Lazy Tips for Sewing Knits: Basic Steps for Sewing a T-Shirt

First of all, thank you for the awesome support after my last post. I’m still  working on replying to your comments because I want to give quality replies, but please know the advice and love is very much appreciated! 

Now, let’s talk basics. My very first knit sewing project was a Sewaholic Renfrew. It was a total revelation to figure out how quickly and easily I could make a wardrobe staple!

The beauty of the Renfrew is that the neck, sleeves and waist are all finished with a folded band of fabric, instead of a turn-and-stitch hem. That means all the edges are neatly finished, and means all your sewing is hidden on the inside, so you can zig zag or serge without it showing!

Recently, a few non-sewist friends were curious how a basic tee is constructed. I thought a picture was the easiest way to explain  and I thought you might like to see it too! 

To-Da! That’s all! Isn’t it easy?

Of course, there are different ways to sew it.. some people like to do the cuffs before the side seams, which works too. I like to do that when I’m sewing a… 

I’m a creature of habit, so I like to finished everything with finished bands. It’s easy, it’s fast, and it works every time! (I’ll have a tip soon for how I figure out how long to make the band - that took some experimenting!) Sometimes I use knit stay tape and a lightening bolt stitch do a fold-and-stitch finished on the sleeves. I’ve tried a few methods for hemming, but I’ve ended up with wobbly hems and other issues. I like a nice sturdy band best. 

Wait, is that really a tip? Sew a t-shirt this way! Maybe. Not too sure, but I hope it useful for someone! 

What’s your favourite method for making a t-shirt? Got any good tips for hemming a tee? 

Lazy Tips for Sewing Knits: If it works, do it!

Look guys, this tip is seriously lazy, and I know that’s not for everyone. Some people delight in perfection - I delight in getting shit done and moving on! That’s a very personal preference, and I’ve never say you were right or wrong for wherever you fall on the spectrum. 

Personally, my theory is that sewing is a problem-solving adventure, and whatever works is good enough. 

Let me illustrate by showing you the construction details of a pink sweater-knit cardigan I blogged about last winter. 

This one!

One this one sweater, I’ve got…

…turned-and-stitched cuffs…

…edges stay-stitched with a lightening bolt to prevent stretching…

…navy serging and pink stitching…

…terribly inserted clear elastic to stabilise the shoulders…

…and best of all, a safety pin holding the collar down at the back neck!

Yup! That’s 6 totally different construction techniques on one sweater! And despite the safety pin and navy serging, I wear this sweater at least once a week. It has held up through many washes, and no one else is the wiser about it’s technical “flaws”! When I made it, I was new to sweater knits, and altering the pattern so much that the instructions were pretty useless. As I came to each part of the sewing process, I just tried whatever made the most sense in my head. 

That’s the beauty of sewing for me - there really isn’t a right or wrong way to do things, as long as you end up with something wearable at the end! I know it can be intimidating to start sewing knits because we want our clothes to look perfect inside and out, or we feel like we *need* a serger/coverstitch/some-other-tool to make it just right. That can be paralysing.. so in the meantime, I say: Jump in. Try it. Fake it ‘til you make it. If it works, do it! 

Do you need things to be perfect inside and out? Or are you happy with whatever works? 

Lazy Tips for Sewing Knits: Pattern Paper Matters

My last lazy tip was about cutting tools (wherein I pledged allegiance to my rotary blade). This one is also about cutting, in a round about way! 

When I cut knits, I never ever bother with pinning the patterns to the fabric. Some of you do though, and I puzzled this week over why you might need to… and here’s what I came up with: 

Tracing your patterns onto something “grippier” than tissue or paper lets you cut accurately and easily with barely any pics or weights! 

Let me explain…

On the left, we’ve got a normal tissue pattern. In my experience, trying to cut around tissue patterns (even already pre-trimmed to size) is awful. The pressure of the wheel next to the tissue makes the pattern piece shift and jump and twist, and it’s really hard to accurately cut the right shape. 

In the middle is printer paper from a PDF pattern. It’s more solid, but again, it tends to slide around too easily on the fabric and needs to be very carefully help in place while you cut. 

By contrast, on the right is my favourite stuff: kinda like Swedish tracing paper, it’s basically like interfacing without the glue. In my local store it’s call Trace-a-Pattern, and it sells for about $4/m. Oh, and it’s 60” wide! Score!  (If you live in Ontario, it’s usually stored under the cutting table on a roll at Fabricland!) 

What I love about this stuff is that it grips onto the fabric, and bends and flexes with the pressure of the roller as you cut. That means that you get a much more accurate cut! It also irons beautifully, so you can fold it up to store it, then press it flat in a jiffy! (Unlike taped-together PDFs - I’ve melted a lot of tape trying to iron them flat again!) 

If you’ve used a rotary cutter, you’ll know that sometimes it creates a “tidal wave” of fabric pushed just in front of the blade. (Ok, I need to sharpen my blade, I know!) With this Trace-a-Pattern, the pattern itself grips the fabric and helps to tame the wave! 

Here’s my cutting set-up!

I made these pattern weights ages ago (when I was making my first ever dress, perhaps?) Mine are just 10 washers inside a little pouch, but anything heavy works. I only have 6, but that’s enough to cut any size pattern piece for me. (I’ll be honest, I wouldn’t usually put so many on a little pattern piece like this! :P)

As long as I’ve traced my pattern onto Trace-a-Pattern, the cutting is really easy! Sometimes I don’t bother tracing, especially if I’m not sure the pattern will become a TNT. In general though, I love reusing patterns, so it’s worth the time to trace it. 

Have you noticed a difference cutting out patterns made with different materials? What’s your favourite to work with? 

Lazy Tips for Sewing Knits: Cutting Tools

Today’s tip is: USE A ROTARY BLADE!!!! Just do it, m’kay? I will confess that I have never tried cutting knits without a cutting mat and rotary blade, so I’m totally biased - I just can’t see how it could be done with any accuracy! 

One of the things that baffled me while watching The Great British Sewing Bee was watching everyone meticulously pin their pattern to the fabric, then cut with shears. That method is so slow, and as you cut, the scissors lift and distort the fabric. A rotary blade and mat lets you cut smoothly and quickly without pinning. 

(Look, Ma! No scissors, pins, or even weights!) 

I have a large self-healing mat, which I put on the floor so that the jersey doesn’t stretch or distort by hanging off a table. I also have a smaller cutting mat that I move around if part of the pattern piece doesn’t fit the big mat. (For example, the Tiramisu skirt piece is wider than my mat, so I slide the little mat under one corner.) That lets me cut big pattern pieces without distorting the jersey by shifting it around on the mat! 

This is the most common size of rotary blade that I’ve seen. It has a 45mm diameter, which is about 2”, maybe? It’s great for straights and gentle curves. Keep your blade sharp, especially for thin tissue knits or cheap jersey - those can be the devil to cut, and leave messy fluff stuck in the cutting mat! 

This little guy is my secret weapon for tight curves. I’m not sure of the exact size, but I think it’s less than 2cm or 1”. I also use this blade for cutting notches into woven fabrics… I’m much less likely to cut too far than with the big blade! 

Here they are together, for size comparison: 

Do you use a rotary blade to cut fabric? If you use scissors, what do you like about that method? And has anyone had good luck with rotary blade sharpeners? I have one but I can’t get my blades very sharp! 

Lazy Tips for Sewing Knits: Finding the Grainline

Oh knits, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways: 

• comfy


• cheap


• easy to fit


• endless prints and fibres


• fast and easy to sew! 

I’ve blogged about countless knit tees, tanks, dresses, leggings and skirts, so I thought it might be more interested to start talking about my process. Watching other sewists on TV or in person always reminds me just how differently we handle the business end of sewing, from cutting to pinning to sewing to following instructions! 

So here’s my second lazy tip for sewing knits: Finding the Grainline!

On knits, the grainline is easy to see. The little v stitches on the right side make columns, just like on a knitted sweater. 

To fold my fabric on the grainline, I never match the selvedge edges. As I talk about last time, the selvedges can go wonky, and they aren’t reliably straight or parallel. Instead, I pinch roughly where I want to fold the fabric with both hands, and check the grainline. If the lines go straight down the fold, like above, then I’ve got the grainline. 

If the lines go diagonally off the fold, like this, then I need to shift the fold  until they are straight. 

Once I’ve got the grainline, I lay it down on the table and fold the rest of the fabric length. 

Seriously, maybe that’s too obvious to even be a tip? I’m pretty relaxed about finding the grainline before cutting of folding the fabric… As long as you are close, I really don’t find that it affects the finished garment much. Getting it roughly lined up is good enough, unless you have stripes or a symmetrical pattern to deal with! 

(Don’t go cutting things cross grain though - the direction of stretch matters! Ask me how I know…)

How do you find the grainline for knits? 

Lazy Tips for Sewing Knits: Trimming the Selvedge

I love sewing knits. Sure, I was intimidated by them at first, but once you get the feel for working with them, knits are so forgiving and fast to sew!

There all kinds of great tutorials out there on how to sew knits, but I thought I’d share some of the quick and lazy ways that I choose, cut, and handle with knits! Nothing couture, nothing fancy… just the tricks that I’ve learned along the way. In return, I’m really hoping you’ll share your own tricks in the comments! 

First up: Trimming the selvedge! 

Knit fabrics and woven both have selvedge edges. But have you ever noticed that when you prewash some knits, the selvedge shrinks smaller than the rest of the fabric?

See how the stripes match up near the scissors? But just 10” along the fabric, by the pattern weight, the stripes are already mismatched? If you are trying to match up prints, that can be a big problem! 

The easy solution is to slice off at least an inch of fabric along the selvedge. (See how the trimmed piece is shorter than the main fabric? If you are dealing with a few metres of fabric, that difference in length can really add up!)  Once your trimmed off the selvedge on both sides, you are ready to cut and sew! 

That’s my tip for now! Next time, I’ll show you my lazy way to find the grainline! 

If you haven’t sewn much with knits, are there any fears I can help you with? If you do sew knits, how did you learn? By trial and error, or by reading or taking a course?