Altering a Hand Knit Garment
Many of you know Marthe – one of our store team members. Last summer, she decided to knit a sweater as a gift for her daughter, Lilah. Standing nearly 6 feet tall, Lilah can never find garments, particularly sweaters, that account for her height and long arms, so Marthe took up the challenge to knit a sweater that fit her daughter’s shape. Marthe chose to knit a cardigan in Sweet Georgia Superwash DK in the Cranberry colorway. After lots of knitting to accommodate the 29 year old’s frame, Lilah’s beautiful sweater was shipped off to her. She was thrilled but found the upper arms to be a bit too loose which made her feel frumpy (photo). There was too much ease in the upper arms. She asked her mother if anything could be done without reworking the sweater altogether.
Marthe’s solution was a three-step process. She began by removing the mattress stitched seam from the forearm to the armpit, folding over the excess fabric, and pinning it to create a new line for seaming. She then re-seamed the sleeve to the more accurate dimension, along the folded edge, using mattress stitch. Finally, Marthe used her serger to remove the excess fabric and secure the yarn ends. She did say, however, that a serger is not essential. The same result may be achieved by using a sewing machine to straight stitch, and then trimming the excess knitted material – just like doing a steek.
The alteration was successful! Lilah was thrilled and immediately asked her mother for another handknit sweater. Her next request? Could Marthe knit the sleeves a half inch shorter next time!
Stephanie began working at WEBS 3.5 years ago as a member of the retail store staff and currently manages the store.
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Tags: altering a sweater, Custom Fit, Custom Fit sweater, sweater
August 4th, 2016 at 1:09 pm
Thanks. this is so timely for me. I have a summer sweater that is too big and I wanted to alter the side seams, but being unsure of exactly how to do it. this is just what I needed…how did you know??