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Unstretching T-shirt fabric

Sep 21, 2005

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    1. I'm not sure if this has ever come up before, but if anyone can point me in the right direction....

      I made a t-shirt for my boy last night but as I was sewing up the fold on the back, the fabric stretched and curved outwards. I can only be grateful that both sides stretched evenly. I used a four-way stretch jersey, which did NOT stretch on the side seams, only down the back.

      Is there a way to unstretch it, or a trick to sewing it to keep it from stretching during construction?

      Thanks for the help! :)
       
      #1 totchipanda, Sep 21, 2005
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    2. if you use a stretch stitch you wont get that problem
      if ur sewing machine doesnt have a stretch stitch, a zigzag stitch might work.

      hope tat helps ^^
       
      #2 bittenbefore, Sep 21, 2005
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    3. my machine is pretty new and has lots of stitches, i just dont know which ones do what ^^;; I'll have to investigate. Thanks :D
       
      #3 totchipanda, Sep 21, 2005
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    4. is it called a stretch stitch? my sewing machine only has pictures of the stitches it does, no words, and i have no idea where the manual is. so..what does it look like?

      strechy fabric has also tortured me. but i always thought it was the things that pull the fabric along that was streching my fabrics.
       
      #4 desdisques, Sep 22, 2005
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    5. There are as many techniques for sewing knits as there are knits and machines, and it's been my experience that what works best is experimentation with your specific knit.

      My favorite trick is tear away or wash away stabilizer. I use the iron on/tear away for straight stitches, and wash away for overlock or zigzag. It's not perfect, but it does do the trick in many circumstances.

      I've also used a walking foot on some really stretchy stuff, with mixed results. I usually have to play around with the tension and the walking foot to get the results I want.

      But it all does come down to experimentation with your machine and fabric.

      Marcia.
       
      #5 purplewiz, Sep 22, 2005
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    6. I get this from -normal- fabrics sometimes, but what I do is try to hold the fabric evenly against the machine, to try to keep it from stretching, and stitching very slowly.

      For newer machines, I think the stretch stitch is the double thread stitch, isn't it? (I haven't learned all the stitches on mine, yet.)
       
      #6 Shana-chan, Sep 23, 2005
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    7. the stretch stitch on my machine is indicated next to the normal stitch in a lighter color
      essentially when u sew it, it sorta goes back and sews over itself once then sews forward [does this make sense?]

      my machine isnt very new [and from australia] so i am not sure about machines in USA or Canada [i assume tats where u are from]

      try the manual ?? ^^

      good luck!!
       
      #7 bittenbefore, Sep 24, 2005
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    8. I can usually only find the french manual (Canada XD gotta love our bilingualism) when i need it, but I found the english manual with no problems at all the other day. I'll definitely check which stitches are which and keep experimenting.

      Thanks for all the help guys ^___^
       
      #8 totchipanda, Sep 25, 2005
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    9. At least one stretch stitch is sort of a zig-zag in steps.

      Like right
      ...........right
      ....................right
      ....................left
      ............ left
      ........left

      And back again.

      I don't know--my machines tend to be straight-stitch only.

      Ann in CT
       
      #9 Ann in CT, Sep 25, 2005
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