How to Use Stitches for a Swimming Suit
If you have good basic sewing skills, you can sew your own custom swimwear. Special stitching techniques are necessary for good results, and it's important to spend some time practicing and perfecting them before you begin working on the garment. Use the right needle, and make a few adjustments to the stitch settings on your sewing machine so that the seams you sew will stretch properly. Perfect the stretch-as-you-stitch technique to ensure that your suit will look as good as ready-to-wear swimwear.
Things You'll Need
- Sewing machine with a zigzag setting
- Ballpoint needle to fit your sewing machine, Size 9 to 11
- Swimwear fabric
- Tape measure or ruler
- Scissors
- Swimwear elastic
- Pins
Instructions
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1
Install the ballpoint needle in your sewing machine according to the manufacturer's instructions. The procedure will vary depending on the model, but usually requires that you insert the end opposite the eye into a needle channel at the end of the needle bar, then tighten the screw that holds it in place.
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2
Set the sewing machine to the zigzag setting according to the manufacturer's instructions. Set the stitch length to 16 to 20 stitches per inch, and set the stitch width to produce a narrow zigzag width of 1/8 inch side to side.
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3
Stitch a practice seam on a doubled layer of swimwear fabric, allowing the feed dogs to pull the fabric beneath the presser foot. Don't push or pull the fabric at all, but rather guide it beneath the presser foot. Remove the fabric from the sewing machine.
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4
Hold the beginning edge of the stitching between the thumb and forefinger of one hand, and the end of the stitching between the thumb and forefinger of the other, and stretch the seam as tightly as you can. The zigzags of the stitches should seem to straighten out into a straight stitch when the seam is pulled tight. The stitches should not break. If they do break, adjust the zigzag width slightly wider, and repeat this step until the stitches hold.
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5
Measure a 6-inch length of swimwear elastic and cut it to that length. Measure a 10-inch length of swimwear fabric (at least 2 inches wide, but wider is fine) and cut it to length.
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Pin the elastic at the top edge of the 10-inch length of swimwear fabric. Pin the other end at the bottom of the same edge. (The elastic will be shorter than the fabric.) Position the top edge under the presser foot (with the needle in the raised position) and drop the presser foot onto the elastic and fabric. Stitching slowly down the center of the elastic, sew it to the swimwear fabric while simultaneously stretching the elastic. Your aim is to evenly stretch the too-short elastic across the length of the fabric. Remove the fabric and elastic from the sewing machine and access your success. Practice the stretch-as-you-sew technique until the un-stretched seam exhibits evenly spaced gathers along the length.
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Tips & Warnings
After you have perfected the stretch-as-you-sew technique, you can adjust the ratio of elastic to fabric to suit the stretch requirements of the garment. Stretch the elastic more for elastic that surrounds curvy areas of the body such as the bust and back hip, and stretch it less for straighter areas such as the front hip and back.
References
- Photo Credit stitching image by robert mobley from Fotolia.com
