Miss Celie

Camel Toe Wadder

I’ve been sewing for a good 15 years now. I’ve been kind of serious about it the last four. If there is something I have foolishly never paid attention to, it’s directional stretch. As long as my knit fabric stretched, I figured that’s good enough. Until now.

Ummm, apparently two-way stretch means it should stretch lengthwise *also*. Oh yes my friends. Camel Toe Leotard. I have so many descriptions for how this looked on me. But, this is sort of  family blog (in that my family reads it) so I’ll leave it alone. I bought two colorways of this knit material last weekend at JoAnn Fabrics and Fleece and it only had stretch going widthwise. The pattern is Kwik Sew 3671.

It sewed up in less than two hours Sunday morning. I didn’t realize my mistake until I tried to put the leotard on and I struggled to get it over my shoulder. It was clear it needed about two more inches in length. I quickly compared it to my other leotards and realized that my leotard has no lengthwise stretch. Doh!

The pattern, is wonderful. It’s exactly what I wanted, higher in the back, flattering neckline, longer leg openings. And fantastically drafted.

click to enlarge

I’m especially proud I used my elasticator foot on my serger to apply the leg and neckline elastic.

It gives such a nice polished finish inside. That little knob controls the tension on the elastic.

Then, you can top stitch along the outside with a twin needle. Totally looks ready to wear. And alleviates the current trauma of not owning a cover stitch machine.

Here’s another ballet skirt. Definitely my favorite. I like the see through quality of this one. This material is also from JoAnn.

I have a couple more knits I’ve worked on the last week to show you. I thought I had sworn off knits for a bit. But, they are good for quickly bulking up your wardrobe after a closet purge.

27 comments

  2. Yes you are going to get lots of clicks when titles show on blogrolls! 🙂
    I also haven’t paid attention to directional stretch. Thanks for sharing this wadder, it will help many others prevent wadders. And the title makes this a memorable lesson. I love that elasticator foot and the professional results. Could you insert a very vertically stretchy panel in the middle of the bodysuit, maybe as a waist detail, to make it longer and give it a bit of stretch??

  3. I agree with Robin – great title! I also chuckled about the Joann’s fabric and fleece comment. So true. Sorry about the wadder! The close ups look great, though.

  5. Looks like a great pattern, you made some really nice active wear recently.
    It remembers me to try the elastic foot on my serger, it’s still unused.

  6. There’s nothing worse than camel toe. You must be soooo bummed. Pun intended. Haha! It does look lovely and professional though. Make it again pronto!

  7. OMG…the title conjured up a mental picture I’m just not going to describe 🙂 I, too, have found some knits that I thought were stretchy both ways, and weren’t (I have some marvelous teal pants that will never fit me, no matter how short I get!). Like the other posters, I did feel you were redeemed by the informational…well..information. But the title will be burned in my brain for at least the 15 minutes I shall remember it, LOL!

  10. So are you making another one? Or have you done so already? And the ballet skirt is very cute! So chalk this up to lesson learned…one more sewing experience that you can check off and try not to make again, y’know!

  11. We are both suffering from no Coverstitch machine trauma 🙂 I’m sorry about the leotard. It looks great and I’m so glad I was not drinking when I saw your blog title.

  12. Whoops! Other than the fact you can’t wear it, it looks great… The thing that gets me about stretch terminology is that some people say 1 way/2 way stretch, and others say 2 way/4 way, so that “2 way” can mean two different things. Totally annoying.

  13. Hmmm. Now, just because I always like to fix things – can you add a couple of inches in the waist? May not work, but a thought none the less. It could become a design feature, but the comfort factor may not be there, unless you use a 2 way stretch for the insert.

  16. I like the shape of the pattern and the ballet skirt is so pretty(I was there when you bought it, remember?)

    I’m still anxious when I sew knits so I feel your pain. Reminds me of my first knit project. The only stretch fabric I could find locally was a blue rose print cotton knit I made with a Big 4 Pattern that required WAAAYYY more stretch than the cotton knit could provide.

    Sausage casing.

  17. Reminds me of a swimsuit I made for a swim team. The captain, an experienced swimmer swore the one way stretch works, so I made one up just to show her. What a fiasco! The worst part was, one of the (bossy) mothers made it out to be my incompetence and fired me. Didn’t want to work for crabby people like that anyway.

  22. I fixed my latest CT misadventure with a loin cloth. That probably won’t work for ballet but your skirt would. Although, you don’t want something without stretch when you have your leg up on the barre. Ouch-ka!

  23. Sigh. Well, finding a perfect pattern is really good. And maybe you have a short friend in dance class you want to cheer up?

  25. Now I remember my camel toe skirt. Thanks for reminding me. 😉 I love your set though. Make it again with the grain going the right way and you’ll have a winner!

  26. too bad about the fabric snafu. I really like the few KS patterns that I have made. I need to make another bathing suit soon and I have a KS pattern I want to use. That black and white skirt looks fierce.

  27. Oh, this looks so good! I really hope you make it again soon in a different fabric because I think it would be fabulous on you.

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