Knitting Patterns  

Seam Tips for Knitting

It is preferable to join seams from the "right" or "public" side.

Because you can see what you are doing, grab the right stitches and get the tension perfect on the side that shows. 

Firmly joined or bound off certain seams to stabilize your garments and prevent sagging.

The fronts of cardigans often sag, so it may help to bind it off firmly - depending on how you do it.  You'll end up worse if you pucker the whole thing.  

A really saggy sweater or vest may benefit from firm side seams (llama and alpaca is awful for this).  

A saggy neck is also a good candidate for a firm bind-off. 

  Be careful with this though, and don't go too far! I find that people have more problems in binding off seams too tightly which can ruin a piece.

Bind off loosely for these knitting pattern pieces:

• Bottoms of hats knit from the top

• Wsweater collars that must pull over the head

• Cuffs opf sleeves

• Scarves or afghans (so you don't pull stsitches in at one end and end up with a nice square).

I find it best to use a larger needle and to concentrate on binding off loosely to prevent problems.

An "Invisible Seam"

I like to do this with the pieces lying flat on a table. This seam is usually done from the right side, but since we want the bumps to show, we’ll do it backwards. Use a double strand of yarn, which is one strand of yarn folded over with the needle threaded in the middle. Place the pieces to be sewn side-by-side on table with wrong sides up and edges aligned. Look closely at those edges. You will see that they consist of alternating loops and knots (provided you did not slip the first st of each row while knitting.)

Bring the needle straight up through the first loop on left-hand piece leaving a good end dangling. Now sew straight down through the first loop on right-hand piece, skip the knot, and come up through the second loop, still on the right-hand piece.

Now sew down through the first loop on the left-hand piece (the same loop you came out of originally) and up through the second loop on that piece. Pull the yarn snug, but not tight - work diligently to get all the sts even.

Now back to the right-hand piece. Sew straight down through the loop you came out of before, and then up through the next loop above. Then back to the left on-and-on up the seam.

Take an occasional look at the right side of your material as you work. If you are doing the stitch right you should be forming evenly-matched, smooth, and colorful stitches along both sides of the seam.

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