Seaming A Sleeve Cap Tutorial: Part 2

re: Seaming A Sleeve Cap Tutorial: Part 2

kushami — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 12:13:27 GMT

Thanks, Sandi - your tutorial going to be a great help finishing my first adult garment (cardigan for my dad). Excellent photos and very clear explanation.

re: Seaming A Sleeve Cap Tutorial: Part 2

Jac10 — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 11:57:03 GMT

Thank you so much for your excellent tutorial!! I kept putting off seaming the sleeves on my granddaughters sweater because I never really knew how to do them correctly. I decided to check out the internet and there you were!! Believe it or not, I actually enjoyed doing them and was proud of my accomplisment.

Your instructions with the pictures are so easy to learn from. Thank you again!!

re: Seaming A Sleeve Cap Tutorial: Part 2

zico82 — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 00:26:54 GMT

This really is valuable information, well laid out and well thought out.

Thank you.

re: Seaming A Sleeve Cap Tutorial: Part 2

WandaO — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 18:00:04 GMT

Thank you...Thank you...... I've been afraid to start sewing in the sleeves for couple weeks since I finished the sweater for my daughter, and thanks to your easy to follow instructions.....worked like a breeze..... and the swater pattern is an eyelet but using the zones, went together... and I used your verticla and horizonal too for the shoulder and side seams...it lies so much better :)

re: Seaming A Sleeve Cap Tutorial: Part 2

BarbR@2 — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 18:12:26 GMT

What a superb seam!

Sandi you are a great teacher. I have been seaming sweaters for years and I have never heard/read instructions so clear. I picked up a number of tips and confidence that I am on the right track.

Thanks!!!! Barb

re: Seaming A Sleeve Cap Tutorial: Part 2

alena@5 — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 13:35:38 GMT

Thank you for useful tips - and with photos, too! it makes it so much easier to understand the things. I'm getting used to checking my own techniques with the tips from your blog :) And I always find something useful even if before it seemed "Oh-i-know-how-to-do-it" kind of thing. Again - thank you. Alena

re: Seaming A Sleeve Cap Tutorial: Part 2

LynnH@30 — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 05:12:09 GMT

Sandi, this is just wonderful.

I am skilled with a needle and can repair sweaters when others would toss. Darning is a specialty. I can even sew together a handknit sweater when I need to (though I primarily knit socks).

I teach mattress stitch, and can easily explain how to sew a shoulder seam. Thanks to great teaching from Sarah Peasley years ago, I can even do a good job sewing my own diagonals.

But I tend toward more "art" and less "science" though Sarah gave me good numbers to use if I need them. Explaining that diagonal process was hard to get through, depending on how much sewing experience my student might have.

LOVE this tutorial for explaining in different words than I would use, and different than Sarah and other teachers I've had might use. For example, it is obvious to me to stay on the same line in the body section and adjust in the sleeve. I might not have said that out loud, though I always do it.

Thanks for doing such a great job. Thanks for attempting a difficult-to-explain subject. You rock.

re: Seaming A Sleeve Cap Tutorial: Part 2

sphalling — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 23:19:30 GMT

Thank you so much. I am pretty much self-taught, and have been knitting consistently for only about a year now. Seaming sleevecaps was something I had not yet run across anywhere in my research and have had some trouble with trying to figure it out alone. This tutorial is clear and very easy to follow. Lots of good tips.

re: Seaming A Sleeve Cap Tutorial: Part 2

LoriB@17 — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 17:50:37 GMT

I've knitted a few sweaters over the years. By luck (or sheer laziness) I discovered that it sometimes works to pick up the sleeve stitches from the armhole, reverse the way the pattern reads, and knit the sleeve right into the sweater. This works best if the sleeve doesn't have a one-way pattern. Stockinette sleeves are pretty painless with this method.

re: Seaming A Sleeve Cap Tutorial: Part 2

RobinH@2 — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 12:12:13 GMT

Well done, and the photos are particularly good. I guess I've been doing it that way for a while, but not thinking it through systematically. That's a real keeper!

re: Seaming A Sleeve Cap Tutorial: Part 2

AstridB — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 16:58:30 GMT

This is brilliant! So clear and understandable, with an innovative Sandi-analytical approach. It almost makes me want to commit sweater. Almost.

re: Seaming A Sleeve Cap Tutorial: Part 2

KD Sandi — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 15:58:01 GMT

I'm commenting on my own post. I feel a bit odd. :)

Artful Soul & other Fearless Readers:

Sometimes I do seam from bottom to top–depends on the style of the sweater. I confess I was trying to keep the options simple for the purposes of an already long tutorial! :)

I find that individual body dimensions vary enough so that I didn't want to make a blanket statement about measuring to ensure that front and back of the armhole were the same length. For example, I personally need more room in the front of the armhole, due to bust size and upper arm measurements (ahem. I have a thin back, shall we say). So I take in more fullness in back and let things out a little in front.

Writing tutorials is tough sometimes. It's hard to hit the middle ground between giving enough info to be useful/correct whilst at the same time not writing a book on the subject. It could be that this particular subject was too big for a simple tutorial...

So, my friends, please do let me know if this tutorial has been useful to you or not. I find everyone's comments to be immensely helpful in tweaking whatever I write next! Thank you!

re: Seaming A Sleeve Cap Tutorial: Part 2

ArtfulSoul — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 15:16:02 GMT

After a few years of using needle and thread to join sleeves, as per my very experienced knitting teacher...I decided late last year to take up the mattress-stitch challenge on all seams, including set-in sleeves. It really does make a difference. I have had experienced knitters take notice and compliment me!

Though I approach it from the bottom of sleeve cap up to the top, in 2 steps, so I can adjust tension easier, and measure that front and back are the same length.

Thank you for encouraging us all, Sandi.

re: Seaming A Sleeve Cap Tutorial: Part 2

Nicky — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 13:31:56 GMT

Sandi, I love you.

I proudly finished my first real cardigan a year ago (something I could actually wear in public). It sat until I got up the courage to sew in the arms. Botched them so badly the item now sits in a heap on a chair. On spring break this weak I was going to bolster my courage again to rip out the seam and try to fix it. This tutorial is exactly what I needed, exactly when I needed it.