Wooly Bully

A while back now I got myself a combination overlock/coverstitch machine. This type of sewing machine can create a number of different stitches that are impossible to do on a regular lockstitch style sewing machine, stitches that are commonly seen on commercially produced garments.

However, making these stitches with regular thread is really only half of the puzzle. The machine runs with multiple threads, and while the needle threads are usually ordinary, multi-ply spun threads; the threads used in the loopers are often what's known as "wooly nylon", even though most of the time it's actually just polyester.

This special type of thread is differentiated by the fact that it is not spun at all. It's essentially just a bundle of wrinkled fibers (and as such, it's only generally available in synthetics, since shorter natural fibers would just fall apart without being spun into a normal thread). When used in the loopers of an overlock or coverstitch machine, these fibers fluff out and provide a much different finish.

Of course, being fluffy means that it drags against the tension discs more, and so one needs to account for that so as not to unbalance the stitching.

Luckily my machine is very easy to adjust, and with just a little tweak the seam was correctly balanced again.

The difference on this test piece isn't terribly dramatic, but on a real garment the fluffiness stands out quite a lot more.

On this seam I only used the wooly nylon in the upper looper, since the lower looper threads won't be visible once the waistband is closed.

In the finished waistband, the wooly nylon provides a very soft, full finish to the back of the seams.

Definitely well worth the small amount of extra fuss to source a matching thread and deal with feeding the fluffy and somewhat cantankerous bundle of fibers through the machine.