Elastic.

Posted by Juno on March 24, 2008, 3:25 pm

I just made some more skirts with elastic waists for the little DGDs.
I've been using L J Designs sew through, 1 inch elastic. Best stuff I
ever used for waistbands. It has lots of stretch and returns to it
original size without distortion. NAYY Just wanted to pass along the
info in case your unhappy with what your using now.
Juno

Posted by Judie in Penfield NY on March 24, 2008, 6:08 pm

Juno,

I've been making lots of kids' clothes lately and have been trying out
various elastic and not really happy with what I have. What application
method are you using? I would like some that works fairly well with the
serger and don't care for the thickness of the elastic with the backing.
I usually do use the casing method though.

Where did you get the L J Designs elastic?

Also, I came across some elastic that has a sort of ruffle on each edge
and have never seen this before and not sure what the intended use would
be. I bought it at a little craft shop since it was a good price and I
have several 1 or 2 yard pieces.

Judie

Juno wrote:
show/hide quoted text

Posted by Juno on March 24, 2008, 8:22 pm

Judie in Penfield NY wrote:
show/hide quoted text

Judie, I got the elastic here:
http://www.ljdesignsonline.com/ Click on notions and go almost to the
bottom of the page.
The price is $4.95 for 5 yard and the shipping is about $5.95. If you
order anything else the shipping isn't that bad. I had also ordered
fuseable stay tape. Her shipping is about the best price.

These are the directions I got from Sharon Hayes. The only thing I do
different is to divide my skirt and elastic into eighths. I do that when
applying the elastic and when I sew the waist band down. I find I have
better control that way. I made 2 skirts this afternoon in about 45
minutes from the time I cut until I did my final trimming of threads.
I've done 4 skirts in the last 2 days. One other thing is that these
girls don't like a real hem. They like their skirts to have a 3 thread
hem done with woolly nylon. I use the same setting for the hem as for
seams.
HTH.
Here's what I do. I use 1" wide elastic. (I don't like any wider than
that; uncomfortable to me.) I cut the elastic 2" less than the waist
measurement. (However, if she has no hips and is an energetic little
monkey, you might want to cut that 3" less.) Then overlap the cut ends
about 1" and stitch (I use 3 step zig zag top and bottom of the lapped
portions) to form a circle. Now, use the lapped portion as the CB. Fold
the elastic to find the CF, and both sides. Mark those with pins.

I have used 3 threads and 4 threads to do this. Either seems to work fine so
however you have the serger set up will do. Disengage the blades. You
don't want to cut through the elastic. Also, you don't want the serger set
for a rolled edge. Turn your differential feed to the highest setting. On
mine, that's "2." I tend to think of that as "most scrunched" for the
bottom fabric. ;)

Turn the skirt wrong side out. Find the CF, CB, and both side seams of the
skirt. Line up the matching points from the elastic and slide the elastic
ring over the skirt. Pin those points. Trust me, you won't serge over
them, but you will need them to keep everything aligned. Pretty important
to keep the cut edge of the skirt aligned with the edge of the elastic too.

You will be serging with the right side of the fabric against the feed dogs.
Start at any one of your 4 points. Pull that pin, and slide that point
under the presser foot of the serger. Drop the presser foot down (this is
one of the few times I actually raise the presser foot before I start.)
Then set your needle(s) all the way down. Now you are going to stretch the
elastic taut between where you are starting and the next pinned point.
Only the elastic, not the fabric. Usually once you pull the elastic taut,
it stretches out to about the same as the fabric. Then just start serging.
You should be overcasting the fabric and the elastic. The differential
feed will scrunch the fabric down to the size of the elastic. When you get
close to the next pin, stop, pull the pin, grab the elastic at the next
pin, pull taut, start serging again. Keep going till you're back where you
started. ;)

Then I carry it back to my sewing machine. I fold the elastic down so it's
covered by the fabric on the inside of the waist. Then holding taut at
those same 4 points, and working with the right side of the fabric against
the feed dogs, I carefully stitch it down.

Now, here's the super sneaky tricky part that is essential. Go steam the
elastic. And I do mean STEAM. That allows the elastic to really snap back
to it's original length. But don't ever use old elastic that's been
sitting around a long time. It won't recover it's original length.
BTDT. :(

Once you get the hang of it, and it really is easy, this will go Fast! I
like this method a lot. Much faster than feeding through a casing. If any
of that doesn't make sense, let me know.
Juno

Posted by Kay Lancaster on March 25, 2008, 5:42 am

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Juno, is it the BanRol XL 90 stuff? I'm rather fond of that, but my supply
from Oregon Tailor (now defunct) is nearly gone.
Here's XL90:
http://www.thesewingplace.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=992

Kay

Posted by Juno on March 25, 2008, 8:23 am

Kay Lancaster wrote:
show/hide quoted text

Kay, it's probably the same: here's the sewing place link
http://www.thesewingplace.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=4955
The Sewing Place is owned by LJ Designs but for some reason charge a
little more for shipping I think.
HTH
Juno

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