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by **Feijoa** » Thu Apr 26, 2012 3:39 pm

I'm getting mentally prepared to launch into giving the merino clothes for bubs a go.

However I have no clue on sewing a stretch fabric on my machine. What kind of stitch length and tension would you use for stretch? And its a ballpoint needle as well is that right?

Thanks for any advice :-)

by **nakigal** » Thu Apr 26, 2012 5:57 pm

I just made a couple of merino tops for DD2 this afternoon, I did all the sewing on my overlocker bar the final hem. My overlocker has differential feed which helps HEAPS when sewing merino. With the hem I did a fancy wave stitch so it had a lot of stretch for when she takes the tops off herself (think very independent 2 year old) :roll:

Sorry, not much help with sewing in on an ordinary machine am I, do you have access to an overlocker?

by **Feijoa** » Fri Apr 27, 2012 11:16 am

Hiya - thanks for that :-)

My mum had an overlocker but it recently died so stuck with the sewing machine. I think I will just try doing a mix of zigzagging the seams and straight lines. Will be a matter of experimentation I think! Thank you :-)

by **Petals** » Fri Apr 27, 2012 11:38 am

Yes a ballpoint needle. Does your sewing machine manual have any instructions for stretch stitches? The reason to do the zigzag is to give the stitching space to stretch when the fabric does, so if you do a mix of straight and zigzag then you might find that the straight stitching breaks when worn. It doesn't need to be a "tight" zigzag - closer to a straight stitch than a buttonhole LOL. I would keep the stitch length similar to normal straight stitch, and fairly narrow width.

by **Feijoa** » Fri Apr 27, 2012 3:11 pm

Thanks Petals - that all makes perfect sense and helps heaps thank you!! I didn't get a manual with my machine (2nd hand about 10 yrs ago) so that's why I'm not sure how to sew a stretch on it. But this definitely helps :-)

by **Claire** » Fri Apr 27, 2012 3:14 pm

practising on scraps is always the best way.
You can do the hem using a double needle as it gives a nice looking stretch stitch

this is a handy tutorial about binding.
http://kitschycoo.blogspot.com/2010/06/ ... -knit.html

by **mama anne** » Fri Apr 27, 2012 3:17 pm

Claire wrote:practising on scraps is always the best way.

Just what I was going to say. Sew a seam, then stretch it with your hands to see if the seam stretches any or just pops.
Nothing worse than 'finishing' clothes only to have the seams pop on first wear (speaking from experience!) 8-[