Elastic cuff or waistband sewn on Sears Kenmore 1803

October 29, 2019

Elastic cuff or waistband sewn on Sears Kenmore 1803

Sewing elastic gathers on lightweight fabrics without sewing a fabric tube!

If you look at ready to wear clothing, even the high end blouses and dresses are kept lightweight, by sewing elastic gathers and shirring, at cuffs, waistbands, and necklines, by sewing a type of zigzag stitch over the top of the elastic, instead of sewing a fabric tube.

This technique works best with lightweight fabrics, medium weight fabrics or heavy fabrics will not gather as easily with the elastics thin enough to use this technique on.

If you are sewing a garment, it works best to sew the hem first, before sewing the elastic for the cuff, or waistband. This technique can also be used on peasant dress necklines, with multiple rows of elastic being a beautiful variation. You can sew embroidery stitches in between, for a faux smocked look.

Rolled hems, whether sewn on a serger, or a regular lock stitch zigzag home sewing machine, make a beautiful finish for sleeves and hems, when this style of elastic application is used.

1. Best presser feet for sewing over elastic

Kenmore Q foot
Kenmore clear embroidery foot (looks similar to Q foot, square toes
zigzag embroidery satin stitch presser foot
flat feld foot
some buttonhole feet, with the tunnel underneath
adjustable bias tape foot
adjustable blind hem foot

Adjustable bias binder foot shown, properly adjusted to sew over 1/4" elastic, clear satin stitch embroidery foot, with metal "skis" to help it last longer, a clear satin stitch embroidery foot, adjustable blind hemmer, extra wide satin stitch open toe embroidery foot, front row left to right, metal Kenmore super high shank satin stitch embroidery foot, Kenmore super high shank satin embroidery stitch foot.

Adjustable snap on bias binder, adjustable blind hemmer foot (shown adjusted correctly for zigzagging over 1/4" elastic, clear satin stitch embroidery foot (propping edge of blind hemmer foot), underside of Singer Q foot on it's case, at front, clear satin stitch embroidery foot with metal "skis", extra wide satin stitch open toe embroidery foot

Kenmore super high shank clear embroidery foot (has a channel in the bottom of foot) being used to sew 1/4" elastic to a crinkled rayon fabric. The "box" stitch, one of the built in stitches in the Kenmore 1803 (available in a cam for other models), or zigzag stitch, or any other wide zigzag stitch (NOT multi stitch zigzag stitch), that stitches across the elastic, but not through the elastic, works. I use the full width of the zigzag stitch, though if you are sewing 3/8" or 1/8" elastic, you may want to narrow the zigzag stitch to fit. Stitch length is up to you, I like to sew about a 2 mm stitch length, for more thread coverage.

2. Choose which zigzag stitch you wish to use to enclose your elastic, remembering that the back of it will show on the right side of your fabric.

3. Set zigzag stitch width to slightly wider than the elastic you want to attach, place fabric under the presser foot, using the channel under the foot to help guide it.

4. Set stitch length as desired, I like to use a 2 mm length stitch, though some machines recommend a very short stitch length, the same as a buttonhole stitch length.

5. Begin sewing (You may backstitch to help lock your stitches, at the beginning and end), and guide elastic so needle does not sew through the elastic.

6. When stitches are completed, backstitch, then tighten the elastic as much as you want, adjusting the gathers along the elastic, then trim the elastic to the length you prefer. I like to leave an inch extra, of elastic length, because I don't always sew my elastic ends together at the end, I sometimes choose to just tie them, like I did on this blue muumuu dress cuffs. That way, if the 1/8" elastic stretches too much, or I lost a lot of weight, I can simply tighten the gathers of the cuff.

7. If you choose to sew the elastic together, you can either sew it into the seams, or you can butt the ends of elastic together, put a small scrap of fabric underneath the butted ends, and stitch it together, using a multistitch zigzag stitch. Another method, is to overlap the 2 ends of the elastic, and zigzag over them.

Both the blue dress, and the brown crinkle fabric are shown using this box stitch to sew elastic onto lightweight fabric, instead of sewing a cuff, or fabric tube.

box stitch used to sew this 1/8" wide elastic inside my dress sleeve, to gather just above the rolled hem, for a prettier cuff.

Right side of box stitched elastic on both blue cuff, and on brown fabric (sew with light blue thread) It is harder to see the dark blue thread on the dark blue fabric.

Snap on feet I purchased to go with the snap on shanks I use with the Kenmore super high shank to low shank adapter that I purchased on Ebay. The shank attaches quickly, with the Kenmore's quick change presser foot system, because it is the same size. This makes changing presser feet even faster, using the snap on shanks!