Thursday 14 June 2012

Jersey stabilizer - shopping tip for Swedish residents

Head's up: my inner geek slipped out and went exploring the wonderful world of sewing gadgets... (nerdy sewing post ahed =) ) A little ode to my new favorite toy tool!

Now that I've dared to venture into the land of jerseysewing, I've come upon the problem of stabilizing the overlocked seams. Some seams can gladly stretch (hello waistline) while others needs to retain their shape and length (like shoulders). Previously I've used a stabilizer from "Stoff och stil". It works, but it's 20 mm wide, so it needs to be cut in half to go through the overlock "tape-feeder". The tape then rests inside the seam and a bit outside.
However, when examining some purchased jersey tops I noticed a small, non-elastic non-fusible tape, totally enclosed in the shoulder seams. After searching high and low, both the internet and local shops (and shops in Stockholm) I finally found it in one place: Jofotex tyger.


I don't know if they ship international, bur for Swedes it's a great resource. Unfortunatly, while the tape is cheap (2 SEK/m) the shipping is 60 sek minumin, and you need to purchase for at least 200 sek. That's a lot of tape... I bought 42 metres (what they had in store at the time) and a jersey fabric that was on sale. The fabric wasn't a necessary purchase, and the colour turned out to be wrong for me. I don't care though, I love this tape!


From now on it's steady shoulder seams for me, with no problems whatsoever. Just insert the tape by lifting the presser foot and then place the tape into the tape-guide, lower the presser foot, take a few stitches to get the tape secured to the seam, and I'm good to go!



A short video on how to easiest insert the tape into the tape guide (about 35 sec into the video). I'm adding it because while maybe you all knew this trick, I did it the hard way; trying to push the tape into the guide with the machine feeding the tape forward. Not so smooth. Not even close. Turned out the way they intended the machine to be used really is the easiest. Who could have known! ; )

Look how nicely the tape lays inside the overlocked seam, stabilizing without adding bulk.


The project? It's actually done, and I'll show it to you very, very soon =)

Love/ Erika

3 comments:

Customer Satisfaction said...

Thanks for sharing this post. It can be greatly informative for those who are still starting out in jersey sewing and want to learn more about the craft. Waiting for your photos! :)

Erika said...

Thank you! In my newer post I have photos of the finished dress =)
http://swinginvintage.blogspot.se/2012/06/chevron-jersey-dress.html

Mystery Shopper said...

Now we just need to find a machine that stops your kids from pulling the buttons off the front of their school jackets at least once every week, and we're laughing!!