Some generic tips for working with denim regardless of your project. First let’s talk about the fabric itself denim comes in a lot of different weights like most fabrics and it can range anywhere. From a light denim to very thick heavy denim like you would find in work clothing. So the first thing we want to do with any project before we begin it is to wash and dry our fabric.
This is the end of the bolt of the denim i’m using and you machine wash it in cold no chlorine bleach and line dry. It you’re going to want to check the bolt of the fabric that you’re purchasing to know. How to wash it one of the important things when it comes to washing your denim is to make sure that you wash it separately at least the first couple of times that you wash your fabric and then your project. If you wash it a lot of dye in it and a lot of fabric stabilizers in it and you want to make sure that when it you wash it that it’s not going to bleed onto your other fabric.
Next let’s talk about the thread that we’re going to use when we do our project. There are actual threads that are made for denim and they actually have the same coloration as denim or you can find a gold or a cream that will match the coloring that you see on commercial jeans. Any of these can be found in most fabric or craft stores and online. They’re going to usually be a blend and you’re going to want to make sure that you use a denim needle when you’re using them and you want to make sure that you use the same thread in the top and in your bobbin most commercial needles are going to have a denim or AG needle available for purchase they come in a variety of different packs. Sometimes you can find packs that have multiple sizes in them you want to make sure that you use a denim needle because the shank and the eye of the needle is different than a traditional sewing machine needle. For pins you can use any sewing pin that you want you just want to make sure that they’re sharp the same thing. For your scissors you want to make sure that you’re using a pair of sharp fabric says there’s for cutting your denim now pinking shears are optional but they are great when working with denim if you’re going to have exposed seams and you don’t have a serger now when it comes to working with denim. There are a few things that we need to do on our machine besides change out the needle you’re going to need to increase your stitch length normal stitch length is 25 you’re going to increase it to at least three and longer if you’re using a heavier denim.
What I like to do is start at 30 I’ll take a scrap piece of the denim that i’m going to be using. I’ll stitch out a couple of lines of stitching then i’ll come over all increase it to 35 stitch again and see which i prefer if i think it could look better and it’s a really thick denim then i’ll go ahead and increase it and do some tests stitching again then when it comes to this area here sometimes really thick denim going over a couple of seems it’s hard to get it under your machine so you’ve got your presser foot raised up usually on most machines you can raise your lover again and it will increase a little bit more that’ll help you get over thick pieces. The other thing you can do is to place something thicker in the front or behind the machine to allow the foot to go up or down depending on the seam that you’re sewing.