Overlocking/Serging

T

trinsana

Registered Guest
When did overlocking/serging become a standard finishing procedure? I read somewhere, while researching dates of vintage clothing, that if a garment was made earlier than the '80s, the seams won't be overlocked because it didn't become a standard finishing procedure until the 80s. Is that true?
 
Small portable home sergers became popular in the 80s, but industrial sergers pre-date them by many,many years. I have sewn on one myself that was at least from the 30s. The serger/overlock/merrow machine was invented in the late 19th C - 1890s, I think, 1880s by one Mr. J. Merrow.

Hollis
 
Thanks Hollis! Good to know. I just bought a couple of skirts that have serged side seams, so I automatically thought, "Hmm...must be 80s or newer." But I guess there's a chance that it could be older. Thanks again!
 
There's a lot of misunderstanding about overlocking - I've seen it on lingerie and menswear from the '20s but the earliest I've seen it on ladieswear (apart from lingerie) is 1940s. It's common for professionally manufactured separates like skirts and tops to have it from the '50s. You do see some overlocked dresses in the '50s but it's not really until the '60s that it becomes more common, and from there it just gets more and more popular.

As Hollis mentioned, domestic overlockers became available in the '80s so home made garments earlier than this will be unlikely to have this finish, but professional dressmakers had them and there were a lot of them.

In short, it can help date a garment but it's not cut and dried.

Nicole
 
Thank you, Nicole :) And Linn, I agree! This is great information because I was definitely confused about it. Now when I shop for vintage items, I won't put it back on the rack just because of the seams (I did that recently).
 
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