A Knitter’s Blog

When I lay a set-in sleeve on a table, aligned with the armhole of the sweater, I always think that “finishing” is not for the faint of heart!

Years ago, when I was a college student, it was common practice to knit all the pieces of a garment and then take those pieces to the yarn shop. The person who owned the shop, for a modest fee, would seam and block the garment.

Never did we feel the stress of setting in a set-in sleeve.

Today, we, knitters do it all.

For those of you who are new to full cap shaping and then setting in the sleeve, I thought I would take a few moments to walk you through the steps.

Today, I am going to discuss seaming from the right side of the garment. This means that you will already need to know how to mattress stitch. Tomorrow, I will write about back stitching the sleeve into place.

Looking at the diagram above, it does seem that we are going to be trying to fit a square peg into a round hole, but the sleeve will fit.

1. Block all the pieces of your sweater into the correct shape. Be sure to match the measurements on your schematic.

2. Seam the shoulders.

3. On a table, lay the sweater flat with the front to the left and the back to the right.

4. Lay the first sleeve flat with the cap nearly abutting the armhole as in the above diagram.

5. Again, look at the the diagram above. There are three areas to note on the sleeve cap starting at the top.

• (Section 1) The straight edge at the very top of the sleeve cap
• (Section 2) The set of every other row decreases on the at the base of the cap that match the every other row decreases at the armhole
• (Section 3) The bound off section on each side of the sleeve cap

4. Measure the straight edge at the top of the sleeve cap and then divide by 2 to find the center. This is the spot on the cap that will match the shoulder seam on the body of the sweater.  Place a pin in the sleeve cap to mark the center

5. On the sweater body, from the shoulder toward the base of the armhole at the front measure half the width of that top most edge of the sleeve cap. Place a pin to mark. Do the same from the shoulder down the back.

6. Lift the fabric at the shoulder of the sweater body just a bit and do the same at the center pin on the sleeve cap. Pin together.

7. Move to the left edge of section 1 of the sleeve cap and pin to the body where you placed the pin marker.

8. Move to the opposite side of the shoulder and repeat.

9. Now, ease the fabric between the center pins together and pin.

10. Move to the bottom of the sleeve cap. (Section 3). Match the bind offs on the sweater armhole and the sleeve cap and pin.

11. Move to the every other row decreases (Section 2). Match the decreased rows on the armhole and pin.

12. The last step is to ease the remaining fabric between pins on either side and pin.

13. Seam. I always start at the shoulder and move down one side to the underarm. I also leave a long tail at the beginning of the mattress stitch at the shoulder seam. This tail is on the public face of the fabric. I will use the tail to start the other side when I am ready.

14. Insert the tapestry needle under the seam of the shoulder leaving a long tail. Remove the first few pins and mattress stitch the body to the sleeve, easing the fabric as you go. Continue in this manner until you are at the center of the underarm, again, removing only a few pins before you seam.

15. Using the long tail, repeat from shoulder to the underarm. Weave in ends at the underarm.

16. Seam the second sleeve in place.

17. Seam side seams of the sweater.

17. Seam sleeves.

18. Weave in all ends.

Filed under: Knitting, Techniques by cwulster