Sewing knits and stretchy stuff

Heh, I'll admit it, I'm a woven snob. I avoid the knit and stretchy section of the fabric section like the contagious wing of the hospital, even going so far as to re-design costumes so they don't need stretchy material in them. I really think it's time to get over this, though. Experienced people? How do I sew a knit without making a mess? Is it special needles, threads, patterns? Do I need a serger or can I sew on my handy-dandy regular machine? How do I cut it out, sretched or not? What would be a good project to start out on?

 

Jayne, take a peek at this page which offers a pretty comprehensive guide to sewing with knits.
Hope it helps!


-sg

 

Sewing stretch fabrics doesn't have to be a big deal... I sew with spandex and jersey quite a bit. Here's a few tips:

- Use an appropriate sewing needle. A "stretch" or "jersey" sewing needle has a ball point tip that won't snag your fabric and pull it out of shape.

- Use twill tape to reinforce seams. Things like shoulder seams need to keep their shape. Non-stretchy twill tape sown into the seam will keep it firm. (look inside a t-shirt. They all have it.)

- A serger is your friend, but not necessary. It's true that for knits nothing beats a serger, but the zig zag stitch on a regular machine works too. Some machines have a variety of different "stretchable" stitches. If you need to sew a straight stitch, stretch the fabric as you run it under the presser foot.

- Start with a pattern designed for knits. I like to draft my own patterns, but when it comes to knits I always use a commercial pattern as a base. A commercial knit pattern will have a "stretchability" guide on the side where you hold up a length of fabric and test how far it stretches to see if it is appropriate for that fabric.

- My favorite commercial patterns for knits are made by Kwik-Sew. Yeah, it's a dumb name but they make patterns for everything and they are printed in COLOR on REAL paper so they are easy to use and last forever.

- Pay attention to ease. Knit clothes have ease in them to keep them stretching unnaturally. Typical spots for ease is in the bust and hips.

- If you really need to draft your own, there's a bit of math. Stretch is measured in percents so if a fabric has 75% stretch that means that 10 inches unstretched will be 17.5 inches stretched so you can plan your pattern pieces accordingly. (But it's not very much fun to do.)

That's about all I can think of. It's really not much different than wovens once you get used to it.

Good luck.

-e

 

WOW. You said it all!

 

WOW. You said it all!

Ditto! And it's a good refresher for a lot of us, too. Thanks, Surly and Zam!

 

hehe... I, too, am a bit of a knit-a-phobe, but the few things I have sewn from knits I have used a walking foot to sew. I never really tried sewing stretchy fabrics without it.

For those of you who are more comfortable sewing knits on a regular machine, do you think using the walking foot is necessary / helpful? Or doesn't it really make a difference?

Also, in addition to using twill tape to reinforce seams, I've read of using narrow flat elastic. For the one knit dress I made, I used this, and it seems to be holding up fine.

 

I think a walking foot is an excellent tool for use with knits. For people who don't have a walking foot, one thing that can really help keep the fabric from stretching out of shape as you sew is reducing the downward pressure of your presser foot. Have the pressure reduced will keep fabric from hanging under the foot while the feed dogs are trying to pull it through, which can result in overstretching, which can cause ugly seam syndrome.

-sg