Knitters also have their fair share of dilemmas in working, and one of them is putting up or sewing together pieces of their works. Let us help you with our How to Sew A Knitted Sweater Together tutorial.

Tips for sewing sweater knits on a sewing machine

I received a wonderful email from Sarah at Fabric Tragic the other day. Among some pretty nice things she said about my fabrics, she also asked, "Do you think your knits are suitable to fully construct with a sewing machine only or do you think a serger is essential for them?" I'm so glad you asked, Sarah! My very first mini venture into cutting and sewing sweater knit fabrics came many years ago. I used a common and easy method of creating a neckline. It's a technique that's used in industry. Many DIY machine knitters also use this method, as well as some hand knitters (who call it steeking). The neckline is simply cut with a good, sharp pair of scissors and then finished in a variety of ways. I can't speak for the hand knitters, but as many machine knitters do, I used a zigzag stitch on a sewing machine to stabilize the cut edge, before adding a binding to finish it off. It worked amazingly well. Before I got my serger, I did lots of research on how I was going to finish my cut and sew sweater knit garments. In the end I chose to use a serger because it sewed, trimmed, and finished in one step. But a serger is not essential; it's just faster. Below is my favorite way to sew, trim, and finish basic seams with a regular sewing machine. Step 1. Invest in a walking foot (ad link). Seriously. In the old days when I used cut and sew for necklines only, I hadn't even heard of a walking foot. If my neckline became stretched, I would try to snug it up with the binding and then steam-shrink it. But that only works well with wool. A walking foot is a marvelous accessory. It gives you a set of feed dogs on top of your fabric! These, together with the regular feed dogs on your machine (underneath the fabric), feed the sweater knit fabric toward the needle very evenly. (That's why a walking foot is also known as an even feed foot.) If you've never used a walking foot before, this will rock your world! Be sure to get the right walking foot for your machine. It may be able to take a generic walking foot like the one above. Step 2. Zigzag the edges. Place the fabric under the walking foot so that all feed dogs make contact with the fabric. You can also experiment with stretch stitches, if your machine has them. For my jersey bamboo sweater knit, I'm using a zigzag width of 4 mm and a length of 1.75 mm. Remember unlike a lighter weight knit, a sweater knit may fray or run. You want your sewing machine needle to enter each knit stitch at least one time to prevent any future runs from happening, so keep the width relatively wide and the length medium to small. If you stabilize your edges ahead of time with liquid stabilizer, the sewing is really easy. Try to keep the sewing speed steady as an uneven speed can give you an uneven stitch length with knits. (See next pic.) Step 3. Sew the seam. I used a wobble (narrow zigzag) stitch with the width at 0.75 mm and length at 3.5 mm. Seam allowance is 1/2 inch and stitched to the left of the zigzags. Step 4. Press seam flat and trim close to zigzag stitches. It will look like this on the public side. Additional tips: Use a matching thread color. (But you knew that!) Practice on an old sweater first. Then use the cutaways of the good material to get your stitch length and width just right for constructing the garment. Make your first project in wool. It's so much easier to work with than bamboo (pictured) or cotton. Wool isn't slippery and can stand up to a little abuse before fraying. Read Oh Baby! with Fabric.com: Sewing with Knits. While not specifically on sweater knit fabrics, it's loaded with good information and much, though not all, can be applied to the sweater knit fabric. I hope this helps, Sarah! O! ___ Like sewing tips? Using a commercial sewing pattern for your sweater? Download Five Tips for Using Commercial Sewing Patterns with Sweater Knits. Last update 07Feb2017

learn how to sew sweater knits. sewing tips & tricks for making sweaters using sweater knit fabric.

If the bust/chest area of a sweater is too tight, you can fix this by messing around with the armhole length. Are you surprised? In fact, the fit of the upper body of a garment is very highly affected by the length of the armhole, and a great deal of the designer's attention is paid to the exact measurements in this complex, saddle-shaped area where many seams run together, and the arm meets the body of the sweater. The great thing about the upper body/armhole connection is that the entire fit around the bust/chest can be eased by lengthening the armhole (and, of course, the fit around the upper arm can also be eased in this manner). Although lengthening the armhole sounds like a project which would require re-knitting the upper part of the garment as well as reknitting the sleeves, this is luckily not the case IF (and only if) the garment was made in pieces (has seams). To lengthen the armhole, and thus add ease to the upper body area (and to the upper arm area, as well) we are going to use a gusset. A gusset is simply an inlaid piece of fabric specifically designed to add ease to the applied area. Our specific gusset, an underarm gusset for a sweater, is a diamond-shaped piece of fabric knit from the same yarn as the garment itself, then inserted (sewn in) along the top of the side seam and the top of the arm seam. This magic diamond-shaped insert adds ease where it is needed, and thus saves you having to reknit a substantial portion of the garment. Although the line drawings below shows a gusset set into a set-in sleeve garment, the gusset trick actually works with every shoulder style--drop-shoulder, raglan, etc. This is because it is not added at the shoulder itself, but under the arm at the side seam, and so creates no distortion in the shoulder style selected. (And for the historically-minded, a gusset is a traditional method of constructing ganseys.) As to how large to make the gusset, you must first determine how total many inches of ease you want to add around the garment at the bust/chest (or around the upper arm, if this is where the tightness is). You would then work each gusset until the total width at the widest point of EACH gusset is ONE HALF the total added ease desired, so that both gussets together add up to the total ease required around the circumference of the garment. As to knitting the gusset itself: Prep step: cast on, then work two rows of 2 st I-cord. row 1: k1, m1, k1 (3 stitches on needle) row 2: purl. row 3: k1, m1, k to with 1 st of opp edge, m1, k1. row 4, purl. REPEAT rows 3 and 4 until the diamond is HALF as wide across as the total number of inches of ease you seek, as explained above. row 5: k across with no shaping. row 6: purl across with no shaping. row 7: k1, SYTK (or any other left leaning decrease you prefer), k to within 3 sts of other edge, k2tog, k1. row 8: purl. REPEAT rows 7 and 8 until 5 sts remain on a purl row. row 9: k1, work a three stitch decrease (scroll) on the middle three stitches, k1. row 10: purl row 11: k1, k2tog, 2 stitches on needle finishing step: work 2 rows of 2 st I-cord, bind off Below is a photo of a gusset knitted according to the above instructions, the widest measurement is 17 stitches. When you come to sew the gusset inside the garment, pick out (remove) the seam in the underarm area of your sweater (top of body, top of arm) beyond what you will need to sew in the gusset--this gives you some maneuvering room. To make sure of your gusset placement, begin the sewing centered on the center two (no shaping) rows (i.e.: rows 5 and 6) as shown in the illustration two below. Resew the body and sleeve seams above and below the gusset insertion and wear your remodeled sweater in health and good fortune. Here are some tips: 1) As to the actual sewing-in of the gusset, the illustration shows an overcast stitch worked from the outside, but this is only to give the general idea of sewing, and to maintain the perspective common to all the illustrations, namely from the back of the right arm. The overcast stitch worked from the outside would actually be a poor choice. Far better would be to sew (or slip stitch!) the gusset from the inside. (Aaaand--if you had slip stitched the seams, rather than mattress-stitched them, taking out the seams would have been easier in the first place!) Click this (or any!) illustration to enlarge 2) The sewing (or slip stitching!) from the inside is done at the rate of 1/1 (one stitch of the gusset is sewn/slip stitched to one stitch of the body or arm) 3) The instructions included in this post for knitting the gusset result in a utility sort of a gusset which adds width in a relatively concentrated area--just at the underarm. If the problem extends past this area, work the gusset relatively longer (i.e." a longer diamond) by adding more plain rows between increases/decreases. This will add more ease in a longer stretch of both the body and the arm. Of course, if the problem is mainly in the upper arm, you can make the gusset shorter at the body end while knitting it longer along the arm seam. If the reverse is true--if the body is tight but the upper arm is pretty much OK in circumference, reverse the procedure--making the arm part of the gusset relatively shorter than the body portion to provide bust shaping with very little ease added to the arm circumference. In these ways, the gusset can be customized to your exact ease requirements. 4) For supergeeks: If you are a demon for symmetry, begin the gusset with a provisional cast on in the very middle of the gusset, then follow the directions for the decrease portion of the gusset. When the first half is done, remove the provisional cast on to re-gain live sts on your needle, then work the decrease portion of the gusset again. As you can see in the photo of the gusset, above, the decrease portion at the top of the gusset looks prettier than the increase portion at the bottom of the gusset, so by working both ways from the middle, you'll get two pretty decrease portions while avoiding the increase portion altogether. Finally we'll end with a note on gussets at the crotch, rather than under the arm. Crotch gussets are a great idea for adding ease in an often-tight area. These are traditional in eastern-style pants and leggings. While not common in western clothing, they are available as a specialty item. Those who knit longies (either baby-bottom leggings or children's/adult leggings) can add a gusset to the crotch area in the identical manner as shown in this post for underarms. This eases the entire garment for better fit, as well as the side benefit of moving the seams to lower-stress locations. --TK Part 1: My sweater is too wide Part 2: My sweater is too long, my sweater is too short Part 4: My hat is too loose Part 5 : My sweater slips off my shoulders Part 6 (still to come): My sweater is too small around my middle

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Tips for sewing sweater knits on a sewing machine

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When discussing cut and sew sweaters, I spend most of my time talking about sewing sweater knits. The cutting part of “cut and sew” gets far less time on this blog. It is, however, an important topic. For some people, especially those with knitting experience, cutting is the part that can be filled with fear. Knitters, having prior experience with dropped stitches, often get worried that runs will form in the fabric. To get past that, I recommend you test the limits of the fabric before you start your project. Cut a 6” x 6" square of your sweater knit and try to make it run. Give it a really good stretch lengthwise and crosswise and notice what happens. If the fabric does run, make a mental note of how much you had to stretch the fabric for that to happen. Chances are you won't be stretching it to that extent during construction. If it turns out you are working with the a fabric that runs easily, you simply need to handle it with care and perhaps stabilize the edges. But let's get back to the act of cutting. The basics of cutting a sweater knit are similar to those for cutting woven fabrics. My favorite cutting tool is pictured above, the Black & Decker electric scissors. This wonderful tool has been discontinued, as I've mentioned previously on this blog. In its day, this hard working tool was really inexpensive (about $15) and it cut through sweater knits extremely well. The WBT1 Electric Scissors have been recommended to me but I haven't tried them yet since I still have one pair of the B & D's in working order. The learning curve is surprisingly gentle with electric scissors, and I find them easier to use than rotary cutters or manual shears. Since I’m trying to preserve my B & D’s, I save them for cutting lengths of fabric. I use a rotary cutter now for pattern cutting. A rotary cutter works well, with practice, but remember -- a sharp blade is mandatory! My least favorite cutting tool has always been dressmaking shears! My current pair of bent-handled, “knife edge” Friskars (Amazon affiliate link), however, can easily slice through even the heaviest sweater knit. Here are the important things to remember, when using shears: Always keep the bottom blade gliding along the table as you cut. With each cut, follow through to the tip of the blades to avoid jagged edges. I'm right handed so my left hand does whatever it takes to help keep the sweater knit fabric under control while I cut. It could be holding the cut-away fabric firmly on the cutting table or gently supporting a narrow strip away from the pattern piece I'm cutting. You may need different techniques, depending on which part of the pattern you're cutting. Whichever tool or tools you use, they must be sharp or they'll chew up the fabric or stretch and distort the edges of the pattern pieces. I'm always on the lookout for other tools and tips, so please recommend any favorites you have. All right then, no more fears! Need tips on sewing sweater knits? Download my Roadmap for Improved Sweater Knit Seams. O!

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Ravel or unravel? Funny that these words are considered synonyms. Anyway, despite what many say about knit fabrics not raveling (or unraveling) or fraying, it simply isn't true for a sweater knit fabric. The raveling begins. And yes, I pulled the yarn of this cotton knit fabric just for this pic! But the fact that a sweater knit fabric might ravel shouldn't scare you away. Most well prepared wool fabrics will experience little raveling or fraying as you put the cut fabric through it's paces serging and sewing. Wool, even the superwash variety, will full a bit in the preparation. This makes the fibers stick to each other enough to survive the normal stretching involved in constructing the garment without an incident of raveling. I got my first taste of what terrible thing might happen while constructing the Turtle Beach Sweater. The main sweater fabric is 86% bamboo. The 14% merino mostly manages to hold the cut edges together, but there was one spot where I mishandled the fabric, playing around and stretching the neckline, and I got the beginning of a run that I feared would eat away my seam allowance. (For the record, it didn't.) I am now in the midst of making a cotton knit sweater for summer using this fabric. This loose cotton knit, will definitely have the tendency to run. But there is a solution. Actually, a solution is the solution. I made a paint-on stabilizer solution with Sulky Super Solvy(Amazon affiliate link). The instructions for making the solution are included in the package. Sulky Super Solvy (Amazon affiliate link) The product comes on a roll. Here's what the stabilizer looks like before the solution is made. In its solid form, Super Solvy is used to make design templates and pattern guides. But by dissolving 18 inches of Super Solvy in 8 ounces of water, painting the solution on the edges of my cut fabric, and allowing it to dry for a couple of hours, I no longer need to worry about runs, ravels, and frays. The edges have a slight crunchy feel; the fabric feeds beautifully into sewing machine or serger. Once I complete the sweater, the crunchy will disappear in the wash. Next time I'll only make half the recipe. I'm currently storing my remaining solution in an airtight container. I don't know yet how well it keeps. Working with knit fabric can require other stabilizers, too, such as stay tape, clear elastic or interfacing. I'll get to these another time. O!

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*****Instant Download***** This listing is for a PDF pattern instant download only. This pattern is designed for weavers who are ready to take the next step from weaving scarves and towels to making a simple garment. This is a workshop in a pattern. All you need is your 15 inch or larger rigid heddle loom and a sewing machine. This vest is easy to weave, simple to sew and fun to wear. The worksheets will walk you through each step of the process. Sizes from S-XL with yarn cacluations all worked out for you. The pattern has many photos and helpful hints to further help you understand the process. Face your fear of cutting into your woven fabric with the easy to follow instructions of this workshop in a pattern. Using plain weave you will weave two easy warps. The star is the amazing Tandem yarn by Tahki Stacy Charles. Paired with a solid cotton, the result is a lovely fabric with a wonderful drape. Tools/Notions: 8-dent rigid heddle loom at least 15" weaving width Shuttle for weaving Sewing Machine Pins Fabric scissors Olfa mat and cutter (optional) Tape measure Tapestry Needle Thread Suggested yarn: Tandem Yarn, Tahki Stacy Charles, Inc. - 4- 6 balls and Cotton Classic by Tahki - 4-6 balls OR 4.5 - 7.5 oz. 3/2 Cotton Contact me at anytime if you have questions. ---- No shipping on this item as it is a PDF file and will be sent out within 24 hours of payment ----

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