T&T dipes when machine doesn't do "stretch?"

[RunnerDuck]

I had a serger... and I sold it. I just don't like serging. I know maybe I should have gotten some lessons or something but I was too cheap/lazy/whatever... but I just hated it. It drove me nuts not being able to figure out just how to follow the seam guide... probably can't explain it right, probably I sound like a nitwit. :

ANYWAY I just prefer my "conventional" machine. So I'd like to try some turned and topstiched dipes. The thing is, though, my machine doesn't do stretch stitching. It's a very old machine... early 70s Kenmore... does zig zag and all that, takes fancy pattern cams, but as far as I can tell doesn't do stretch. (I don't have a manual but it's the same machine my mother has only hers have a few more settings and it will do stretch... and she is in PA and I am in CA so I can't just use her machine)

ANYWAY does this matter? Does the elastic portion of the dipe add enough stretch that it don't matter? Am I stuck using non stretch material? (I have a TON of t-shirts etc I planned to make into dipes...) Is there some trick where you use elastic thread in the bobbin (I think) to make up for this?

Any tips? Am I making much ado about nothing?

[DeepGreen29]

Hi

I think it's possible you are making much ado about nothing

I like conventional machines too =)
I have made diapers just about any way you can think of...out of most everything and they all work kwim?

I have made tshirt diapers with 2 rows of straight stitches or done an overcast stitch, even zigzag! On the elastic I either zig zag or elastic stitch and both work fine. What instructions are you using? I'm sure they have stitches to use on a reg machine. Tshirt dipes Those instructions look like just straightand zigzag stitch.

Good luck!! Just try it out Im sure it'll work for ya.

[Kari_mom]

The stretch stitch on most machines is a zig zag with preset length and width. Any zig zag stitch is stretchy, so you are totally good to go. If you want a stitch that looks like a straight stitch but is stretchy, try setting your machine to the most narrow zig zag setting with a medium stitch length. You will hardly be able to see the zig zag in the stitch, but your seams won't pop. Use a medium width/length or three-step for elastic.

[RunnerDuck]

Well at the moment I am not using any instructions... I pretty much measured my kid, made up a pattern, and have tweaked it every time just before making another dipe. And now I *think* I have the pattern just right for his size now but I keep feeling there is SOMETHING I must be doing wrong that makes this whole thing more complicated than it needs to be. For construction, I was using a Little Caboose as inspiration - soaker pad sewn inside, and elastic in casings as opposed to zig zagged all along... I'd lay all the pieces out, sew casings, pull elastic through, secure ends, stitch around whole thing, then serge around whole thing. (The stitching was because when I tried pinning then serging I kept having pins go through the cutters and I feared for my eyeballs... and when I tried to just hold the layers together it never worked right...

Well I am thinking of getting some commercial patterns just for construction tecnique (sp) ... or else using this

http://www.geocities.com/mytafadhali...tm#topstitched

and using the pattern I have made... I think that will work well.

I'll try a very narrow zig-zag and see how it goes.