What is the best way to sew raglan sleeves on a baby sweater? Should the slanting decrease stiches show after the sleeves are attached? Thanks so much!
Raglan sleeves
This is what the raglan sleeves on a baby sweater looked like after I sewed it to the body using the mattress stitch. If you scroll down, there’s a slightly larger picture that might help.
http://www.xanga.com/swcheng15/682277854/this-is-more-like-it/
I like making them top down so there’s no sewing. Don’t have to figure out if it works right or not.
I haven’t gotten there yet, making them from the top down. I’m assuming then you’re knitting in the round?
Yes, mattress stitch, no more than one stitch in from the edge.
How did you work your decreases? If you did the SSK or K2tog on the very edge its harder to get a neat seam, and you need to take it very carefully. To avoid a bumpy irregular edge, which is hard to seam neatly, decreases are better worked one stitch in, ie K1, SSK, and for the end of the row - work to last 3sts, K2tog, K1. There will be a slanting edge as in the pic of my baby hoodie -
Top down knitting is great, but you will find a much greater variety of gorgeous styles are possible if you do your knits in pieces. With baby knits the seams aren’t very long, but I know a lot of people find them tedious. I think they’re worth it for the finished product.
Your detailed answer was very helpful, and I love the picture of your precious baby sweater. I used the mattress stitch on the arm seams…it worked well but I wasn’t sure when I started the shoulder seams. I did do the decrease stitches one stitch in from the edge so now I will try the mattress stitch on the sleeves and hope that mine looks as nice as yours! geeintexas
I’m interested in your thoughts as to what it is possible to knit in pieces that isn’t possible in the round?
Easier to show rather than tell… I’m on Ravelry, so if you are a member take a look at some of my projects. There are over 100, a few are top down but most aren’t. I’m not advocating that no one knits top down - its quick, fun, and painless due to no seams! But I’ve looked at a lot of top down baby patterns, because baby garments are what I knit, and seen no where near the variety of styles and little features that I find in “pieced” garments. Also, I never seem to like the shape of the hoods in top downs, and the armholes sometimes strike me as a little skimpy looking and the body also sometimes strikes me as a bit straight and narrow and up and downish. I would love to find the sort of styles I choose to knit in patterns that are written top down and when I do, I’ll be knitting them!
I do know its possible to convert a garment and do it in the round, top down. But I don’t feel inclined to do so, especially too when I don’t have faith in my finished product looking as nice as, or exactly like, the original pieced pattern. So I guess I’m not as clever in that regard as a lot of other knitters.
I feel that its not always possible to achieve the exact same effect, when converting to top down, as the original pattern (speaking baby knits here) when the pieced pattern is a little unusual.