I am making a drop shoulder sweater. What is the best seaming stich to sew in the sleeves? The seaming will have a bind off stitch going to a selvage edge stitch. Does this make sense? Thanks for anybody’s advice.
I always use mattress stitch for connecting sweater parts.
I didn’t know if the mattress stitch would work with two different stitches going against each other. I’ll try it and see how it works. This is the first sweater I’ve tried to make. I did the three needle bind off stitch at the shoulder seams and it turned out beautifully. Should I do the mattress stitch at the side seams and up along the sleeve seam. Thanks again for your advice.
Three needle bind off!
Mattress for all the seams up the sides and sleeves–you won’t even see it.
I like it for the sleeves to shoulders, too, because it brings the knitting together. When I put in a sleeve, I take pieces of yarn and tie the top, bottom and sides of the sleeve to where they should be in the sleeve hole. I just pick up a bar from the sweater side and a stitch from the sleeve side and do it that way. You sometimes have to fudge a little to fit, but it never shows.
To make the sides even when you start to sew on the sleeves…do you start from one end and continue to the other end of the sleeve, or do you start at the shoulder and stitch down one side, then start at the shoulder again, and stitch down the other side?
I saw your reply regarding the mattress stitch, but I cannot pull up the video on my computer. All I get are symbols. Is there another way to view the mattress stitch?
Here is a written description, with pictures, of the mattress stitch.
Thank you. The pictures are very helpful and I can hardly wait to try the technique. 
Hi starlight,
When I put the sleeves in a sweater I start at the bottom where the side seam and the sleeve seam meet, then I go around the front of the armhole toward the top shoulder seam, then down the back armhole, and finish up where I started.
I ALWAYS pin all the way around the armhole easing in if needed. Bottom first, then top, then midway between, etc. Then I start seaming, and it works well every time.
Good luck!
Happy Knitting :XX: :XX:
Mary
The sweater is now all together and I love the mattress stitch! You can bet I will use that again and again. Now, I need to figure out how to fix the bottom of the sweater. I used a roll hem, but have changed my mind and want to do the ribbing. I have read where you can just cut the stitches off and pick them up onto a needle. I am wondering if it would work better to put the stitches onto a needle, then cut the threads.
DON’T CUT ANYTHING!!!
I hope it’s not too late!!! Just pick up and knit the stitches along the hem and knit the ribbing down. I’ve done it and you’d never tell. Trust me on this one!
I have not cut it yet. The reason I was thinking of cutting it is because when I knit for the rolled hem, I used smaller needles than the body of the sweater. I will try picking up and knitting a ribbing first to see how it looks. Thanks. I like your saying: “trust your pattern” I have said that to my daughters often as I taught them to knit. :XX:
Actually, using smaller needles for the edge of the sweater will turn out to be a good thing, since you should use smaller needles for the ribbing, too.
Whatever you used for the edge, use that for the ribbing and have a multiple of 4 for k2p2 ribbing, or an even number for k1p1.
Actually, using smaller needles for the edge of the sweater will turn out to be a good thing, since you should use smaller needles for the ribbing, too.
Whatever you used for the edge, use that for the ribbing and have a multiple of 4 for k2p2 ribbing, or an even number for k1p1.
If you think you’d want it to pull in more, you can reduce the number of stitches by knitting the first row k9, k2tog to reduce the number of stitches by 10%. (EZ’s suggestion for after-thought hems and ribbing.)