Tired of your twin needle?

The twin needle is a marvelous thing.
It sews fairly stretchable hems in knit fabrics.
It makes nice even straight lines. Beautiful!
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And rather boring ... Time to try something new. 
What good are those nifty stitches on your machine if you're not going to use them, right? 

I have tried it before ... nice stitches on knits.
And it looks like this:

I have no idea what word to describe this with, but beautiful is not the first one that pops into my mind.

I tried another approach on my daughter's bambi-dress. I usually can't be bothered to actually go and find the right stuff in my stash. But this time I did.

That right stuff is stabilizer. It's called "Stik&Trek" or "Soluvlies" in my Dutchspeaking region of the world. Brand names may vary. e.g. Pellon and Vilene versions all have different names depending on the language of your region. Just google "washaway" or "tear away stabilizer" combined with your favorite brand of interfacing and you'll find the names.
The removal of these two varies, but their function is pretty much the same. You can sew all those complicated patterns and stitches that would look nice on a hem.

In the picture below you see stitches with stabilizer on top and stitches without it at the bottom. Machine settings and fabric are exactly the same for both versions. The puckering on the bottom versions can't all magically be ironed away. It's not a hard choice, is it?

A little tip for those of you who are not tired of their twin needle yet: Sometimes you get this little bump between the 2 lines of stitching. Stabilizer also helps avoid that.

Here's how to do it:

I tried used stitch nr. 50 on my machine (a Janome DC 2010).

I love the little hexagon pattern that came out :-)

step 1: Application:

Put the stabilizer under your knit fabric and stitch. This works the same for both kinds of interfacing.

step 2: Removal:
If you use Stitch'N Tear, that's what you do. You just grab the stuff and rip it off.
Don't get carried away too much! Gentle pulling prevents teared or stretched fabric.

If you stitched a very narrow pattern like the one I did, you may end up using pliers to remove the little itsy bitsies.  
Trust me, you have better things to do with your time. 

For those narrow patterns: "Soluvlies" or water-soluble interfacing is the answer.
This stuff actually dissolves in ordinary water. It dissolves into a gluey substance, so you have to rinse it well to avoid residu. Or you can put it in your machine for a rinsing cycle.

step 3: Iron and admire your nicely finished hem!

Are you a fan of stabilizer?  What's your favorite kind?
I've read about other types, which disappear upon ironing. That sounds intresting too.
Have you tried that?
Share your experiences with the stuff in the comments section!

As always:
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