Inserting and Sewing Elastic with Ease
ZJ HumbachDescription
Whether in the waistband of pants, around the bottom of a sleeve, or on any home décor item, inserting elastic can be tricky. ZJ Humbach teaches both old and new methods to make inserting any size of elastic easy. If you don’t have any tools on hand, a safety pin can help you slide the elastic through a casing. If you’ll be inserting a lot of elastic or just want to make things even easier, a bodkin is the answer. This tool is fairly inexpensive and comes in a variety of shapes and sizes, as well as in both plastic and metal. ZJ Humbach explains how each tool works and even shows how to use it in other ways with ribbon and trim for an embellishment!
Depending on the type of bodkin you have, they can also serve different functions. A bodkin like the first shown in the video, sometimes called a “pull” bodkin, can come in handy if a drawstring slips into a waistband or hood of a sweatshirt. Rather than pulling the drawstring all the way out in order to feed an end through a bodkin or secure with a safety pin, simply insert the pull bodkin teeth side first into the casing opening, grab the drawstring by pinching the bodkin and securing with the metal ring, then pull it out! This type of bodkin can also be used to turn straps or other narrow casings right side out.
Today I want Show you some tools to help you easily get elastic through a casing. And the oldest method, at least the one that I was taught when I was in a Home Economics was the safety pin method. And to do the safety pin method, let me undo some elastic here. You would simply attach the safety pin to your elastic and you would take the other end and pin it off of the casing so that it would hold it, like that. And then you simply take the pin and fight with it a little bit to get it in through the opening, and then you just work it through the casing all the way down until it comes out the other end. So this is the, should we say the improvisional method where you don't have to go buy any kind of a tool and your elastic indeed go through the casing in in a very nice, neat manner. But let me show you some other tools that make life a little bit easier. And it doesn't matter what width elastic you have there are different tools for it. These two items, actually all three are called Bodkins. And Bodkins are wonderful for getting the elastic through the casing very easily. And they're only a few dollars but they're worth every penny. So this particular one you simply move the little round metal piece down. You put your elastic in or rather I, let me do this a little bit differently. I go ahead and slip my elastic in here to where I want it and it then can adjust for the size of my elastic. And then I would simply slip this through the casing and you can see the metal. It just slides very, very easily. Another one is the Ballpoint Bodkin and you would go ahead and put your elastic or whatever you have to thread through the hole in the back. And then this slides through extremely easily. This is a Plastic Bodkin, and you will usually find them in a pack of three different sizes or more. And this is a wonderful little tool. I've already got one threaded up. This is for the quarter inch elastic and you simply run your elastic through both holes. If you want, you can go ahead and pin it but if you put enough through, it's not going to come out and then you simply put it into your casing, and then pull it through. And you can see that this is a lot easier to push against and pull than if you use the safety pin. And I want to go ahead and get this through so you can get a better idea here of what it will look like when we're finished. Now, typically a casing is going around a sleeve which you could see it comes right off. It comes around a sleeve or maybe a waistband and you just pull this as tight as you need it. And sow off your ends or sow the two pieces of elastic together and you have your elastic in the casing. These can also be used not just for a elastic and a casing but if you want to put ribbons through your trim, instead of trying to force the ribbon through, you simply put it through your bodkin and then run your selected Bodkin. You have to get it the right way though. So this way it starts down and then just come up through here. And as you can see, your ribbon would then take the place of the metal here and thread through and you would have this beautiful trim, which is wonderful on little girl's dresses or on home deck items. So again, remember your poor man's method which are the safety pins, or for a few dollars more you can go ahead and choose one of several different type Bodkins that will make getting that elastic through the casing much, much easier.
Based on the comments, National Sewing Circle should redo this video! I also noticed that some of the bodkin use would never work.
You would NEVER get elastic through a casing at right angles which was INCORRECTLY demonstrated in this video. The metal bodkin with ring tightener has teeth at the ends to hold the elastic and the ring is snugged up to hold the elastic firm.
The metal bodkin was demonstrated incorrectly. As mentioned on other comments, the elastic should be caught in between the teeth of the bodkin like a tweezer and you push the ring towards the teeth so it is tight on the elastic. Then you feed the bodkin into the casing so it is all going the same direction as the elastic, not 90 degrees to the elastic! Impossible to do on a thin casing! Otherwise, good video!
No factory ever uses this method. Industrial production always sews the casing while enclosing the elastic. 100% faster and easier. I have instructions on my blog.
Yes, the demonstration was wrong. I agree with both of the other comments. That's the correct and easy way.
I was taught that the metal bodkin with the slide holds the elastic at the TEETH on the front of the bodkin. The slide then moves up to tighten and then the rounded end is fed into the casing.
The demonstration of the metal bodkin was incorrect..The metal bodkin has "teeth" at one end that grasps the elastic. You slide the metal ring towards the teeth to tighten the grip...it's then ready to thread on through your casing. It's one I've used forever, but I think the plastic ones would be easier. I've had the elastic slip out of the teeth.