Zig zag stitch to finish raw edges

Hi All,

I used to do basic Sewing 101 but along the way it stopped.
I'd like to continue the series and today I'm posting the way I finish off the raw edges of the fabric - using zig zag stitch. I do not have a serger and a serger gives a more professional look but I haven't been convinced enough to buy myself one. I can zig zag stitch or make a french seam if I didn't want to zig zag finish it.
So here it is.

 1. Select zig zag stitch on your machine (It is C on mine) and select the stitch length (I've selected 2 here).
I select higher number which means it is sparsely spread when the fabric doesn't fray a lot and select a smaller number when it is. Fraying means threads falling out of fabric as soon as you cut it. You can see in the above picture the unfinished edge on the bottom there are threads falling out.

 2. Pull the threads (bobbin and top) and put them under the foot and move them behind.

 3. Make sure the needle points on side at the edge of fabric and other on the fabric. When you move your hand wheel backwards and forwards you can adjust this.

 4. You can see here the finished edge for a stitch length of 2.

5. We can now modify the stitch length to 1 or 0.5. You can see the result below.

Thanks,
Preethi.

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