A Glossary (in Progress)

I'm building a glossary of terms related to sweater knit fabrics as there's much misinformation on the web. My point of view will probably slip in here and there, but I'll try to stay on target. :)

I'm starting with terms that I've defined previously on this blog, which gives me the chance to correct or clarify some items. I'll continue from there. Eventually, I'll move this glossary to a permanent page. Newsflash! The Knit Fabric Glossary has been updated and has a new location! If you'd like a definition for a term that hasn't been added yet, please ask in the comments. If I don't know the answer, I'll try to find out. If you see something that needs to be corrected, please contact me. Thanks! I hope people will find this helpful.
---

Cut and sew knitwear -- Knitwear that is constructed much the way woven garments are made. The garment pieces are cut out of already knitted fabric. The pieces are then sewn together to create the garment. It's a technique that's often used industrially and is also accessible to anyone with a sewing machine.

Double knit -- A very stable, balanced rib fabric that looks like two jersey fabrics glued together, though it's not really constructed that way at all. The double knits of the 70s gave the category a bad rep because they were made of polyester, but there are several gorgeous double knits being produced today. The example below is 100% merino wool.

This may look like a jersey, but the reverse looks exactly the same; it's a double knit. If you were to give it a good stretch sideways, you'd see the ribs.

Fully fashioned knitwear -- Each piece of the garment is shaped as it's knitted and then sewn together to create the garment. Increases, decreases and short rows are the methods most often used to shape the pieces. Hand knitters and those who use hand knitting machines often work this way. Many industrial machines can be programmed to use this method to shape the pieces of a garment.

Jersey fabric -- One face of the fabric has knit stitches (V-shaped stitches) and no purl stitches. The other face has purl stitches and no knit stitches. (A purl stitch is simply the back side of a knit stitch.)  The edges cut across the stitches roll toward the knit side. The selvages (and edges cut parallel to selvages) roll toward the purl side.
Rib fabrics -- Each wale (column of stitches) has either knit stitches and no purl stitches, or it has purl stitches and no knit stitches. Sweater cuffs are often, but not always, rib fabrics. Double knits also fit into this category, though it may be hard to see the actual ribs unless you stretch the fabric. Balanced rib fabrics do not roll.

A 3 x 2 rib fabric

Whole garment knitting -- (Also called seamless knitting) A way of manufacturing knitted garments on specially designed, advanced industrial knitting machines. (Santoni, Shima Seiki, and Stoll are three well-known brands.) The garment is created in one piece without seams with this method. Hand knitters who create garments totally on circular needles do a hand crafted version of this.
---

Well, it's just a start! I hope to add items weekly. There's a long way to go....

O!

The Cardigan Is Still on the List

Way back in February of this year, I put on my "to make" list a cardigan/cover up of gauzy material, inspired by the memory of a cover up I owned decades ago. Though it's now August and the fabric is no longer available as a regular item in my shop, I'm still interested in making a version of the cover up.

Plain double knit cotton, now available only by special order 

The cardigan is a very basic pattern.  Instructions for a similar, but simpler, version can be found here! Now my old cardigan was slightly more complex with its short rectangles for sleeves. I only wore mine one way, as... well,... a cardigan, not with all the variations seen in the previous link. Perhaps the sleeves made my cardigan less versatile. I don't know. I never tried experimenting with it.

Anyway, I'm still determined to make this. Maybe in a more substantial fabric, so it can gracefully move into autumn? What do you think? A gauzy cover up or a wool wrap-like cardigan?

O!

Finishing Sweater Knits with Facings

So far while exploring the different ways of finishing edges of garments sewn with sweater knit fabrics, I've discussed bands, binding, elastic lace as hem facing, and most recently, the mock cover stitch. With the Tangerine Top I also used another method -- a facing. My facing was not very different than any used in dressmaking, except that mine was asymmetrical.

I traced and cut out a paper copy of the top portion of my front pattern block. I then had fun drawing the off-center neckline I'd imagined. The red V's above indicate my cutting line for the facing fabric and what I thought would be my turned under bottom edge. I ended up just serging that edge of the facing. The broken line, shown above, is the fold line.

Paper, of course, lacks the stretch properties of knit. But pinning it on the dress form gave me an idea of how it would work. The back neck facing was a simple tracing of the neckline of the back pattern piece. The 2-inch width included the seam allowance and serged bottom edge.

The fabric I used for the facing was a lighter weight knit than the main garment fabric, a jersey. I didn't use any interfacing. I'm hoping I don't regret that, but for now the weight of the main embossed rib fabric together with the jersey facing holds its shape very well.

After the shoulder seams were stabilized and sewn on the top, I sewed the shoulder seams of the facing. I attached the facing to the main fabric, right sides together using my serger, and stitching around the neckline. Turning, pressing, and top stitching finished it off.

I now consider facings an easy finish for sweater knit fabrics. Even the asymmetrical ones!

O!

Further Notes on the Tangerine Top

See more pictures of the Tangerine Top here.

Any frustration from various set backs in this project have faded. I can now happily chat about its various details and new-to-me techniques. I've already discussed using the serger to cut out pattern pieces. The big new-to-me technique was the mock cover stitch hem.

My only previous experience with a hem on a sweater knit was with the Turtle Beach sweater, where I used elastic lace of a coordinating color as hem facing and stitched the hem by hand. Using a hem facing is highly recommended with medium to heavyweight knits. Otherwise it's very likely that there will be a ridge where the hem is sewn, due to the thickness of the fabric.

Since the Tangerine Top was going to be on the casual/sporty side, and since I actually wanted to emphasize the asymmetrical hemline, I decided it was the perfect time to give a mock cover stitch, without facing, a go. (A mock cover stitch is when you don't have a cover stitch machine and decide to fake it with a twin needle.) I didn't look at any tutorials before I tried it, since the process seemed pretty straight forward to me. I've since discovered that some folks online warn of "tunneling" between the needles. I'm not sure what the exact definition of tunneling is, but here are close-ups of how mine turned out.

This is the public side. 

This is the inside.

My preparation was to mark the asymmetrical hemline I wanted with an air erasable pen and serge the edge. I then steamed the hem and used fabric glue stick to hold the hem in place. On the right side I sewed the hem with a twin ballpoint needle. You can see the finished top in my previous post.

Though some may avoid finishing the edges of lighter weight knits, the edge of a cut sweater knit fabric must always be finished to prevent runs and fraying. I'm happy with either bands or binding. I chose a contrasting binding for this top.

Binding in progress, this is the inside.

Fold, pin, steam and top stitch (not shown) - this is the public side.

I have a few more notes on the techniques used for this top, which I'll share at another time.

O!