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I am a mother, a grandmother, and a teacher. But whatever happens in my life, I keep sewing. I have worked as a political communicator and now as a teacher in my formal life. I have also written extensively on sewing. I have been a frequent contributor and contributing editor of Threads magazine and the Australian magazine Dressmaking with Stitches. My book Sew.. the garment-making book of knowledge was published in May 2018 and is available for pre-order from Amazon
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Saturday, November 18, 2017

Hold the phone! Late breaking hemming knits news

In all the discussion about how to hem knits I neglected to mention another solution, and a new one, which is a stretchy sewing thread - a new one from Coats called Eloflex.

I didn't include mention in this in my hemming series because, until today, news of this new product slipped right past me.

Sometimes events happen in the world I miss, I don't know how it happens, but it does.

I had one of my lovely all day sewing days with my friends from the sewing guild today and my friend Pat brought this thread to me and let me feel it. It certainly was stretchy if you pulled on it, strong and didn't break.

If in fact it will allow us to sew a good simple seam or hem in knits on our standard machines with a standard straight stitch (which being a minimally active stitch by definition is the least likely to cause a hem to wave) this in fact will be a game changer.

Right now, as in this very minute, I am at my daughter's babysitting as opposed to at the fabric store. However it is my intention is to run down and pick some of this stuff up tomorrow and do full on research type lab test on it.

Expect that report to be released soon afterwards.

11 comments:

Ginger said...

If we weren’t in different countries I would give you the spool of Eloflex I purchased. I don’t hate it but I don’t love it. I used it on swim fabric to make a rash guard shirt. I think all the seams look puckery no matter what I did. I’ll be interested to hear your thoughts.

Chrisagriff2 said...

Do you use in bobbin or needle or both?

Anonymous said...

I bought several spools thinking it would be great. Before I finished a tee shirt, it was shredding. I had a new needle, but changed it thinking perhaps. It continued to shred. I won't be using it again. I use a Pfaff machine, but friends with Janome and Singers have had the same experience.

Lyndsasewing.blogspot.com said...

I bought several spools thinking it would be great. Before I finished a tee shirt, it was shredding. I had a new needle, but changed it thinking perhaps. It continued to shred. I won't be using it again. I use a Pfaff machine, but friends with Janome and Singers have had the same experience.

The Sewing and Knitting Loft said...

I have a very nice sewing machine, and was having all kinds of problems with skipped stitches while attempting to sew knits. I changed needles, the whole 9 yards. Out of desperation, I got my coupon and went to Joann's for Elolex, bought several spools. Much to my relief, I no longer have problems sewing knits. Eloflex, along with slowing down, fixed the issue.

bbarna said...

Very likely it would be easy to stretch this thread too much in the bobbin, causing puckering in the seams.
Barb from Prince George.

Anonymous said...

I am curious to see your take. Ann from Gorgeous Fabrics was not impressed.

Anasazi Dream said...

I have used it with thin knit and some thick knits works wonderful.

Laceflower said...

I've got to think you'd have to hand wind the bobbin. Looking forward to your report.

sunnlitt said...

Thank you for this informative series.
It's really helpful.

/anne... said...

I recently bought a 15,000m cone of Coats Gramax for under $4! I was told it was 'woolly nylon' (the label says Texturised Polyester) - it's not as stretchy as I would expect, but it does have some stretch, is very fine, and comes in a huge range of colours. I think it's only meant to be used in the loopers, but even so, that's still useful.

I haven't played with it yet, but I will try and remember to report back. I can imagine using it for lingerie, swimwear or baby clothes, where you want something softer and less bulky, but with some stretch.

/anne...