Serger as Pattern Cutter

Back when I was doing my research on cutting and sewing sweater knit fabrics, one woman, who'd worked in the fashion industry for decades said to me, "You know, you can just use your serger to cut out your pattern pieces. Then you don't have to worry about fraying." Hmm, well, it sounded logical. I knew that machine knitters often cut out necklines that way. But a whole sweater?

It's been about a year now, since I first heard of that technique. No one else has ever offered that suggestion! I've finally decided to try it out on the Tangerine Top.

Here's the back.

I started by carefully placing my paper pattern piece on my fabric. I held the pattern in position with weights and traced the paper pattern using my Collins Air Erasable Pen. You can see the traced pattern piece below.

Lining up the purple line with the blade of my serger, I used a 3-thread serger stitch to cut the shape and finish the edge at the same time. Before serging, I spent lots of time adjusting the differential feed to be sure the edges, especially the neck and armholes, did not stretch.

The back piece has outside pointing corners, which were easy to serge this way.

I can see where this method might be useful if you were seaming very thick fabric and couldn't fit the double layer of fabric under the presser foot of the serger. With this method you only serge through one thickness of fabric at a time. The plan now is to cut out the front in the same manner. I'll use a contrasting facing for the neck with interfacing perhaps for the asymmetrical front. Binding will be used for the armholes.

I'll stitch the pieces together with my regular sewing machine -- no need to stabilize edges any further. All I need is a little time to finish!

If anyone else has experience cutting out your pattern with a serger, please share in the comments. It seems so quick and easy! Any drawbacks I haven't anticipated?
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ETA I had a question in the comments about fabric "balling up" at the serger on large pieces. I'm assuming this could happen at the serger if you had too much extra fabric surrounding your uncut pattern piece. Here's my answer (in case you don't make it to the comments):

After tracing the outline of your large piece, sloppy cut the piece first before bringing it to the serger. In other words, pre-cut the piece to separate it from the rest of the fabric, leaving roughly 1-inch of extra fabric beyond the seam allowance. Your cutting doesn't need to follow every curve of the pattern piece, just enough to separate it from the rest of the fabric and to make it manageable. Then use the serger, following your traced outline, to trim to the seam allowance.

O!
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Last edit 09Jan2018

Tangerine Top in Progress

Twice this week on two different days, I was asked to define a sweater knit fabric. Though I can go on and on about the topic and I may knit or design them most days in a week, I still haven't found a precise or "official" definition. To read how I defined the sweater knit fabric previously, please read my post on The Sweater Knit Fabric.

Pictured above are two sweater knit fabrics for a soon-to-be shell. The design for the top is completed, though I have yet to take scissors to fabric. The tangerine fabric is called an embossed rib knit (which I hope to offer in the shop soon). Technically, it's a true rib knit, but it doesn't cling to the body the way most rib knits will. The golden tan fabric is plain jersey. Both are knitted of soft, luxurious and drapey bamboo. 

On this blog I've covered both bands and bindings for finishing sweaters. For this one I'll be using a facing to create an asymmetrical neckline. The trick, I think, is to use a facing that doesn't mess with the drape of the main fabric. We'll see what happens.

To be continued...

O!

Yarn in the Loopers

This is a technique I'm still experimenting with, though I've already pieced together one entire sweater this way. I tried this when my serger was still very new to me, and I now believe that further attention to tension and differential feed settings could have produced even better results. I'm talking about using yarn in the loopers of the serger, in place of regular serger thread or Wooly Nylon Thread.

Yes, this is a technique you can use only if you have a serger and you have access to matching yarn for your sweater knit fabric. Since many readers of this blog either produce their own fabrics (and therefore have the appropriate yarn), or purchase artisan fabrics (Your artisan/supplier probably has extra cones for purchase.), I thought I'd go into this topic briefly. Don't get me wrong: I'm still happy with the results from high quality serger thread. I'd categorize this "Yarn in the Loopers" technique as experimental.

Click pic to enlarge.

Even with the enlarged photo, you can barely see the yarn in this 4-"thread" balanced stitch on my Providence fabric. But that's the point!

I first heard of this technique in Pam Turbett's Revised Knit, Cut and Sew: Book 1. Turbett briefly discusses Sue Le Neve "who [uses] quite substantial wool yarn through the loopers to overlock the edges...." Though Le Neve's method involves bypassing the tension discs as well as several thread guides (I think she uses a heavier yarn.), I run my 2/20 yarn through all yarn guides and tension discs. The cone of yarn is placed on the table behind the serger. My upper looper tension for the yarn is slightly tighter (!) for my very soft, springy wool yarn than for regular serger thread. If you try this at home, be sure to spend time adjusting all the tensions. I don't plan on trying this with cotton yarn, because I don't think the cotton would be springy enough.

The yarn loops really blend in with the rest of the fabric, making the inside of the garment just a little nicer. I have the feeling that this blend-ability is what people like about Wooly Nylon in the loopers, when they can get a matching color. I've never used Wooly Nylon, but I do plan give it a try sometime.

A band attached with yarn in the upper looper

And from the public side...

That's right! From the public side it makes no difference whatsoever!

Do you have any unconventional ways of serging? I'd love to hear them. Next, I'm going to try yarn in both loopers.

O!

Sewing Sweater Seams with a Sewing Machine

I received a wonderful email from Sarah at Fabric Tragic the other day. Among some pretty nice things she said about my fabrics, she also asked, "Do you think your knits are suitable to fully construct with a sewing machine only or do you think a serger is essential for them?" I'm so glad you asked, Sarah!

My very first mini venture into cutting and sewing sweater knit fabrics came many years ago. I used a common and easy method of creating a neckline. It's a technique that's used in industry. Many DIY machine knitters also use this method, as well as some hand knitters (who call it steeking). The neckline is simply cut with a good, sharp pair of scissors and then finished in a variety of ways. I can't speak for the hand knitters, but as many machine knitters do, I used a zigzag stitch on a sewing machine to stabilize the cut edge, before adding a binding to finish it off. It worked amazingly well.

Before I got my serger, I did lots of research on how I was going to finish my cut and sew sweater knit garments. In the end I chose to use a serger because it sewed, trimmed, and finished in one step. But a serger is not essential; it's just faster. Below is my favorite way to sew, trim, and finish  basic seams with a regular sewing machine.

Step 1. Invest in a walking foot (ad link).

Seriously. In the old days when I used cut and sew for necklines only, I hadn't even heard of a walking foot. If my neckline became stretched, I would try to snug it up with the binding and then steam-shrink it. But that only works well with wool. A walking foot is a marvelous accessory. It gives you a set of feed dogs on top of your fabric! These, together with the  regular feed dogs on your machine (underneath the fabric), feed the sweater knit fabric toward the needle very evenly. (That's why a walking foot is also known as an even feed foot.) If you've never used a walking foot before, this will rock your world! Be sure to get the right walking foot for your machine. It may be able to take a generic walking foot like the one above.

Step 2. Zigzag the edges.

Place the fabric under the walking foot so that all feed dogs make contact with the fabric.

You can also experiment with stretch stitches, if your machine has them. For my jersey bamboo sweater knit, I'm using a zigzag width of 4 mm and a length of 1.75 mm. Remember unlike a lighter weight knit, a sweater knit may fray or run. You want your sewing machine needle to enter each knit stitch at least one time to prevent any future runs from happening, so keep the width relatively wide and the length medium to small. If you stabilize your edges ahead of time with liquid stabilizer, the sewing is really easy. Try to keep the sewing speed steady as an uneven speed can give you an uneven stitch length with knits. (See next pic.)

Step 3. Sew the seam.

I used a wobble (narrow zigzag) stitch with the width at 0.75 mm and length at 3.5 mm.

Seam allowance is 1/2 inch and stitched to the left of the zigzags.

Step 4. Press seam flat and trim close to zigzag stitches.

It will look like this on the public side.

Additional tips:

• Use a matching thread color. (But you knew that!)
• Practice on an old sweater first. Then use the cutaways of the good material to get your stitch length and width just right for constructing the garment.
• Make your first project in wool. It's so much easier to work with than bamboo (pictured) or cotton. Wool isn't slippery and can stand up to a little abuse before fraying.
• Read Oh Baby! with Fabric.com: Sewing with Knits. While not specifically on sweater knit fabrics, it's loaded with good information and much, though not all, can be applied to the sweater knit fabric.

I hope this helps, Sarah!

O!

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Like sewing tips? Using a commercial sewing pattern for your sweater? Download Five Tips for Using Commercial Sewing Patterns with Sweater Knits.

Last update 07Feb2017

Helpful Little Tools for Working with Sweater Knits

When I was a child I remember discovering recipes for invisible ink in a magic tricks book that I had. (Ah, you had a magic tricks book, didn't you?) One recipe involved sugar and water, another used lemon juice, and when you wrote with this special ink recipe you couldn't really see what you were writing. But after the ink dried, and you heated the paper over a light bulb, the secret writing would appear, revealing your message to the world.

This is the exact opposite effect we want when choosing a fabric marker for garment construction. We want to see those marks and "notches" (I don't cut notches with sweater knit fabrics; I mark them.), and we need these marks to be visible all the way through construction. But once we're finished, we want that ink or chalk to magically disappear. Little tools, like the right marker or pattern weight can turn a challenging task into a easy one or make an ordinary project absolutely awesome. Here are some tools that are small in size that I've found invaluable over the past few months. Some of these I've mentioned before. (I've gone ahead and made them affiliate links.) Each is a real project helper or time saver.

Some of the tools I  regularly use: Sulky Super Solvy, tailor's chalk, fabric glue stick, vanishing fabric marker, large washers as pattern weights, walking foot (for sewing machine)

I used to use good old fashioned waxy tailor's chalk. It's easy to mark a sweater knit fabric with it. The one problem is that the longer it stays on, the harder it is to remove. Even if the marks are on the wrong side of the fabric and in the seam allowance, I don't want the mark to stay forever. Rubbing the mark with flannel will work sometimes, but not always. While Pilot FriXion Ball Erasable Gel Pens make a mark that's really easy to remove on sweater knits (Just iron.), it's sometimes not so easy to apply on a particularly squishy fabric. Try doing multiple light paint strokes with these pens, instead of pressing down hard, if the fabric is thick.

My number one favorite marking tool of the moment is the Vanishing Fabric Marker. With its felt tip, the marks are easy to apply on a sweater knit fabric. The best thing, however, is that the marks really do disappear in a couple of days. And the ink can be easily removed with water if you need it to disappear sooner.

I've already waxed poetic on Sulky Super Solvy Water Soluble Stabilizer in at least one previous post. It's that good at temporarily stabilizing the edges of knits, before you've had the chance to properly finish the raw edges. It's so very helpful when working with cotton or bamboo knits that might run. I haven't really needed it with any of my pure wool fabrics.

If you dislike pinning and basting, I recommend Collins Fabric Glue Stick. It's water soluble and works well where basting tape does not, on the uneven surface of a sweater knit fabric. There's nothing wrong with using a needle and thread to baste, but this is fast for matching patterns and very easy to use.

When you just need to hold two pieces of fabric together, but don't really need to baste, try binder clips, as I do when attaching a band to a sleeve or other part of a sweater. You'll never accidentally serge over one of these things.

Sometimes it's the little things that can make all the difference. I'd love to hear of any little tools that help you in your projects.

O!