Stitch, also called Multi Stitch Zigzag Cam (or dial if stitch is built in)
• Cut a scrap of denim, or other fabric, for your patch, 1/2" larger than the hole all around
• TIP- Hearts, squares, circles, triangles, diamonds, or other decorative shapes are FUN!
• Place patch wrong side down, on the right side, of your towel, centered over the hole
• TIP- washable glue stick, or basting tape, or pins, or iron on Stitch Witchery to hold in place
• Stitch the patch down on the FRONT side, first

  

  Front of heartshaped patch sewn down with Morse Superdial 6100 sewing machine, step 1 
  
  

• Sew patch edges down, making sure your stitches start at the edges of your patch



Heart shaped patch sewn to front, back needs trimmed


• 
• Trim the torn fabric inside the sewn down patch, on the back of your towel.
• Stitch around your patch again, this time, from the back, enclosing the edges of your trimmed hole in the towel

Front view of completed heart shaped patch, notice there are 2 rows of the multi stitch zigzag, mending stitch, one around the outside of the patch, one around the inside of the fabric hole, on the back.

    COMPLETED PATCHED AND OVEREDGED TOWEL AND RAGS!

Front of multi stitch zigzag circle patch, I sewed the stitches in a spiral shape, to go with the shape of the patch, to help sew down the threads on the back, that I did not cut off, of this coarse woven rag.

If you don't want to trim out the worn edges on the back of a patch, you need to stitch them down well, to prevent further fraying, I used the multistitch zigzag to sew down the outside of this patch on the front of the washrag, then turned it over, and sewed more, on the back, so I could catch all of the threads. This does not look as pretty as the heart shape patch, but for a kitchen rag, I decided I was fine with just the circle.