What rubber to choose for children's trousers and what length?

Helena Lachowiczová
2023-04-12T16:30:22+02:00

Sewing the elastic around the waist is a simple operation that does not need to be given too much importance. The rubber is relatively well knitted, very strong and holds well in tension.
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Have a nice day my dear.

Today I have a small instructional blog for you about elastics for trousers , especially children's trousers. During my sewing career, I have tried several types of elastics and different suppliers, and I will advise you on which elastics to choose. Right from the start, I will advise you what lengths of elastics I liked to cut and sew in children's trousers.

What length of rubber?

I tested the length of the rubber on a really large sample of customers. It can be said that the rubber fit about 89% of them. For other children, the rubbers were either too tight or, conversely, too loose.

These are precisely the percentages of children who do not quite fit into any table and do not have very good clothing measurements. For these products, you simply have to measure. Preferably with a tailor's meter.

Rubber length by age and number:

The rubber lengths shown in the table are lengths for cutting. Leave about half a centimeter, max 0.75 on each side for the foundation.

The recommended length of the rubber is for gallon rubber , i.e. soft rubber that is used for underwear or shorts. This gum is more translucent when stretched. The rubber stretches more and is more pleasantly elastic. If you are going to use a different type of rubber, smooth rubber or another kind, you need to add or subtract, depending on how much the rubber springs.

How to sew rubber?

Sewing the elastic around the waist is a simple operation that does not need to be given too much importance. The rubber is relatively well knitted, very strong and holds well in tension. Cut the rubber in the place where you will sew it and then you basically have two options, depending on how you want the result to look.

A. If you are sewing elastic that you will hide entirely in your pants, use a simple stitch on a classic single-needle machine. The rubber won't tear even if you don't clean the seam and it certainly won't press in your pants. Tried. Don't worry.

B. If the elastic will be visible, for example on shorts where it is sewn at the top and visible. Use a nice zig zag again on a single needle machine to clean up the rubber nicely and the seam won't be visible. That's the point in this case.

C. This option is only available if you need to sew in front of the TV. Yes, you can also sew rubber by hand. And you can sew it in both style A and style B. It's up to you. Anyway, you won't go wrong with it.

What type of rubber to choose and where to buy?

Basically, I already mentioned what rubber I use. I use a gallon eraser , which can also be called a laundry eraser. I basically use one supplier from the Czech Republic - Mimilátka . Their laundry eraser costs CZK 10/meter when purchased as a standard customer. When you register as a wholesale customer, you get a slightly better price. Then the price is CZK 65 without VAT for a 25 meter coil. Which works out to about 3 CZK per meter. We usually put around half a meter of elastic in the waist, which means that you have about 1.50 on the elastic for one pair of trousers for a child.

You will naturally then think, what am I going to do with the 25 meter coil. Well, if you sew, you will make it one hundred percent. He won't lie down. You can put Galonkya in leggings, in the hems of hoods, in skirts, in underwear, in panties, in bras. Or to the hem of a T-shirt. They are so soft that they are used all the time. I only buy them cheaply like this.

Of course, you can also look for tires in other stores. You already know the length of the rubber, so it is not a problem to calculate how much you will need for your project.

What about smooth rubbers?

I personally don't use smooth elastic on any clothing around the waist. I use it mostly for projects that need some elastic, but one that is strong. Typically, these are, for example, rubber bands for warm-ups under rubber boots or for softshell overalls.

What tire width?

I use a width of 2 cm or 3 cm for most pants. For babies, I give a 2 cm rubber and I give it until they are about a year old. Then I usually switch to triple. It is necessary to know that the rubbers, although they are always knitted the same and have the same name, start to be stronger with a larger width. It is tensile strength. You stretch the same length of two more than the same length of three.

But the advantage of wider rubbers is that they better hold a larger amount of material on the body and have just that greater tensile strength. The child is simply more active, so he needs his pants not to fall down while playing . Which I have seen several times in the sandbox. But no, I won't laugh. It sucks when you buy something that just won't stay on the kid.

That's why, for example, I put rubber bands in the braid for older children. If I happen to be sewing something with a high thread count. Which I'm not used to with elders.

So for me, 2 cm for kids, 3 cm for older running kids, and if you're looking for an even older tracksuit bottom, don't be afraid to go for 5 cm. It looks quite good in many products. But of course you must always take into account the width recommended by the manufacturer of the cut you are sewing. If, for example, you put a rubber five in the cut, where the recommended two is...

I don't know, I don't know.

Logically, you need at least 4 cm of fabric from the given product to bend and stitch the elastic. For a five it is 10 cm. That is already a big difference and it would be a lot to know. The pants would then be unwearable.

So let your tires go. Soon on my channel you will also find a video tutorial on elastics and their sewing and tufting.

A beautiful day

Helena alias Šibabi