June 2016

The speaker this month was Janet from our group. Janet provided a talk about 'cut and sew'. This is the method of stitching or securing the knitting before cutting usually the neckline shape and then attaching the neckband. The method can be used on any garment from simple stocking stitch to complex patterning. However it is mostly used when the patterning is fairly complex or lots of it, where shaping around the neckline might be more complicated using decreases or where pattern matching either side of neckline may be challenging.

Janet's approach used a template to help get an even placement of the intended neckline. She had provided some to take away traced onto card. The template by Carl Boyd was mentioned too. Janet advised :

1. marking both sides of the neckline with a pin to ensure the shoulders lined up
2. placing the template evenly in the middle and pinning
3. tacking around the outline of the template
4. zig zag using a sewing machine
5. cut with sharp scissors within the tacked/zig zagged area leaving a seam allowance   

The neckband was made in advance and taken off onto waste yarn ready to be attached.

There are various approaches to making and attaching the neckbands and some were discussed and samples shown.

Competition

Advanced

1st Vee - navy cardigan with a frilled edging and raglan sleeves knitted with 4 strands industrial yarn twisted together using a yarn twister. 

2nd Val - grey jacket knitted on a mid gauge using garter bar to make garter stitch and with side splits.

3rd Marcia - supersheen and lambswool plated jacket using holding position for shaping.