Re-doing Seams?

#1

I recently finished knitting a lovely child’s sweater in Rowan All Seasons Cotton using Louisa Harding’s ‘Doctor Cardigan’ pattern from Miss Bea’s Dressing Up pattern book. The pattern called for me to back stitch the shoulder seams, which I did. I thought they were way too bulky but I soldiered on. I have now seamed the sleeves to the body and completed one side seam. I am unhappy with the side seam and am preparing to pull it out.

I was reading through a couple of my knitting books last night and they recommended weaving all seams including the shoulders. I think this is the method I had used years ago….

My question is: should I take out all of my seaming, including the shoulders and start over? (The trim on the sweater required me to pick-up stitches to add it, so I will need to keep a portion of the shoulder seaming intact……oy vey) Help!

#2

I probably would take it out if I was unhappy with it. I’m kind of a perfectionist though.

I never backstitch anything…the few shoulders I’ve done with a 3 needle bind off. It’s stabilizing and looks nice. Not sure if you can do it on bound off shoulders though. Side seams I use mattress stitch which is the standard for seams.

#3

I would do it over if you want it to look nice. I agree with Jan, I never back stitch anything. If I see a pattern that says to do that, I just ignore it and sew it the “better” way. :wink:

Here is a link to some very good information about seaming in different situations. She covers bound off shoulder seams, and side seams. Read chapters 17, 18, 19 and 21 to get the full scoop on the seams. LINK

I’m not sure how your issue with the trim you did will play into all this. I hope it works out well for you.

#4

Thank you for your replies and the link.

I don’t like the shoulder seams, they really bother me and I know I could do a better job on the side seam…so guess what I’m doing tomorrow…rip…rip…rip :x: :think: :eyes: :hair: :frog: :whoosh: :knitting:

#5

yeah, re-do them. You were unhappy enough to post here. So you are unhappy enough to redo them.

Mattress stitch works on all seams.

For shoulders my favorite new way is grafting them. But that would require to undo your bind off and that does not work with the picked up stitches. But for next time: put the stitches on a holder at the shoulder seams (if equal amounts of stitches come together as usual) and graft them with kitchener stitch. That turns borderless and invisible (at least on st st pieces, I have not done it on reverse st st or the like).

And is just a wonderful way to make it look like it was knit in 1 piece.

you will be happy after you made them again, maybe in mattress stitch.

#6

Personally I would not use kitchener (grafting, weaving) on shoulder seams on but a few rare things. Grafting doesn’t make a seam so it doesn’t add the stability that most shoulders require. You know how in some of the finest garments you buy they often have a piece of some unstretchable fabric sewn along the shoulder seam? That is to combat the tendency of shoulders to stretch out of shape. You can do that in your hand made garments as well. But a sewn seam gives some stability, and a three needle bind off offers a little, grafting none.

I did do it once on a little child’s sweater that was made so that you had the sleeve seam up the top of the sleeve and went directly into the shoulder. It was supposed to look kind of like it was made in one piece. In this particular instance I didn’t think it would be a problem if it sagged a bit. Also I had knit the whole thing in a gauge that was quite tight (probably too stiff really) so I decided to do the grafting, because it is so cool looking. I agree it is magical and I love it, but not for shoulders most of the time.