sewing lycra on a regular machine

In article , small change of

uttered> I haven't seamed swim lycra on a regular machine in 19 years.>>I'm working on a new page for my site, and I would like to have some>technique tips for seaming lycra on regular machine. I need to offer those>hints for the sergerless folks out there.>

Not something I do every week but: use either the "stretch stitch" if your machine has one, or use a slight zig-zag use a ball-point needle

above all: sew some test samples to experiment with stitch-length etc before you go for the jugular - fabrics vary according to fibre content and proportion of lycra

I am sure the stretch and sew folks have a lot to say on that topic.

d'oh! A link, didn't even think of that!

thanks Ron.

I made 3 skirts for a dance recital for one of my customers. Very shishi poo. One was a copy of a Paris Hilton skirt, lycra tube with about 15 meters of netting gathered onto the bottom. Oh, yeah, sequins along the bottom edge of the netting too. Another was lycra topped with organza flounce edged with fishing wire to give it that circle thingy (sorry for my technical words - it's been a long day lol) and the third was another lycra tube, this time with 25 lycra strips sewn to it. It was pretty cute, if I do say so myself

For the lycra, a serger was never used. I used a knit needle, a zigzag with a .5 width and a 2.0 length. I also did two rows of stitching and trimmed

1/4 inch away from the second row.

Hope this helps. Linda

"Maraviclin" wrote

I agree w/ the above. I also stretch the fabric while I sew.

K.