miriam

This is a good topic

ktbb

In case you haven't tried it, there is an iron on velcro that has received very good reviews - several have said that it gets stronger with use....might be a solution to any type of sewing.

quilt1950

This. I volunteer in a hospital sewing room, and when we need to sew velcro we always use the 'vintage' machines. They do a much better job than the newer machines.

judylg

I learn something new all the time from this board, did not know there was iron on velcro, now that sounds wonderful. I have to look for this now, never seen it.

judylg

Just looked on the Michaels site and they have it, it is called Velcro Fabric Fushion. Not sure of the cost, but this would be perfect for doll clothes. Now I have a reason to go to Michaels. Sewing velcro can be a problem, lately I sew on the edges with a zig zag stictch (small) and it works but for very small pieces it can be an issue. Thanks for sharing this tid bit, certainly worth a try.

nortok00

Hello all. I know this post is older but thought I would contribute. I am a beginner sewer who has just rediscovered sewing after a few decades and I love it. I'm attempting all manner of machine sewing from quilting to fashion accessories (gloves, etc.). I have never in my life attempted velcro and in doing some searches for techniques I came across this post with valuable tips. I'm not one to shy away from a challenge and could've simply tried the iron on or sticky velcro but I'm trying to expand and perfect my sewing abilities so jumped right into the sew on type. :-)

With my first attempt I used a leather needle, cotton thread and a needle/thread lubricant called Sew Smooth by H.A. Kidd (hakidd.com). I'm in Canada so this was easy to find. This lubricant is great because it evaporates fairly quickly and leaves no residue. Someone mentioned using vaseline but I was a bit concerned about greasy stains so researched a bit and found this product. My first attempt was a failure in that the spool thread snapped near the end (I was doing a 1" x 2" piece). The bobbin thread which was also cotton held fine. The snapped thread could be due to not continually lubricating the needle but also I probably should've used polyester thread like others mentioned.

I ripped out the thread and with my second attempt I switched the spool thread to polyester (I left the bobbin thread as cotton only because I was too lazy to change it... if I was doing a much bigger piece I would've changed it to polyester as well). As with my first attempt I put a dollop of the Sew Smooth on my finger and lubricated the needle (which also lubricates the thread) and I started to sew as close to the velcro edge as possible. The difference this time is that I would stop sewing every 1/2" to re-lubricate the needle/thread when it was in the up position. I also put a piece of paper over the hook side as others suggested (I only used lubricant on the loop side, no paper). Not sure if this actually helped with easing the presser foot along but I had no trouble. The next time I have to do velcro I might try it without the paper just to see if it helps or whether lubricating is enough.

With my second attempt I sewed both pieces of the velcro (1" x 2") with no trouble. No thread breakage and the needle seemed to go through just fine. As any FYI the single dollop I started with lasted through one of the 1" x 2" pieces. I used a new dollop for the second piece. If the pieces were bigger I probably would've had to use a couple dollops on my finger to get through each piece. I'm sure nylon thread could be used instead of polyester but I didn't have any nylon on hand.

I hope this helps.

Cari-in-Oly

A leather needle is overkill. I use a size 11 sharp needle for 90% of my sewing, including sewing velcro. I use a straight stitch machine with a narrow foot or a zipper foot on a zig zag machine so I'm sewing at the flat edge of the velcro. The last time I sewed velcro I was making some travel sewing tool organizers on a Singer 301. Even using a stiff interfacing I didn't have to change my needle or cotton thread.

Cari

quiltedsunshine

In our home business, we sewed a ton of Velcro. I used a zig-zag stitch that went just off the edge of the Velcro on one side. I used a size 90 universal needle, and Guterman polyester thread. Towards the end, I was frustrated with the Guterman thread breaking and snarling above the needle, so went to Dual Duty (Coats and Clark), which worked better.

nortok00

It's possible a leather needle is overkill. In my research I happened to come across some pages that recommended the leather needle for velcro to avoid snapping the needle. I've had a needle snap before (totally unrelated to velcro) and didn't want to risk that so I went with what was recommended given this was my first time. At some point I might try a lesser needle to see if it works but it took all of 10 seconds to switch them out so it wasn't a bother for me regardless. :-) I also might not need any lubrication on the needle/thread after having switched to the polyester thread but if it means easier passage of the needle and thread through the velcro this too wasn't a burden but is something I will also test on my next velcro project. :-)

nortok00

I forgot to mention I used a straight stitch and an older Singer 328K.