Burda Style For people who sew

I have some stretch woven fabric that I’m going to make a pair of pants out of. I just realised that I’ve never sewn with stretch wovens before. I have done a lot of sewing with knits. Should I use similar techniques for sewing stretch wovens?

Can you give me any tips for working with stretch wovens, please?

Thanks so much!

Yvette

Mar 11, 2011, 05.55 AM by Yvette Stanton

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  Mar 12, 2011, 08.35 PMby Yvette Stanton

  Well, no one has answered this, so I’ll tell you what I did in case it might help others. The fabric stretches in only one direction, so I decided that whenever I was sewing along that direction, I’d slightly stretch the fabric as I sewed. This meant that the stretch could still be maintained with the seam sewn.

  I chose not to stretch along bias curves, because I figure they have their own stretch anyway, and I wouldn’t want to exaggerate that.

  The pants I made turned out beautifully. The stretch seems to work well, and all the seams sit flat (no puckering) whether they were stretched during the sewing process or not.
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  Mar 13, 2011, 09.21 AMby katexxxxxx

  Generally speaking, you sew stretch wovens as if they were ordinary wovens. The stretch is in there to aid recovery in wear, so things like the knees of trousers don’t go baggy.
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  Mar 14, 2011, 02.39 PMby mickeygirl

  Make sure you cut the pants with the most stretch across the body. They will fit better and be more comfortable.

  Sewing — you need to use the correct type of needle in the machine. Use stay stitching on the top waist, zipper areas, and hem allowance to avoid puckering. For seams use a straight stitch and then sew a zigzag stitch close beside it on the seam allowance side.