The Knitereview

Made by Rae is running this amazing series about sewing with knits. It is very informative and if you have been wanting to try sewing with knits ( which you should) you gotta read this series. Knits are the most forgiving of the fabrics and yet can be really frustrating to deal with. Getting the tips on how to make them work for you will save you a lot of grief ( and holey garments).
I thought I will add my two cents as well, because I started sewing with knits on my super basic brother machine and I do have a lot of stories to tell about my experience with knits. Now, however, I love working with knits. I have a gazillion knits of all varieties in my sewing room waiting to be made into something.
I took the liberty of peppering this post with some of my creations in knits. Why? Because it was fun.



Did you ever FEAR knits?
Did I ever FEAR knits...ohh boy! It wasn't FEAR..it was a deep, unsettling, phobia of knits. I had a basic brother machine and I used to think that sewing with knits was something reserved for only the best, most advanced machines. Was I ever wrong!

If so, do you remember a specific turning point?
I had an ever growing pile of cast-off Tshirts from my husband, begging to be made into something. I also kept stumbling upon great knit sewing tutorials like this 90 mins. shirt from Dana of MADE. I couldn't help but try making them. My biggest turning point came much later though, when I found a walking foot in my new ( and much fancier) machine's accessories. I spent a few hours installing the walking foot on my machine and I never took it off. It was a sheer joy to sew with knits afterwards.

Do you prefer sewing with knits or sewing with wovens?
I'm yet to choose among the two. I love them both for different reasons. Knits are very forgiving - Once I sewed the cuff part of a sleeve to the armhole ( in my defense there was a flare in the cuff of the sleeve) and it was still perfectly wearable and barely noticeable...bet you can't get away with this in a woven top.
Woven's on the other hand have much more options when it comes to beautiful prints, all the sought after designers design most of their patterns in wovens, so if I want to make something really vibrant I tend to lean towards wovens.

Do you have a favorite type of knit?
Interlock wins hands down here, for sheer ease of cutting and sewing. All the benefits of knit without any of the pain.

Where do you usually buy your knits?
Printed knits are usually difficult to find in local stores. My favorite place to buy knits is actually Old Navy (gasp). I usually scour their clearance section during their whole store 30,40,50% off sale and usually score some nice deals. Last November I bought eight (!) XL tank tops for a whopping 47 cents each.Those tops had the softest 100% cotton ribbing. I almost always buy Old Navy groupons whenever they are available and that helps too. Its a must visit place if you wish to score quality knits at rock-bottom prices. Both the shirts for the above dress came from Old Navy. I have been known to score great deals at Walmart too.

Any hints for buying knits online.
I haven't found my dream online store yet, but I had gotten some really nice knits at great prices at the Seamstress Boutique of Sewingmamas. I have sometimes even bought surprise scrap-bags for pennies on the dollars and have been really surprised with the selection I got. Since I mostly sew for children, I have been able to use most of these scraps. Both the fabrics for the dress above came from sewingmamas and I had plenty leftover for pants.

What brand/model machine do you primarily use to sew with knits?
Now I use my babylock Ellageo ESG3 machine to sew with knits or wovens, but I have used my Brother machine earlier with mixed results. The main problem I have faced with both the machines is that they sometimes eat up my knits and get stuck and then its a pain to get them functional again. This was before I started using Walking foot. For me thats been the silver bullet.

Do you use a serger?
I do, but mostly to finish the garment seams from inside, not to sew the garment. Basically it serves the same purpose whether I sew with knits or wovens.

Whats your default setting on machine?
I have tried various settings ( lowering the tension, lightening stitch lowering feed dogs) and finally realized that my machine is intelligent enough to adjust to the fabric by itself. I got the best results by using the default settings, so I don's mess with them now. My stitch length depends on the fabric and the type of seam I am sewing. If the fabric is heavy I use longer stitch length. If the seam is not supposed to get much stress ( like the hem of a dress) I use longer stitch, otherwise I stick to the default length.

Walking foot: Yay or Nay?
Yes, yes yes!
I can't imagine my life without it now.

Double needle; your thoughts?
Good to use for professional hemlines and outer seams on the pants. No big deal though. Sometimes I use them, sometimes I get lazy and skip them. Like I said, no big deal.

Do you have any other tips or tricks for sewing with knits?
I have sometimes used a tissue paper/newspaper beneath the knit fabric to provide some stability while sewing.
Avoiding the edge also helps the fabric not getting stuck in the machine.
When you are trying a knit for the first time, go with the slowest speed, this way
you will be able to pull out your fabric before its too late.
Whatever you do, there will be times when your knit will get stuck in your machine...remember forewarned in forearmed. Just be calm and know how to open your machine's panel below the foot, its actually pretty easy and clean up any stuck fabric there. Don't panic...this is just a rite of passage while sewing with knits :)

Anything else you want to say about the knits?


They are not the same as wovens, they have their own strength and weaknesses, embrace those differences and you will do just fine...
Haha!


Thanks Rae! For a few minutes I felt like I was the Nobel Laureate for Sewing and everybody was waiting with baited breathe for what I had to say...the dream was awesome while it lasted :)