Quick Tip – Super Stitch for Knits
This overcasting stitch is ideal for sewing seams in light to medium weight knits. It sews the seam and overcasts all in one step, all while maintaining a bulk free seam. I’ve even used this for sewing bathing suit seams. You’ll find this style of overcasting stitch on many Brother machine models. The stitch is formed with two straight stitches along the seam line, followed by a slanted stitch from left to right. See Figure #1.
Figure #1
Here are some quick tips for sewing this stitch two different ways:
In sample one shown in Figure #2 below, I sewed the seam right along the 5/8-inch seam line. I used SA538
,the Brother seam guide accessory to guide the raw edge of the fabric and keep my seam allowance consistent.
Figure #2
I also used the Left/Right shift feature on the Luminaire to move the stitch over slightly to the left so I could follow the 5/8-inch line on the throat plate. You’ll find this shift feature handy if you have ever wished you could move the stitch one way or another instead of having to move your fabric. There are limitations for movement since many stitches take up a larger portion of the open throat plate, but as long as the stitch is less than 7mm wide you have room to adjust slightly to the left or right. See Figure #3.
Figure #3
Since I used a 5/8-inch seam allowance the next step was to trim the excess seam allowance close to the stitches. See Figure #4.
Figure #4
This first method works well when you have a 5/8-inch seam and you don’t want to pre-trim the seam allowance. It works particularly well when you have a knit that is thin or slippery and you want the seam to lay very flat when finished. See Figure #5 for an example of how this looks from the right side.
Figure #5
On the second example, I sewed the seam to finish at ¼-inch, using it on a swimsuit fabric. For this seam you’ll want to sew so that the right-hand swing of the needle falls just to the right of the raw edge, and the straight stiches form directly on the seamline. Many swimsuit patterns have a ¼-inch seam allowance as the default on the pattern. For a ¼-inch seam I changed the settings to 7.0mm for the width. In addition, changing to 3.0mm for the length makes it a more open, less dense stitch.
If your Brother machine has a guideline marker feature like the Luminaire XP1
used here, you can set the laser along the outside edge of the stitch and use it as a guide so that the overcasting forms just off the raw edge. See Figure #6a and Figure #6b.
Figure #6a
Figure #6b
This makes a nice, neat seam for swimwear. It’s super stretchy so it’s ideal for the four-way stretch of swimsuit fabric. See Figure #7a and Figure #7b.
Figure #7a
Figure #7b
If you’re interested in more ideas for sewing seams on swimwear, I invite you to watch It’s Sew Easy TV episode 1109-1. In this the Brother sponsored show I demonstrated a variety of techniques for sewing swimwear. You can watch the video below from my YouTube channel. Enjoy!
CLICK HERE FOR PDF!

,the Brother seam guide accessory to guide the raw edge of the fabric and keep my seam allowance consistent.




used here, you can set the laser along the outside edge of the stitch and use it as a guide so that the overcasting forms just off the raw edge. See Figure #6a and Figure #6b.



