When NOT to Clip Corner Seam Allowances + MORE Info....

If you think you ALWAYS trim corners as you sew...that is WRONG!  I learned this all-important and reasonable rule from Claire Schaeffer way back in 2003 when I had her as the last guest teacher of my retail storefront days.  Watch and understand:

Clarification of Trimming, Notching, Grading & Clipping

If clipping, trimming, grading, notching seam allowances and corners further mystifies you - be sure to watch this FULL video about it all.  I've done my best to make sense of this 'engineering' with fabric.

One thing I'll add to the video above is: if you are notching a very lightweight, sheer fabric, and/or you are notching a very heavy fabric, you should stagger the notching, doing just 1 layer of the seam allowance, then move to the other layer just a bit next door, then back to the first seam allowance....this will accomplish the same thing, but will distribute the notching to yield a more uniform depth to the seam allowance.

Have these tasks challenged you in the past?  Did this help?  Do you have any tricks you want to share?  Please comment below.