My outlook is altered

[indiegirl]

Ok, so y'all know I've been going round and round with my wrap pants pattern. I was in a state of utter giveupness when Ruth, MrsFlipMode, saw my pants and said kind words and I put some more time into fixing some major design flaws they orignally had.

And I did. The pattern is still rough but it's a lot less rough. It's almost there. The main thing I am worried about is the waistband. I've toyed with the sizing and I'm still worried that it will stretch over time.

BTW, you can see the item on K&F right now (tester slot pic and tester in-stock pic)--link in my sig. Or, you can see them on my personal site at www.picturetrail.com/indiegirl and click on the knitty gritty album.

SOOOO someone wonderful (marnie? knitinyourpantsma? [username:abd0bad582]?) mentioned they use ELASTIC in the waistband. Pure genius. In your expert opinion, would this work in my wrap design? [username:abd0bad582], how do I go about putting elastic in the waistband?

Thank you so much for your help.

Jesse

[mommomrebecca]

I think it would work great! You could even just put a short piece of elastic in the back or front or sides and not all the way around. Mine are very basic, I used lighter weight wool for the waist, folded it over the elastic and stitched it down. I also did a few stitches in the elastic to make sure it wouldn't twist. I truly love the fit, they are like sweats.

[marnie]

you could also use thread elastic and knit it together with your yarn. or just weave it in afterwards.

[indiegirl]

you could also use thread elastic and knit it together with your yarn. or just weave it in afterwards.

What is this thread elastic you speak of? Really, I don't get out much.

Jesse

[mommomrebecca]

I have a soaker I got on ebay that had thread elastic sewn in afterwards and I always liked it! One thread did break though. Jesse, if you lived just a teensy bit closer to me I would drag you around to craft stores with me. You would get sooo many more ideas from all the intersting things they have out there.

[KaliD]

When I first heard about using thread elastic I was pointed towards "Rainbow Elastic". I *think* this is the link to that:

http://www.7beads.com/info/rainbow1-info.htm

I've seen two ways of using it. One is to knit with your yarn as you go, which is what I did with my mardi gras pants.

But the first way I saw was in a book that showed how to add it to cuff ribbing using a crochet hook and grabbing on the wrong side each knit stitch and hooking around that. Basically, this example was a "how to fix saggy/released ribbing"


~Angela

PS. I really like the look of your wrap pants, I'm glad you are giving it another go!

[hunnybumm]

Ya know.... if you ever need a tester for your pattern.... *hint hint*... you could probably find some nice mommas around here...*hint hint*...

<------- **hint hint**

;)

[CraftyMommaOf2]

wasn't my idea! only one i've had so far was the part in the back that's not ribbing. i wonder if just that section was done with the elastic thread...? i have to go out tomorrow, jesse. i'll grab some and use it on my new pair. ;)

[imonion]

i think elizabeth does elastic in her waistbands. ..she had some pics on her blog, I believe.

[CraftyMommaOf2]

you're right, kim. i remember her asking about pee getting on the elastic and katie said to use swimsuit elastic. hmmm... jesse, i'm sending a msg to the yahoo group.

[ravingcutie]

So the worry here is that the waistband will stop popping back into shape when washed over time?

What about a tiny i cord w/ elastic in the middle stitched to the flat knitting just under the ribbing? Like in 1" to 1 1/2" sections that provide just a tiny bit of snugness at the waist?

Lastin (swimsuit elastic could work or maybe the thicker beading elastic too. I would think that around the waist wouldn't see too much wetness.

[grnmtnmama]

SOOOO someone wonderful (marnie? knitinyourpantsma? [username:76b1e17186]?) mentioned they use ELASTIC in the waistband. Pure genius. In your expert opinion, would this work in my wrap design? [username:76b1e17186], how do I go about putting elastic in the waistband?



couldn't have been me, i once attempted to sew in an elastic waistband and it was a terrible mess. but i was thinking trying the elastic thread people were talking about. lots of good advice here.
:snowpers:

[Ruth]

I've sewn in shirring elastic before but it would definitely work better knitted into the back/wrap part. I have got some here Jesse and I've just frogged most of the wrap part on my 3rd pair anyway so I could just frog that altogether and try it out :)

[littleturtlemama]

hey, sorry I haven't replied to this thread, it's got tons of replies but I hadn't seen it till right now, LOL!
I think ti was probably me who said it, I've done it on a few of my soakers. I did it on the ribby wrap and worked great, so I'd assume it would work for your wrap pants, too.

Now, first, don't use swimsuit elastic, LOL, cause it's cotton and will wick like the dickens! I used braided elastic thread, like the elastic you can find in the beading section at joann's. Anyway, I tacked it down at the inside edge of the wrap and then using a needle, threaded it through a knit stitch on the back ribbing all around to the other side, then tacked it down. I did this every 2-3 rows, and worked awesome!

You could also knit in wooly nylon as you are knitting (hold it together with the yarn) in teh ribbing and that will cinch it in becuase the wooly stretches as you knit and then once it's all finished it'll go back to it's unstretched state.

Then, finally, my favorite (and most labor intensive method) is to knit an I-cord while holding a thin piece of elastic (I use drawstring elastic, the stuff that's round that you use with those little plastic toggles) inside the i-cord so that the cord is knit around the elastic. You basically hold the elastic against the back of the DPN as you pull the yarn tight across the back to knit the first stitch. It's cumbersome, it's awkward, but it works AWESOME, LOL. Then, you can either weave the icord thorugh as a regular drawstring (can't remebre if your wrap has a drawstring or not) or pull it through one edge, tack it down in the back so that it 's even and doesn't flap off, weave it through to the other edge and tack it down again. If you do this method, you'll have to make sure you knit the drawcord about 2-2.5" shorter than your waistband, so that it doesn't hang over the edge and it actually functions to pull the waist tight ;)

[CraftyMommaOf2]

t, that makes me tired just reading it. :stern:

[marnie]

What is this thread elastic you speak of? Really, I don't get out much.

Jesse

i actually got some from my local stationery store, believe it or not. it's elastic but super thin, like sock yarn when unstretched.

i don't know about it getting wet, though.

[indiegirl]

t, that makes me tired just reading it. :stern:

I know, I had to give her some good Karma for typing it all out.

:butterfly

Jesse

[averymybaby]

It wasn't me for sure. I think Elizabeth did a pair of pants with elastic this past fall/winter, right?

[littleturtlemama]

LOL, thaks for the karma :) Sorry for making you tired, I was stuck under the boob man so I had time to type :lol:

[ravingcutie]

T, swimsuit elastic is the clear stuff - it's made not to wick. Like the Lastin stuff! But it's flat and I think knitting in the elastic thread like you suggested is a much better idea.

[littleturtlemama]

huh, didn't know that Katie! The swimsuit elastic I always buy at joann's is like the regular poly braided elastic, but the braid part is cotton.

[ravingcutie]

The stuff that I've seen is a stretchy plastic. The chlorine breaks down the cotton fibers in elastic & this clear, plastic elastic is supposed to elimenate the loss of elasticty that occurs in poly/cotton elastic.

Maybe I'm just weird. I didn't know they still sold the regular stuff for swimsuits....

[littleturtlemama]

Nah, it's probably not you that's weird, but rather my ancient (!) Joann's :lol:

[stormintheattic]

I've used "inbrei-elastiek"(again, English word missing...knit-in-elastic would be the literal translation) succesfully in the past for socks. Clear plastic, very thin, awfull to work in with the yarn. But it does hold its shape better. My LYS caries it.

[amyrobynne]

Did you (OP) you that insert-users-name thing, or did you actually mean me? I've never added elastic to anything--eek, too scary!

[indiegirl]

Did you (OP) you that insert-users-name thing, or did you actually mean me? I've never added elastic to anything--eek, too scary!

I used the username function

[amyrobynne]

phew!