i’m almost done with my first real shaped piece, the Soliel sweater from knitty. i did it with elann.com’s sonata which is dk 100% cotton. it has a little lace on the edge. i know i need to block it but i’m not sure what the best method is. i’ve read a bunch of articles on blocking but don’t know which method is best. i tried the spray bottle method with my socks but it didn’t do much since they were a bad acrylic anyway. i’m kinda scared of blocking, taking so much time to make this then soaking it and messing it up. and suggestions anyone?
Since it’s all cotton you could just wash it (in the machine) and dry a little in the dryer then lay it out flat to finish drying. That will even out the stitches and you can shape it when you lay it out to dry.
bI’ve NEVER blocked cotton garment pieces by tossing them in the washer and dryer, nor the seamed garment, either.
It scares me to death that the garment ‘finish’ will somehow
come out looking tired, or otherwise awful.
I have always blocked cottons (Elann’s Lara Endless Summer; and Elsebeth Lavold’s Cotton Patine; and Turchese Egyptian Cotton; and Paton’s Bumblebee Cotton; Rowan ALL SEASONS cotton; Reynolds Saucy cotton; Rowan’s Calmer cotton) by pinning the “pieces” out on the blocking board, and placing almost soppy wet terry towels (white, and thoroughly rinsed free of any soap or fabric softeners) on top of them and leaving them alone til bone dry. This works wonders! Then, and only then, do I seam them together. I block before seaming.
This is the Elann Lara Endless Summer cotton.
And here is the Egyptian cotton, knit recently:
It may depend on the cotton, of course; I use S/P n Cream or Cottonease, so they machine wash well. I don’t leave them in the dryer until dry, though, I take them out while they’re still a little dampish.
So here’s another question…After you have worn the item and need needs to be washed, do you all re-block in the same fashion that you have talked about above?
I’ve found that once a sweater has been wet the first time, you can just lay it flat to dry (with a bit of smoothing and shaping). I think the first wetting helps the stitches to “relax” and after that they tend to stay the same.
True examples of what blocking can acheive and your work is just incredible! I wanna be you when I grow up!
i guess part of my problem is i’ve really only worked with acrylic before. i don’t really know how different fibers “act”. i guess that’s something i’m just going to have to learn.