Sewing with Knits My Way, Part 1

It seems I really "got into" sewing knit garments several years ago. I have learned much along the way, and I'm sharing some tips here.

1. My first tip is to use the right fabric for the garment. Sometimes it is as obvious as not using a heavy fabric for a summer garment. A heavy fleece works well in garments to be worn in cold weather. A thin knit works well in garments to be worn in hot weather but sometimes works well in garments meant to be layered. A firm, thick knit works well in structured garments. A thin knit works well in garments that need the fabric to drape softly. A loose type knit of any sort, such as a sweater knit, can be tricky and needs special skills. A thin to midweight firm knit is easiest for me; that includes ITY (Interlock Twist Yarn), jersey, and thin Ponte.

Quite often, a pattern designer will include a list of fabrics suitable for the item. Included will be helpful fabric clues, such as fabric weight, required stretch percentage, whether the stretch should go in more than one direction, and fiber content. Search the company’s blog, if the designer has one, for the pattern name; it’s possible that you can find more information that way.

Fabric that is very stretchy works well for garments that are fitted or have negative ease and are tight to the body. For a fabric that has a lot more stretch than the pattern suggests, going down a size is something to consider, but should be tested first. A fabric with not enough stretch could possibly be too tight.

Generally, a light- to mid-weight knit with 5% Lycra has about 40% stretch. This is easy to test and does not need a chart. Fabric stretch should be tested in two directions: across the grain (from selvage to selvage) and along the grain (from one cut end to the other).

Please test the fabric’s stretch AFTER it has been laundered (see the next step, coming soon). Meanwhile, here is how I test the stretch of a fabric:

Pinch a 10-inch length of fabric and see how far it will stretch. This picture shows that the fabric will stretch three inches past the 10-inch park. Multiply by 10 the number of inches that the fabric stretches past the 10-inch mark to get the percentage of stretch. Three inches of stretch means that this fabric has 30% stretch:

LINKS FOR YOU

Here are some links that describe types of knit fabrics and discuss stretchiness:

• Stretch fabric guide from Tissura here
• 2-way vs 4-way stretch fabric from Sewing is Cool here
• Knit fabric discussions from Fabric.com here
• Knit fabric types from SewGuide here

I have not made anything with a sweater knit yet. If you really want to make something with a sweater knit fabric, please follow these links to learn more about sewing with sweater knits:

• Love Notions sweater knit sewing tips here
• Fabric.com knit sewing tips here

I hope you find these tips helpful.