I’m sure some of you may know this tip already, but if you’re someone who prefers to topstitch down all your seams for your activewear makes, get yourself a roll of Prym Wonder Tape, stat. I’ve known about this stuff before, as I’ve seen other people use it for basting zippers in place, but I hadn’t realised exactly how great it could be for topstitching until I decided to give it a try on a pair of Steeplechase Leggings I’m sewing for Cambridge Half next weekend.
Wonder Tape is essential double-sided, sticky, washaway stabiliser, and it comes in a narrow 6mm (1/4in) tape roll. You stick one side, peel off the backing, stick something to the other, and that’s it. No need to heat up the iron or anything and it comes out in the wash, leaving you with perfect topstitching. When I’d topstitched my seams before, I’d usually use pins (and always my trusty walking foot!), but pins can make things lumpy and you’ve still got to constantly feel for the seam allowance underneath if you’re stitching around curves (like on the Steeplechase’s curved yoke yokes). This stuff just made it easy.
For the visual learners, here’s the process:
Step 1 – Stick the Wonder Tape right next to the stitching line on the side of the fabric you’d like to topstitch (for me, it was against the blue yoke piece)
Step 2 – Peel off the backing and finger-press the seam allowance onto the sticky tape
Step 3 – Topstitch from the right side (I chose to use a triple zigzag stitch here but you could just as easily use a regular zigzag or stretch stitch)
Result – Perfect topstitching that was way, way easier to achieve than using pins.
I actually finished up these leggings last night and took the for a test run this morning so they look like a goer for running the half marathon on Sunday. I’ll get some post-race photos of them to show you next week, but in other news…
Yes, I’ve been a busy girl! But more on this project in a bit. 😉