by Pamela Busque
an Online Extra to Threads #115

When I first learned to sew, there was basically just one type of elastic product, and it was difficult to work with and didn’t consistently produce satisfactory results. Fortunately, the elastic story is very different today. There is now a wide array of high-quality elastic products available to home sewers, and each offering is specially engineered for a specific garment purpose. Check out my article in the October/November issue of Threads (#115), “Elastic Fact File,” for which I researched and tested all the elastics I could get my hands on, narrowed in on 14 products that I feel are most useful, then grouped them into three categories: waistband, specialty, and lingerie. The article includes serging and sewing tips for using each type.

Although you may be able to find a few of the products at your local fabric store, many of them can be purchased only by phone, mail, or online. Below you’ll find a list of vendors that sell the latest elastic products, as well as links that will take you directly to their Web sites. A sewing basket stocked with top-of-the-line elastics is truly just a few mouse clicks away.

Look for elastics at these addresses:

Fabric Depot
(Lingerie elastics)
PO Box 411
Garwood, TX 77442-0411
979-758-3100
www.fabricdepotco.com

Greenberg & Hammer, Inc.
(A wide variety of elastics)
24 West 57th St.
New York, NY 10019
800-955-5135
www.greenberg-hammer.com

Manchester Sewing Machine Center
(A wide variety of elastics)
165 West Middle Tpke.
Manchester, CT 06040
800-447-3946
www.manchestersewing.com

Rhode Island Textile Company
(A wide variety of elastics)
PO Box 999
Pawtucket, RI 02862-0999
800-556-6488
www.ritextile.com

Seattle Fabrics, Inc.
(Gripper elastic)
8702 Aurora Ave. N
Seattle, WA 98103
206-525-0670
www.seattlefabrics.com

Sew Sassy Fabrics
(Lingerie and gripper elastics)
704 Stevens Ave. NE
Huntsville, AL 35801
256-536-4405
www.sewsassy.com

Stretch & Sew, Inc.
(Action elastic)
PO Box 25306
Tempe, AZ 85285-5306
800-547-7717
www.stretch-and-sew.com

Pamela Busque manages and teaches at the Manchester Sewing Machine Center in Manchester, Connecticut.