Whilst sewing stretchy tee shirt type material the stitching puckered up and went tight. The cotton I used was polyester. Should I have used Trylco cotton?
By Marian L
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The usual reasons for puckers whilst sewing knit fabrics like jersey are: cutting the pattern and fabric against the suggested lay-out, using the wrong type-size needle and/or thread, and the wrong upper tension setting.
First thing when planning to sew a garment from knit fabric is to read and re-read the pattern instructions several times mentally constructing the garment first before ever touching pattern to fabric to cut. If you cut knit fabrics the wrong direction your stitching will cause all sorts of problems, from puckered seams to incorrect 'hang' of the garment on your body.
Check your sewing machine user guide for the table that tells you the correct size needle and recommended thread - be certain you are using a new ball point sewing machine needle too. Using the wrong type and size needle will always cause puckers in any type fabric, btw. Never try to use a needle for woven fabrics to sew jersey or any other knit fabric, either - you are asking for puckers, tears, ladders, and seams that rip whilst being worn.
Check to be sure that you are using a thread recommended for use on the weight, too. Generally you want to use polyester thread on jersey fabrics because it stretches during the seaming process. Even if your knit fabric is 100% cotton, it's still best to use polyester thread for the 'give' factor.
Always - always - always run a test on a fair sized piece of the same fabric you are trying to sew into a garment (use the scraps that are left from cutting out the fabric for your test strips). By stitching test seams you can see where you need to make adjustments to needle, thread, and tension settings.
There are several causes for what you are describing. One is that you may have the tension setting set too high or too low for the fabric. Or you could be using the wrong stitch setting.
Another might be the type of thread you are using - polyester thread is best when stitching stretch material because it stretches with the machine stitch and tension setting much better than cotton thread does.
You could be using the wrong type and size needle - always use a ball point or 'jersey' needle of the correct size for the thickness of fabric you are sewing.
Check your user guide manual for the correct thread-needle-tension-stitch settings for your machine, and always make up a test strip with a doubled over scrap piece of your fabric to check settings before stitching into the actual garment pieces. In this way you will see beforehand what settings work and which do not. It's worth it to make notes, too.
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