Sewing advice

Risu

Master Member
I'm about to start work on an undersuit for a costume, but I've only done a little sewing in my life. I've never worked with a stretchy material or the sewing machine I'll be using for this project. The material I'll be using is a stretchy cotton/poly blend and the machine is fairly old. It doesn't have many features as far as I know. So my question is, when I sew the material, what is the best way to avoid the stitches tearing? Do I absolutely have to use stretchy thread, because I don't have any on hand and I'd hate to drive across town again to go get some. I've heard that using a zig-zag stitch will help, and that person also told me that you could use whatever thread you wanted if that's the case, is that true? I've seen different websites say that you should stretch the fabric as it goes through the machine and that you absolutely shouldn't stretch the fabric. So what's best? Thanks.
 
You don't need stretchy thread. You don't need a fancy sewing machine. The one you have should be fine if it can do straight and zigzag stitches. Just sew the seam with a straight stitch first, then go over it with a zigzag.

A new ball-point needle in your machine would be ideal, but if you have to drive across town to find one, just use what you have. Practice first on something else -- if you have any even remotely similar stretchy fabric, put together some small things -- a pillow, a hat, some leg warmers -- anything to get a feel for it. If you can find a few yards of cheap (Wal-Mart near me still has a $1/yard table) stretchy material, do a mock-up of your whole suit.

Pin your seam together before you machine-sew it. Some folks even like to thread-baste (loosely sew the two pieces together by hand), but that's always seemed like too much work to me. In any case, once you know that your pieces are lined up and loosely held together, you can gently stretch the fabric as it's going through the sewing machine. Grasp it firmly both in front of and behind the needle, and support it as the machine does its work. You'll have to get a feel for how the machine feeds the fabric through; that earlier practice will have helped with that.

Sew with a straight stitch. About 10-12 stitches per inch should be plenty. If your machine has a stretch stitch, then go over the seam again with that. If not, a zigzag stitch should be fine. More stitches per inch, maybe 20, and about 1/8 of an inch wide should do. Keep the zigzag stitches to the seam-allowance side (the right side, most of the time) of the straight stitches, not right on top of them.

Once the suit is done, you might hear some of the straight stitches breaking as you put it on, but the zigzag stitches will stretch along with the fabric and hold the suit together.

Oh, and before you wear it, iron your seams flat. Makes a world of difference for a professionally finished look.
 
Thanks for the tips. The nearest Wal-Mart is even farther than Jo-Ann's, Long Beach is a strangely uneven city, everything is in one corner. I do probably have enough material to do a few practice stitches on some scrap, but not enough to make anything out of it.

The suit is going to have a zipper up the back, do I use the zig-zag stitch when attaching it, or just a straight stitch?
 
Before you use a zig-zag check to see if your machine has a stretch stitch setting, it's specifically meant for stretch fabrics like spandex. It basically sews a straight line but every time a stitch is made it doubles back upon itself for reinforcement. We sew a tremendous amount of varying weights of spandex here in my Studio and we've always used stretch stitch, it holds tremendously well and eliminates the risk of popping seams.

-Dale.
 
I just checked out the manual and I didn't see anything about stretch stitch. There was straight, zig-zag, and decorative stitch.

Oh, and also, I don't have a serger, I used to use my roommate's, but thankfully I don't live with her anymore. I do miss the sewing machine though, it was nice. Anyhow, is there a way to achieve the same goal as a serger with a regular sewing machine?
 
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The closest thing a regular machine has to a serger is your zig-zag. How old is your machine? This may be a silly request but could you put up a shot of your stitch setting knob?
 
I can't do pictures because I've got no batteries for my old battery-sucking camera right now, but the machine is a Brother LS-1217. It's got a toggle with L, M, and R on it, then a knob with 0-5 and another knob with 0 - F - 1 2 3 4. Both knobs have pictures of stitches below them.
 
I recognize that symbol from the machine I learned on originally, never used it though. It's definitely not on my machine.

I suppose it could be done very slowly be going back every two stitches. It would take a lifetime to sew the whole suit though.
 
It looks like there's information online about the Brother LS-1217, but if you've got the manual, you're good to go. It looks like a good, solid, basic machine.

You don't need to try to replicate the stretch stitch. Sewing the seam twice, first with the straight stitch, then the zigzag, will do what you need it to.
 
Cool, now I just have to take apart a flight suit and use the pieces as a pattern to make this new suit. The hardest part will either be A) attaching the sleeves. I was never able to get that right. or B) modifying the pattern so that the seams on the sides of the legs move to two inches apart on the front at the knee and then back out again. I don't really know how that'll work, but hopefully what I'm seeing in my head will just happen, haha.
 
They'll be curved:

Gordon_Freeman_-_Valve_Concept_Art_-_Walking_with_a_crowbar_-_cropped.jpeg
 
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