WAG Sewing your own leotards

[Iwannabemargo]

ooooh can you post a link to tearaway - not heard of that. The glue can get a bit messy but I found pinning the fabric was sliding everywhere. You should invest in an overlocker if you are making lots LMM, halves the time to make them. 'Margo

 

[leotardmakermum]

Margo: Making Sense of Stabilizers - Threads

I use an iron-on fusible tear-away.

I don't have room in my life (or house!) for an overlocker. I'm sure it would make it quicker, but I only make 2 or 2 leos per season. I love the challenge of doing the applique. I found that the one I made the other day came together so much quicker than any I have done before. I am obviously improving in my technique.

Just recently I did one with a panel of ruched fabric inserted around the neckline. And then sewed on the most sparkly, over the top sequins. The gymnast will get her two new leos tomorrow. I'm sure there'll be squeals of delight and sincere hoping that it will be cool enough on Wednesday to wear long sleeves to training!

 

[Jenny]

Do you find that when you pin the tearaway (or other parts of the pattern pieces together) you get any obvious pin holes afterwards in the super shiny lycras?

 

[leotardmakermum]

I haven't actually used any of the super shiny lycras, so I can't answer that, I am sorry. The shiniest I have used are moderately shiny. You might get pin holes. You could test on a bit of fabric that will end up discarded.

I haven't had any problem with the tearaway being adhered to the fabric causing the foil surface to "lift". The tearaway only barely sticks, but sticks enough to stabilise as you sew. If you were really worried, you could just dispense with the pins and try to keep the edges from lifting by just being careful.

As for pinning pattern pieces and pin holes, if you only pin within the seam allowance, you should be alright. I recently made a piece of luggage with waterproof fabric and had to do this. It requires careful thought as you pin, but it works ok.

 

[gymcritter]

I have not seen any obvious holes. I have used everything from hologram shiny sequin velvet etc

 

[MaryA]

Can I just say how impressed I am with all of you??? I do a bit of sewing, but I limit myself to very forgiving items... Halloween costumes, pajamas, tote bags. Reading these posts and imagining sewing a leotard makes my head swim.

 

[CreateMagic]

I hear you, MaryA! I can sew a button... So envious of all of you talented people out there! I'd love to see pictures of some of these leotards!

 

[coachmolly]

Can I just say how impressed I am with all of you??? I do a bit of sewing, but I limit myself to very forgiving items... Halloween costumes, pajamas, tote bags. Reading these posts and imagining sewing a leotard makes my head swim.

I am right there with you. I can manage bags, stretch waist skirts, and even a decent zipper but the thought of making something that could... malfunction so easily scares me!

 

[Faith]

I haven't really tried with appliqué just yet, I did try with a band of contrasting fabric on one but the underneath went a bit wrinkly so I cut and stitched instead. I mainly use diamonte for embellishments.

I was a complete novice (as per my other thread linked to earlier). I didn't even know how to thread a sewing machine . A bit of practice though and I am selling now, I have orders for high school team leo's because I'm cheap and they don't want to be paying for milano etc for a couple of comps and a display per year . I'm kept pretty busy with it all.

While I'm on I'm probably going to invest in an overlocker soon, if it saves time, so if anyone has any recs I'd be grateful.

As someone else said I actually find lycra quite easy as it's stretchy and forgiving- you don't need to get the size or fit exactly right.

Does anyone else find Jalie patterns come up really short in the body? If I work from measurements I nearly always have to add a couple of inches in the length.

 

[Iwannabemargo]

I think they Might Faith, pink and fluffy is long in the body anyway but she is in a 10 and she has only just turned 9 and is skinny as.

I have never has problems with pink holes.

The overlocker I bought was a toyota. It was recommended to me as being very easy to thread (and it can be a mare so I would hate to thread a dificult one) and my sewing machine is a toyota and has served me Well.

As a note I always use coates moon thread - cheap and doesn't break

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[JBS]

Added later: On posting this, I then found the word "leotard" in the first sentence became a link. I did not put the link there, nor do I want it there... :-(

Yes...certain keywords will auto link in the forums unless you are a "Booster Club" member. This helps pay for the cost of the site.

 

[Iwannabemargo]

Maybe you could refer to it as a "tard" - "that's leotard without the leo incase you were wondering " lol

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[CoachGoofy]

Orrrr you could leave things that read mightily like slurs against the developmentally disabled somewhere not here. Just a thought.

 

[Faith]

Orrrr you could leave things that read mightily like slurs against the developmentally disabled somewhere not here. Just a thought.

Oh I'd never have thought that- took me a few reads to work out what you meant . I couldn't figure out who'd been slurring at all )

it's not a word or slur used at all over here, difference between uk and us English again ).

i don't mind the links anyway, they make no difference to me. Do they go anywhere if you click them?

 

[Iwannabemargo]

Again - didn't know that , just quoting stick it !

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[leotardmakermum]

Yes, they do go somewhere. It takes you to Ebay so that you can purchase leotards. (...there it is again!) I just thought I must be doing something wrong, and was somehow placing naughty links that someone might get upset with (me advertising or something). But if they are part of paying for the site, that's fine by me.

Jalie short in the body? No I don't find this at all. My daughter (9) wears size K (7) in Jalie. She is long in the body, but VERY skinny, so perhaps the extra slimness stretches the other dimension to cover her extra length.

I love the shaping of the bottom of the leotard. It fits my daughter perfectly. All the GK leotards we've had for comps, I've had to completely remodel the bottom so that it isn't saggy and baggy on my daughter. The Jalie fit is perfect.

 

[Iwannabemargo]

I has to re-make a pair of shorts for a friends daughter as she has a huge behind, not used to it as all the girls I've made for up to now have had petite bottoms, maybe its a gymnast thing, but all the serious gymnasts I have made for have been very lean.

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[leotardmakermum]

I appliqué the design onto the plain leo with a zigzag stitch (to allow for stretch). Top tip here, spray appliqué with spray adhesive on the reverse ( I use 3M) before applying, holds much better than pins.

If I was to do a design like this

I would cut and stitch.

'Margo

Going back to this design, the technique I would use is what I did on the one I made the other day. Translating what I did into this one, I would sew the orange and black layers together first so that they lie completely under the appliqued white.

I would cut the orange and black so that they overlapped each other by 1/4in / 6mm. I would pin then hand baste them together with the overlap. Using zig zag (about 3 wide on my dial, and 2 long - Bernina machine), I would stitch down the centre of the overlap. Then the basting can be removed. The fabric can be trimmed a little, but there's no need.

I would cut the white swashes out, also tracing the pattern and their positioning onto the tearaway. I'd lay the orange/black combined piece on my ironing board and then place the white swash on top. Using the tearaway over the top (it is see-through), I'd make sure the white swash was positioned perfectly. I then usually pin the tearaway around the edge, nowhere near the applique part.

Then using the iron on as low a setting as I can, I'd gently and carefully iron on the tearaway. If it is not sticking, increase the temp by margins until it sticks. You don't want to go in with hot iron blazing, because we ARE working with synthetic fabric and melting it is just not the idea!

When the tearaway has adhered, move to your sewing machine and zig zag stitch the join of the white to the underneath fabric. Again I use about 3 wide and 2 long. Using white sewing thread, I would position the stitching so that one edge sits right on the cut edge of the white fabric, with the rest of the stitch width sitting on the white. At outside corners I taper the stitch width so that I can stitch right to the end of the point. At inside corners I just pivot.

When all is stitched, you can tear away the tearaway. It takes a little effort to get it out from under the stitching, but it certainly can be done. Tear away from the sides of the zig zag first, then stretch the zig zagging. This means the tearaway inside the stitching will pucker a bit when the fabric relaxes again, giving you (or your tweezers!) something to grab onto to pull it out.

This is how I would do it. Others probably have other methods that work for them. Oh, how I would love to be a fly on the wall in a GK workroom or at one of the other professional manufacturers to glean their tips and tricks!

 

[Iwannabemargo]

When you Do something like this you can see why they cost so much

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[coachmolly]

When you Do something like this you can see why they cost so much

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I don't know how some of you home based leo makers sell them so inexpensively! Goodness, if I managed to make something wearable I would be tempted to sell it for full out GK prices for the aggravation alone (and it definitely wouldn't be as nice as what you guys are making!).