[miss_sonja]

Washed fabric (Kaufman Laguna knit), got pattern printed and put together and little one napped long enough for me to sew up my first sewing project for me to wear (other than costumes).

The knit was hard to work with for someone used to quilting cottons. It was wriggly and tough to get the edges smooth for pinning the pattern and ditto sewing. But once it was done and I put it on, super comfy. The Kaufman Laguna is quite nice–soft with a nice amount of stretch. I have more in other colours–will be making this one again!

Any tips on working with the knit for pinning? It took me about 45 minutes to pin and cut out the pattern pieces for the long sleeve women’s shirt–much longer than a similar amount of pattern pieces on quilting style cotton.

[Nicole]

That sounds about right to me!

Knits may be quick to sew but to get a quality looking garment you have to put in the time to get the grain straight and the fabric smooth.

I like to lay my fabric out a few hours before cutting to let it relax and re shape. Ball point pins are great as is using a combination of pins and weights.

Careful accurate cutting of notches will give you confidence when sewing.
It does get a little quicker as you get a ‘feel’ for knits.

• This reply was modified 10 years ago by Nicole.

[Lightning McStitch]

I don’t bother ironing knits before cutting (in fact I try not to iron anything ever, but that’s me) as it just seems to make the edges curl even more. If I were patient enough I’d take Nicole’s advice and let it settle. The only time I think too much about cutting knits is if they’re stripey and I’m trying to match stripes. That’s a lot of the time really as you just can’t have enough stripey tops IMO
But I agree that the cutting can be laborious anyway. I do a lot of knit sewing, use a serger and don’t sew too slowly, but you’ll never catch me saying “I made this T-shirt from PDF printing to wearing in 30 minutes”. It takes me at least that long to cut one out.

[Reeni]

I am just getting used to sewing with knits, and for sewing I’d pick wovens any day! (but for wearing and washing practicality knits have it.)
I try to have the knit hanging in the direction of the grain a few days before, it helps to keep it straight on the table. I use lots of weights (cans of beans/tuna work well in a pinch!) when laying out patterns to cut. I find that scissors or a small-diameter wheel work better than a large-diameter wheel, especially for really stretchy knits.
A quick burst of hairspray or spray starch works well for washables that just won’t stay uncurled long enough for you to pin, sew and trim… just let it dry well so it doesn’t get on the machine/serger needle. HTH!

[Liesl Gibson]

Yes, I second Reeni’s spray starch suggestion. I started using it a few months ago to keep knits lying flat so I could photograph the steps. Turns out, it seems a little easier to sew the knits with the spray starch, too. Much less fiddling with the curled edges.