I am currently sewing Simplicity 2369 - a knit dress with a wrap front with tie and buckle details. I bought the fabric from Ebay using a store I have previously purchased from. I have been generally happy with these buys and hence why I have gone back for more. The fabric is a wild and loud royal blue, grey, black and white abstract knit and I really like the design .
However when I went to sew with this , it was the fabric from hell- stitch repellant material. I was trying to sew using a slight zig-zag stitch as I have done previously and has been recommended innumerable times. But the stitches would not take. I changed the ( new ) ballpoint needle to a ( new ) stretch needle and still no luck.I also used some tear away stabilizer but not all the stitches worked and when I tore away the stabilizer it really pulled at the stitches ( besides you really can not use this on all those seams ) . I ended up sewing the initial seams with 2-3 rows until enough stitches were staying. I then came to sew the pleats in the front wrap detail and it was just a mess and looked horrible. I had ( evil ) thoughts of chucking this project away but I was determined to succeed.
The internet really can be wonderful and I came across a simple tip from Threads and gave this a try. It worked and the previously stitch repellant fabric from hell became putty in my hands.
Set the sewing machine stitch length to 3 and stitch width to zero. As you sew the seams, gently stretch the fabric and it worked - ALL the stitches took , no skipped stitches.
The above photo shows what the stitching looks like - zig-zaggy and springy. On the other side the stitches look more `normal`. When you stretch the fabric, the stitches straighten up . Having stitches that can stretch and move with knit fabric is of course important to prevent broken stitches. So thankyou to the sewist who wrote this article and thankyou to Threads for publishing this on the internet. You have saved this dress from the rubbish. Cheers Janine .
P.S - We saw the Australian movie Red Dog and we highly recommend it- lovely and quirky but gosh at the end I had to use all my willpower not to sob out loud. ( I am a sook though - I cried at Walt Disney`s A Little Mermaid when she married her handsome Prince Eric ! ) . I was surprised to see at the end credits it was based on a book written by Louis deBernieres who also wrote Captain Corelli`s Mandolin and Birds Without Wings.
That fabric looks fabulous - how annoying that it proved to be so tricky to sew - but well done for persevering and winning out in the end. I'm looking forward to seeing the finished dress.
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful tip, and that fabric is well worth the effort of finding out how to work it. Well done for sticking at it! btw, Red Dog is not fictional, but was a real dog, and the movie is based on real events as remembered by the people who knew him.
ReplyDeleteThank you Janine for passing this tip on. The fabric is lovely and it would have been a shame not to have used it.
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ReplyDeleteShame the fabric turned out to be a difficult one as it's so nice. So glad you found a solution to the problem and didn't turf it. Looking forward to seeing the finished dress.
ReplyDeleteOH, I am going to have to try this! I have been trying to sew on knit fabric and it seems okay but the skipped stitches are terrible! And now, looking at your pictures, I can see that you have what looks like the exact same sewing machine that I do! It is a great little machine - a gift from my mother-in-law 11 years ago after she used it for many years and then upgraded to a new digital machine!
ReplyDeleteYou effort paid off! That dress is absolutely fabulous. My version of this dress was a wadder because of my fabric choice. Good for you on persevering.
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