Sewing: Turning Tubes

Fabric tubes can be found in:

• Spaghetti straps on formal gowns - or on casual tops.
• Apron straps - neck and waist ties.
• Belts and sashes.
• As the warp or weft in re-woven fabric (also known as pin-weaving)
• And others.

If a piece is big enough, and has a big enough opening, it is easy to reach in to grab the inside fabric and pull it through the opening. Turning cushion covers right side out is a good example.

But for long and skinny tubes, this doesn't work - the opening is too tiny.

So we must figure out other mechanisms do turn the tubes. Fortunately, the notions manufacturers have come to the rescue.

There are a couple of online retailers of notions that I have used and recommend: A Great Notion in Canada, and Nancy's Notions in the US. With either of them, just search for "tube", and you will find their tube turning tools (for A Great Notion, you will have to click on the Online Catalogue from their main page before you can search).

This article discusses a few tools that can be used to turn tubes.

An unsharpened pencil with an eraser end

This works for tubes with closed ends. Wrap the seam allowances of the closed end around the eraser end of the pencil:

Manipulate the fabric closest to that closed end around the pencil (this is the most difficult part).

Once the pencil has been wrapped with about 1/2 inch or a centimeter of fabric, it is relatively easy to manipulate more of the fabric around the pencil, and then to just push the pencil against the closed end of the fabric until it has all been turned.

Advantages:

• You probably have such a pencil lying around the house, so it's free.
• It is effective

• At the beginning, you generally need to support the other end of the pencil - I use my tummy (hence the requirement for an unsharpened pencil!)
• It is quite hard to get the turning started.
• It is difficult to do with heavier fabrics like denim.
• It does require a closed end, so if you are making spaghetti straps with both ends open, you would have to close one temporarily (make the straps a little longer than called for to accommodate this requirement)

A long and skinny latchhook

This is an interesting gizmo. It is similar to a rug-hooking latchhook, but it is much more delicate.

Insert it into the tube. The tube can be either open or closed.

Position some fabric so that the latchhook can close around the fabric. This step is a whole lot easier if the tube is open, but it is doable if the tube is closed.

The goal is to pull the latched end through the tube. To start, manipulate the fabric near the latchhook, pulling it further from the latchhook, while ensuring that the latchhook doesn't lose its fabric. It is a bit difficult to get it started, but then it moves quite easily.

I have found it useful to have an assistant hold the handle portion of the latchhook, while I use two hands to manipulate the fabric at the hook end.

Advantages:

• The tube can be open or closed.
• It worked for me on a velvet strap (lots of friction), when other tools did not.
• It is effective.
• It is available from A Great Notion (but not from Nancy's Notions)

• It is hard to manipulate the latchhook end singlehandedly while holding the handle end.
• It is quite hard to get the turning started.
• Occasionally, the latchhook will cause the fabric to tear a bit.
• If you have a closed-end tube, it is harder to get the fabric into the latchhook.

The funky scissors-like implement

When I show this one to my students, it generally provokes a shudder - an interesting reaction!

This tool has a key feature - when it is open, it takes some effort to close it; and when it is closed, it takes some effort to open it.

Open the tool. Insert the pointy end into the tube. Slide the entire tube onto the curved metal.

If the tube is closed, then fold the end seam allowances to one side. If the tube is open, fold about a half inch or one centimeter to one side.

Close the tool. If the tube is open, you must make sure that the tool doesn't open up, even a little bit, during the next step.

Now, as with the other tools, manipulate the fabric over the end and onto the other half of the curved metal. It is really important to get at least an inch or a couple of centimeters smoothly on the receiving half before moving any more fabric.

At a certain point, you will have transferred enough fabric that you can see the right-side end of the strap.

Holding that end strongly and carefully, remove the tube from the turner. Wrap your other hand around the remaining scrunches and pull down - in a second or two, the tube will be completely turned.

(Those who have a dairy farming background will recognize the handgrip!)

Advantages:

• The tube can be open or closed.
• It works best on cottons and finer fabrics.
• It is effective.

• I could not find it at either A Great Notion or Nancy's Notions.
• It is quite hard to get the turning started.
• It is difficult to do with heavier fabrics
• If you have a open-end tube, there is a significant risk of having the tool open enough to put the sharper end of the tool through the fabric. This can also happen with a loosely woven fabric, or a tube where the end was not sufficiently closed.
• Occasionally, either while transferring the fabric to the other side or while pulling down the scrunched section, the fabric will stop moving. This means that there is too much compression at that spot. The solution is to "back up" the fabric, and manipulate it slowly over this spot.

The cylinder and pigtail tool (Fasturn)

This tool usually comes in a package with a few sizes of cylinders, so that it is easy to accommodate most tube requirements.

Select an appropriately-sized cylinder, and insert it into the tube, scrunching the tube on the cylinder. The flange at the bottom of the cylinder will stop the fabric from going too far. If the tube is open, fold the end over a half-inch or inch (or centimeter or two) to one side. If the tube is closed, simply insert the cylinder all the way.

Insert the pigtail into the cylinder from the bottom flange end. When the point reaches the top, turn the pigtail clockwise while pushing the point through.

At the top end, open out the seam allowance for an inch or a couple of centimeters, and finger-press open. One cool feature of this tool is that as the fabric is being pulled through the tube, that seam allowance gets a bit of a press open - this makes it so much easier to iron the tube later.

Start to pull on the pigtail from the bottom. The metal cylinder provides stability, and the fabric comes through the cylinder quite easily.

When the fabric has been turned completely, turn the pigtail counter-clockwise to remove it from the tube.

Advantages:

• The tube can be open or closed.
• The metallic cylinder helps to eliminate friction, even when turning high-friction fabrics like velvet.
• The different cylinder sizes accommodate a variety of tube sizes.
• It is really easy to get started.
• It is fast
• It is effective.
• It is available from both A Great Notion and Nancy's Notions.
• The manufacturer also offers pattern books on interesting things you can make with tubes.

• It is a bit pricey to get a full set of half a dozen cylinders and three pigtails.

No tool at all

Sometimes, the solution is to reconsider the tube.

For example, sometimes students for my Apron classes arrive with fairly heavy material for the apron (I've seen denim and upholstery-type fabrics).

The pattern calls for tube turning using a pencil. But the heavy fabrics are so difficult to turn that the students can't really get a sense of the fabric manipulation that is required. So I usually have done the tube turning myself (using the scissors-like implement).

But lately, I have changed my approach for these heavy fabrics.

Because the apron pattern calls for the tube to be turned and then edge-stitched around the entire strap, I use an alternative method. First, the students fold and press the fabric in half lengthwise, wrong sides together. Then they tuck the cut edges to the fold and press. They turn one short end in as well. Then they edge-stitch the folded strap. Thus no tube-turning is required.

Advantages:

• The tube can be open or closed.
• It works on any tube that will ultimately be edge-stitched. It is not restricted to heavy fabrics.
• It is really easy to get started.
• It is fast
• It is effective.
• It can also be used to draw elastic through casings.

• The student doesn't get the pleasure of using the cool tube-turning tools.

Conclusion

For the past four years, my tool of choice in my sewing classroom has been the scissors-like implement. Occasionally, I have used the latchhook implement as well.

And all this time, I had an unopened collection of Fasturn cylinders and pigtails somewhere in my personal sewing room.

A few weeks ago, I decided to try the cylinders and pigtails in my classroom.

I am not going back to the other tools. Ever! It is so much easier to use the cylinders and pigtails.

And now I am annoyed with myself for having them for so long without using them!