3 Essential Elastic Sewing Tips for Beginners

A stylist may have hand-sewn your favorite dress with certain types of elastics. Sewing is a super fun hobby for anyone looking to pick it up! Though it may seem like a complicated task, understanding the three essential elastic sewing tips for beginners will help you complete your next project!

There Are Many Types of Elastics

You may wonder what kind of elastics you can use for your sewing project. There are many! And you can use all of them for different things. You can use elastics like:

• Knitted
• Woven
• Braided

Your nearest hobby shop will sell many elastics. When shopping, keep in mind that you’ll need to look for elastics with the correct width and fiber content to determine if it’s the one you need.

What Different Elastics Are Used For

Different elastics exist for other uses. Each elastic has its benefits that add more style and sophistication to your fabrics!

Knitted Elastic

Knitted elastic is soft to the touch, and you can use it with more light to medium-weight fabrics. The benefit of using knitted elastic is that you can easily sew through it because it does not lose material when stretched. You can use knitted elastic for waistbands, bras, and pajamas.

Woven Elastic

Woven elastic is lightweight enough to sew directly onto the fabric that you’re using. Many people consider this material the strongest of the three elastics due to its resistance to twisting. You can use woven elastic on products that require more durability, like bags and outerwear.

Braided Elastic

This material shrinks as it stretches, so if it’s sewn over, the material starts to roll. You can typically use braided elastic for sleeves or other clothing types where rolling isn’t an issue. If you’re looking to do a project with lightweight fabric, the braided elastic band is what you need!

Anyone Can Sew!

Now that you know the three essential elastic sewing tips for beginners, it’s time to learn a few tips for general sewing!

When picking out your needles and thread for your project, make sure you pay attention to the sizes. For needles, the larger the first number, the bigger the needle. For the thread, the numbers represent the thickness; the larger the number, the finer the thread is.

A helpful tip for ensuring that your edges are even and flat: try going over them with a hot iron. This method will crease your borders to the exact measurement you need for accurate sewing.

Try to consider what projects you’d like to work on when determining which sewing machine to purchase. Starting with a less expensive general sewing machine is best as you master your skill! Once you get the hang of sewing, you can explore more advanced devices.

Sewing is a fun and creative hobby that is great for creating all sorts of clothing and other projects! All projects require specific types of fabric, elastics, and accessories. Understanding the fundamentals of the different types of elastics can help you determine which materials to use for your projects.