Sewing Your Knits: Stockinette Stitch

When I first began to knit sweaters in about 1987, I really had no idea how to properly seam them.

My first attempts at seaming were not great, but at least the garment could be worn! I knew that there must be a neater way to seam instead of overhand stitch or back stitch. I don’t recall having a book or resource that showed seaming properly.
After taking a knitting hiatus while my children were little, I wanted to knit sweaters again and was determined to learn how to finish my own work. The thought of giving over my precious hand knit garment for someone else to seam was not acceptable to me, and besides, I was afraid to be judged by my lack of skill! I took a finishing class at a conference in 2000 and learned just how easy seaming your knits is!
Unlike sewing with fabric, knitting is seamed from the outside of the work. It is not turned inside out for seaming.
The easiest of all seams in knitting is sewing two stockinette stitch pieces with mattress stitch. Stockinette stitch has the smooth knit fabric on the “public” or outside of the work and bumpy purl fabric on the “private” or inside of the work. This is produced by knitting one row and purling one row and repeating that sequence throughout.
At this point, I encourage you to get some yarn and needles and make a couple of practice pieces of stockinette. Cast on 10 stitches and work at least 20 rows of stockinette. Make two of the samples. Use thicker yarn and a large needle for these pieces so you can see what you are doing. Light colored yarn is easier to see than dark.
It is very important that you have the same number of rows in order to seam properly. Now, if you are off two rows, it probably is not that big of a deal to “fudge” a little bit and ease the extra couple of rows into the sewing. If you are off by several rows, however, your seam may “seem” a bit wonky. (Sorry, I just had to.) You may want to consider removing or adding some rows of knitting if this is the case. (Ah, c’mon, you still like to knit, right?)

Counting rows in stockinette is not as difficult as you might think.

After you have counted your rows to make sure you have the same number on each piece, you are ready to begin the set up for seaming.

This set up is known as a figure 8.

Believe it or not, (smile) some knitters have very strong opinions about whether to use the yarn tail or a new piece of yarn to sew the seam. Here are a couple of thoughts.
If you use the tail of yarn that is attached from the cast on, you must have a piece about one and a half times the seam length. A 10” seam would require about 15” of yarn to sew. If you use the tail, the yarn does not start from the exact place for beginning the figure 8. You must plan ahead and leave extra yarn at all of the cast on and bound off areas. This method leaves one less end to weave in at the beginning of the seam, so if you are concerned about extra bulk, use this method.
You may also use a new piece of yarn cut to about one and a half times the length of the seam to sew. This method places the yarn in the exact spot for the figure 8 beginning. If you use an extra length of yarn, you have another tail to weave in. The goal is to make the beginning of the seam look good, right? Choose the method you like the best. I use them both.

When you begin to seam, you must identify the edge stitch and the column next to it. In a straight stockinette seam, you will not veer from this column. You may choose to seam one row or two at a time. Work a few rows without pulling the yarn to make it easier to see what you are doing. After a few rows, pull the yarn firmly to bring the seam  together.

You CAN sew this seam!

Now you can see how wonderfully easy it is to seam stockinette stitch! I know you can do this if you practice on a sample a couple of times! Your garments will look terrific with perfect seams.

I will present  more on seaming different stitch patterns and areas of garments in future blogs!

KnitYourselfHappy and Sew Your Knits!