Tips to Give Your Knitted Product Flawless Finishing

Knitting can be done using a machine or hand. It is fascinating work to do. Once you get in the flow, it takes less time to complete a project. However, if the finishing is not done properly, your knitted clothes will not look that appealing. Finishing is the extra touch you do to make your knitted item look fabulous and well-fitted. It makes your garment look lovingly handmade rather than a messy homemade one.

Knitting with your hands is called handmade knitting, and people love taking it as a profession as well as a hobby. Some people like using machines to knit the garment. Click the best knitting machines to get your desired one to work with full flow. However, the finishing needs to be handmade to make your work look better. To give your knitted garment the best finishing, let’s discuss some techniques below:

Weaving in Ends

Whenever you are finishing a ball of yarn and changing colours or joining a new one amid a stripe pattern, you will find loose ends. To tuck in these stragglers, weave them into the wrong side of the knitted fabric. It will help you to get a well-finished product.

While joining the new yarn, untie the knot carefully that you had made earlier. Through a yarn needle, thread one of the loose strands. Snake down the attached yarn with the needle, approximately five of the free loops along the border of your knitting. Cut close to your work to remove whatever’s left.  Make sure you are not cutting the actual knitting. Secure the second strand by threading it through the needle and weaving it up.

When changing yarns amid a row, remember to untie the knot and then weave a loose piece in every horizontal direction. Don’t forget to double-check the right side of the fabric. Make sure there is no unsightly looseness or puckering where the ends begin.

Blocking

Blocking does not have the meditative rhythm of stitching. So, sometimes you might want to avoid doing it. However, if you don’t want your knitted garment to look sloppy, blocking will be necessary. It will help you get a neater finish. You can do blocking in two different ways: one is called wet blocking, and the other is called steam blocking.

• Wet Blocking: You can apply wet blocking in two ways: One is immersing the knitted pieces in cool water. After squeezing them out, take a flat board and stretch them on it to their exact measurements. Another method is pinning the pieces first and then wetting them down with a spray bottle filled with water. You can choose whatever method you like. Let it dry. It might take time. Make sure you don’t fuss with it again until it gets completely dry.
• Steam Blocking: Blocking with steam is less time-consuming. First, take a flat surface and pin the pieces on it according to the schematics. Then, fire up your handheld steamer or steam iron. When it’s nice and steamy, hold your iron close to the fabric. Keep holding until it is damped properly. Make sure you are not touching the iron to the stitches. If you need to lightly press, use a pressing cloth between the hot metal and the fabric to protect your knitted garment. Let it dry completely to get the best result.

Seaming

After finishing off all the strands of your project, you will need to take every knitted piece of your garment and sew them together so that you can wear them. This process is usually called seaming. Take the same yarn and a yarn needle to finish your knitting project. You can sew them using many techniques. These techniques vary according to the purpose.

Before picking up the thread and needle and joining stitches at the hip, line them up correctly. Start with finding the cast-on stitches. Then, pin them together using a safety pin or straight pin. To pin the stitches together, count up ten rows. Continue stitching like this until you get to the top of the two pieces. If you are knitting a project that is worked all in one piece like a hat, the rows need to be lined up exactly. When you end up with an extra row on one side, see where it sneaked on the opposite side.

If you are seaming two separate pieces, and one piece seems to be slightly longer, you should ease in extra rows to get a good finish. When knitting something like a heavy pullover, try to make strong seams so that they can stand up to wear. If you are knitting a delicate lacy top, a lighter touch in seaming can do the work.

Planning the Finishing From the Start

You can plan your finishing from the very beginning to make it look flawless. You can start with selvage stitches. It will help you create a sleek braid design on the edges of the garment. To do a selvage, stitch the first one purlwise using the yarn and knit the last stitch. To avoid interfering with your actual pattern, don’t forget to add two extra stitches.

Fixing Issues by Using Creativity

Use creativity to complete your work and fix the issues that can make your garment look sloppy. For example, if you have knitted a wonky collar edge, try fixing it with a crochet chain using a contrasting colour. Think and try different ideas to make your knitted garment more appealing and give a look of flawless finishing.

A flawless finishing is necessary to make your knitted work look beautiful. If you have knitted your garment with great effort but the finishing is not good, your whole work will be left with little to no compliment. That will be really upsetting. So, try to be patient with yourself until the very end. Make your work time-worthy. Try completing your work with proper finishing and get the praise you deserve.

Best of luck!