Questions & Answers (I hope)

I try to answer questions that are posed in the Comments for this blog, and sometimes I answer in the Comment section, and sometimes I do a post. This time it's a post.

You may remember the Twisted Binding I've done on a couple of tank tops. The original post was far enough back that I thought adding a comment there would be unhelpful to anyone who had seen it then. these are photos of two garments of mine with Twisted Binding. They are both knits, the first is a fairly beefy cotton knit, the second is a very thin mesh knit.


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Suannah from Adventures in Dressmaking said:

This is great! I hope to do a tutorial on a twisted hem edge soon myself. I see that you can use the straight grain on a knit, but do you think bias would be better for a lightweight woven? Hm... (and also, I assume you would press under 1/2" or so on the back before stitching in the ditch?)

A: You will want to use bias with a woven, but I would not press under the edge on the back for two reasons.

1. It won't ravel anyway, being on the bias.
2. You're going to have a lot of bulk (comparatively) from the twisting and the edge will not be nice and flat anyway, as it would be if it were a non-twisted binding. I think it would be overkill to press it and attempt to turn it under as you stitch, and I don't think you'd get the result you would like. Just trim the raw edge so it's even and unobtrusive. You can probably trim very closely.

joanier asked this on the Olive Green Lingerie post:

Do you mind if I ask what panty pattern you use? I assume that they are comfortable or you wouldn't be making them. They almost look as if they don't have elastic in the legs. That's my next undertaking to make some panties but am trying now to decide on a style and pattern.

A: You're correct that there is no elastic in the legs. I've found this to be very comfortable, and to be no problem in wearing. It works better in some fabrics, although I've been surprised occasionally by what works better than I'd thought. In general, you want a knit with a good lycra content so it has nice, snappy recovery. Often the 'heavier' knits are better, although mesh seems to be great in most cases as well, and that's almost the antithesis of 'heavy'.

I use an old Stretch&Sew pattern, #2046. I think it's OOP, although it seems to be available with a different number. There's nothing unusual about it, it's a very basic pattern, and I think you could do very well with almost any basic panty pattern.

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