I picked another bean!

[infryq]

Yesterday I sewed elastic to the waistband, got a wavy edge, ripped it out,
tried again, no luck. I might just decide to live with it? I mean I know in
theory it's because I'm somehow stretching the fabric and not just the
elastic but if I let it go any looser the presser foot pushes the fabric
out of the way and I get folds, even though I've got my finger right under
the toe of the foot. Knits are hard, yo.

Food wise: I tried a new protein powder and it went okay! Some nausea but
nothing greater than what I've been getting anyway recently, so I think
it's unrelated. Will duplicate the experiment today. The new stuff is
called "unjury" and is a whey protein isolate with some soy lecithin to
help it dissolve.

Comments

[tove]

You might find it helpful to stabilize your knit with starch, gelatin, or soluble interfacing (either as a sheet or dissolved as a spray) before sewing, then soak our the stabilizer afterward. Or: baste to lightweight paper, tear away the paper after.

[infryq]

Yep! I did up a bunch of samples and the best one used an old receipt under the knit to stabilize it. Can't use that for the final though, as it gets stuck underneath a zigzag. Excellent tip about the gelatin! I was shopping for soluble stabilizers and (1) whoa so many options, and (2) they seem to go bad with exposure to air? Which is not good news for my on-again, off-again relationship with sewing.

[tove]

I *think* the thing about wanting to store soluble stabilizer in an airtight container is because it's (of course) water-soluble and (I guess?) mildly hygroscopic, so it'll get goopy over time. For what it's worth, the roll that I bought in 2013 and have been storing in a normal zip-loc bag seems to be fine; also, my preferred use is dissolve-and-spray so it would actually be okay if it were a bit goopy. Mine is Super Solvy, which has a weight and texture similar to, well, a normal zip-loc bag.

[tove]

Oh also, we have a sampler pack of various stabilizers in the Textiles Lab -- now in the basement of Wean -- if you ever want to stop in and compare them.