When you thread elastic through a casing—could be in boxers, leggings, dresses, skirts, etc.—it often twists in the casing. At least, this happened to me several times. More, often I didn’t notice it and I would sew the elastic together, even close the casing sometimes and only feel it when the garment was finished. Bummer! A lot of unpicking and sighing as a result and having to redo the whole process. To avoid this I came up with a trick: the double arrow trick. I show you in the pictures below how it works.

1. Place and mark the elastic

• Place the elastic piece you want to insert on the garment.
• Place it the way how it will sit in the tunnel.

• Mark the beginning and the end with two arrows.
• The beginning is the side of the elastic that doesn’t go in the tunnel. It is marked with an arrow that points up. The end is the side of the elastic that goes in the tunnel. It is marked with an arrow that points down.

2. Thread the elastic through the casing

• I always use two safety pins. Pin the beginning of the elastic—with the arrow that points up—on the fabric. This prevents that the elastic disappears in the tunnel.
• Pin a safety pin at the end of the elastic—with the arrow that points down.
• Push this safety pin, with the elastic attached, through the tunnel.

3. Close the elastic

• The end of the elastic piece comes out of the tunnel. You see the mark with the arrow that points down.

• Remove the safety pin that keeps the elastic on the garment.
• Check the directions of the arrows.
• If they match the elastic hasn’t twisted.
• Now you can sew the elastic together. I always use a zig-zag stitch for this.

Et voila, you have a smooth inserted elastic without twists!