Skip to main content

Sewing Pieces Together

Once you finally have all the pieces of your knitted project off the needles (see Binding or Casting Off Techniques) it is time to sew them together.  As I mentioned earlier, this is the part that can really make or break a piece.   It might look something like this:


A sweater generally off the needles except for the neckline

In the photo above, you can see the left sleeve is ready be inserted into place. It also appears the shoulders are either already sewn together or more than likely the entire body was knit from the back to the front.  (One should start the putting-together process with the shoulders so that the front and back are align.)   But you'll notice several finishing touches are left to do, for example, the entire left side seam of the sweater needs work and the right side seam is left undone as well.  So how do we go from above to this?

A well-finished sweater

Most knitting pattern designers believe you should know how to do this so most are very, very short on details.  Find a good book to help you with finishing techniques if you want something to hold.  Otherwise use the Internet, there are many, many good sources.  Here's my abbreviated version.  It will give you a start on how to finish a sweater.

Since the knitting pattern on the sweater above looks to be similar on both the front and the back, a simple mattress stitch will work on the side seams.  Check  Mimi Kezer's great video to see how she hides red yarn to sew together a gray seam.  Or if you'd prefer an illustrated version of these instructions, check out Lion Brand yarns' take here. Done right the mattress stitch is sewn with the right or front sides placed side by side and yet the stitch is completely hidden.  You'll want to practice this on some swatches before you start sewing a sweater together but with a little practice it can be done and done well.   Or be like me and practice finishing lots of knitted food.

So you have the sides sewn together how do you go about setting in the sleeves.  The stitches are running vertically on the body and horizontally on the sleeve.  To begin the process one locates the middle of the sleeve and pins it to the shoulder seams.  Then the ends of the sleeve are pinned to the bottom of the armhole on each side.  (Remember neither the side seam nor sleeve are sewn together at this time.)   Use the mattress stitch again to sew the sleeve in place working in ease if necessary.  However, don't take my words for it, watch this video for details.  You also will get some great tips and tricks just in case everything isn't quite perfect as you sew.  Or if you want another review check out this website.

We'll stop here for today.  Next will be a discussion about picking up stitches to finish off both the button band and neckline.


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ode to the Cat

It has been six months since Mike, the cat's, passing.  I think of him every day and miss him especially when Paul is away.  Mike was a being in the house with me and we were close.  Grieving his death has been muddled with my Dad's passing and sometimes I feel guilty about that happening.  As time passes the ache becomes less hurtful for both and I am starting to get mostly good memories in its place. Recently I helped celebrate Pablo Neruda's birthday with Jami, my poet and overall very creative friend.  Guests were asked to select one poem written by Neruda to read to the small group who gathered for the celebration.  I picked this one: Ode To The Cat -- Pablo Neruda There was something wrong with the animals: their tails were too long, and they had unfortunate heads. Then they started coming together, little by little fitting together to make a landscape, developing birthmarks, grace, flight. But the cat, only the cat turned out finished, and
1 comment
Read more

Anatomy of a Sock

I've been knitting socks for a relatively short time.  One of the disconcerting things for me as I started following patterns for socks is the pattern designer assumes the knitter (in this case that would be me) knows all the parts of a sock.  So I thought I'd devote a post to improve my own knowledge about the anatomy of a sock and maybe some of you will learn something about the humble yet necessary sock as well. Here's the names of the parts of the foot as I know them. #49 ankle, #50 heel, #51, instep, #52 ball, #53 big toe, #54 toe, #55 little toe, #56 toenail. There are some parts more important for this discussion; first the heel of a foot is generally used to refer to the entire C-shape from the ankle to the instep.  Speaking of the instep, it refers to that curve near the bottom of the foot.  And what seems to be missing in the design above is the sole which generally refers to the bottom of the foot in total or plantar aspect in more technical terms.  (BTW
1 comment
Read more

Yarn Barf

It's back to quirkiness and time to step away again from the cuteness for a while.  But as you see I'm someone who slips from one to the other without much effort so anticipate this back and forth to be my new normal. A dramatization of me in the midst of my startitist frenzy Yarn barf .  I'm willing to bet you hadn't thought of putting those two words together, had you?  It just so happens yarn barf can be a reoccurring pain for those of us who use yarns that come in a skein instead of a hank.  (No pun intended regarding the current Noro virus, well maybe a little pun.) Skeins of yarn wound by the manufacturer These are hanks which need to be wound into balls  If you look closely at the picture on the right you'll see the start on the millet yellow skein at the centre right of the photo.  Its start can easily be seen coming from the centre of the skein onto the violet skein to the left.  Easy to find, right!  Sure but what about the remaining 4
5 comments
Read more