Help sewing a bella band?

[mercy589]

I'm hoping someone here can help me! I want to sew a Bella Band. A friend of mine has one, so I've seen it and I think I can measure and figure it out - I bought some material like what hers is made of, nylon and spandex. I got home and realized though, that where I sew it, its not going to be stretchy! Does that make sense? How do I sew it? It will have the one seam in it, then the hemming, and unless there is stretchy thread or something that I need to buy, how would I sew it and make it work? I hope this makes sense and someone can help me...

[FillingMyQuiver]

You need to use a stitch that will stretch w/ the fabric. Depending on your machine, you may have one built in OR you can use a simple zig zag and stretch the fabric as you sew it.

On my sewing machine, I have a triple stretch stitch, on the control panel, it looks like this
lll
lll

This stitch stretches the fabric for you while it's stitching.

[mercy589]

I have a really old machine, so I dont think it has anything that fancy on it. So, if I did a zig zag, holding the fabric stretched out, that would work? Kind of like what you do for sewing on elastic?

[Corri]

A zigzag will work just fine for stretch. The best way to sew lycra fabric is with a serger, but if you don't have one, then yeah - just do it exactly like sewing on elastic. Set your zig, stretch the fabric slightly as you sew, and give it a few good tugs to make sure it'll hold and stretch with you before putting it on under your work clothes.

[mercy589]

Thank you!