How to Sew Knit Fabric without Puckering

How to sew knit fabric without puckering

You can sew knit fabric without puckering if you work with using two needles, using a zigzag stitch, etc. Follow the given instruction bellowed:

Prepare Your Sewing Machine

Before you start sewing, fix a few simple things in the machine. This will help you get to the right side when working with knits.

It is very important to choose the right needle for sewing clothes properly. Universal needles have a rounded tip on the head for switching between knits and knots. Although knitting can be performing with a universal needle, you should work with a special needle made for knitting.

A rounded-headed needle is known as a ballpoint needle. The ballpoint needle helps avoid tears and runs by gently pushing through the fabric without piercing the fabric. A ballpoint needle is standard for all types of knit fabrics. The size of these needles is 70/10 – 100/16. The smaller one is used for tiny knits, and the bigger needle is used for heavier clothes.

If a wave has a lot of Lycra or spandex, consider utilizing an alternative needle. Stretch needles have ballpoint heads for weave texture like Jersey needles. However, the scarf and eye of the needle are exceptionally intended to help when sewing flexibly and assist with staying away from the skipped join, which is ordinarily connected with stretch textures. The size of the stretch needle is 90/14 and 75/11.

Press Feet Pressure

The sewing machine’s foot pressure helps to hold the fabric against your feet. In this way, the fabric is feeds through a sewing machine. The pressing factor the presser foot conveys to the feed canines straightforwardly influences how your texture looks when eliminated from your sewing machine. If the pressing factor is set too high, the outcome wills stretch up texture that is undulated apparently. To stay away from this, change your presser foot pressure. Typically, one or less than 1 is proper for weave textures.

The position of the dial and lever depends on the type of machine. A strolling foot can likewise be useful to delicately and consistently feed your cloth and pull your fabric. It is a useful instrument when working with more delicate and finer knits. Be sure to buy one made for your sewing machine, even when buying for any feed legs. As most of the machine walking feet and accessories are explicit to the company of machine for use.

Press Seam After Stitching

In woven work, a seam usually consists of two parts. The first stitch is part of your construction, and it’s called a straight stitch. The second stitch of a seam is called the finishing stitch. Many kinds of stitches finishing the raw edges of the fabric and keep the fabric unfold. In knit fabrics, you can use one stitch to do both jobs. This is one of the interesting things in knits fabric’s work.

It can be an easy practice to look into your own knit garments. Look, the stitches are uses in the garments. At first, you might see the width stitches; the width stitch size is usually ¼”. This stitch provides strength and stretch. This is the stitch that we are always trying to do with our home sewing machine.

Zigzag Stitch

The most common way to seam knit fabrics is a zigzag stitch. This stitch gives the flexibility to stretch and move without popping a seam. 1.5″ x 5″ stitches are commonly used. It looks closely mimics and sites function of an overlock stitch. Always remember to backstitch beginning to end when sewing to secure the seam. Closely trim the seam stitching for finishing. It allows maximum stretch and strength and emulates over lock strength.

Faux Overlock Stitch

A sewing machine, many of which are looking like serged edges, can do various stretch stitches. These stitches are called Overlock stitches. You have to look into your sewing machine manual to find out recommended settings for each stitch. Usually, they mention the width and length of a stitch. Always remember some of these stitches have to be done by a back-and-forth stitch path to creating an elastic stitch. Guide the fabric through the sewing machine when using this style of stitch to avoid stretching. To secure the stitches, backstitch the fabric and trim the seam close to the edges.

Reinforced Straight Stitch

In thicker knits like a pant or heavy double knits seam may need to be pressing and sewing. A reinforced straight stitch should be used to make a strong and flexible seam in this kind of stitch. A reinforce straight should be created by placing three parallel stitches side by side, going backward and forward in a straight line.

Understand the Stretching

At first, understanding the knit fabric is very important before starting to make a dress or before starting a project. All the knit fabrics do not stretch the same because of their differences in making, quality of the fiber, and fiber contents.

The stretching can be:

• Two-way stretching: It stretches only vertically or horizontally.
• Four-way stretching: The fabric stretches both vertically and horizontally.

Stretching in the knit fabric is very important around the body part. The greatest stretch of the fabric should be on the body part. It should be open wide sufficiently so it can be worn easily. Another important thing is the percentage of the fabric of recovery after stretching. The fabric should return to its original position after stretching.

The solution for this problem is, one should calculate the stretch and recovery. The chosen fabric should have enough recovery percentage.

Using the Right Pins

Pins are mainly used to hold the fabric pieces together before sewing. There are two types of pins used during sewing. One type is regular straight pins that are sharp and pierce the fabric during pinning.

Another pin is a ballpoint pen with a blunt ending, and it does not pierce the fabric like the regular one. These ballpoint pins slip between the loops of knit fabric that protects the fibers. If the fibers are intact, the thread will not break after stretching.

There is an alternative to these pins, which is called wonder clips. These wonder clips are made of plastic that can hold the fabric pieces together without using any pins. There is a disadvantage of this wonder clip: it can only be used on the fabric edges, not in the center of the fabric.

Using the Right Needle

Using the right sewing needle is very important. Regular sewing needles are sharp and pointy like regular pins. Using this type of needle will easily damage the knit fabric. Using a ballpoint needle or stretch needle can be the solution to this problem.

Another needle that can be used in sewing knit fabric is a twin needle or double needle. This double needle makes two parallel stitching lines on the external surface, and the bobbin thread makes a zigzag pattern under the surface. The zigzag pattern allows the fabric threads to stretch so they don’t break while wearing or opening wide.

Using the Suitable Thread

The threads we use normally are not stretchy as knit fabric. Threads have a lower amount of elasticity; that is why threads can easily snap. Repeating this same manner is very irritating. Polyester threads can prevent this problem because polyester threads are strong, durable and polyester threads are designed for heavy-duty works. Polyester threads are easily available everywhere. Polyester thread has a small amount of stretching ability. So, the durability and stretchability make the polyester thread good enough to sew the knit fabrics.

High-quality cotton threads can also be used to sew the knit fabrics. But cotton thread using in knit fabric needs an expert hand. Wooly nylon thread or stretch threads are also available that can be used to sew knit fabric.

Using the Right Stitch

Threads can easily get snapped when a knit garment or knit dress is stretched. After choosing the right thread, there is another important way to prevent snapping of the threads. This way is choosing the right stitch that will easily be enlarged or stretched with the sewed knit fabric. This indicates that a traditional linear stitch will not be applicable here.

Newer sewing machines have different kinds of stitches by default. The manufacturers make sure that at least one of the default stitches will sew the knit fabrics.

Zigzag stitching is the most common stitching that is used to sew knit fabrics. Other stitches that can also be used to sew knit fabric are:

• Triple straight or linear stitch: This stitch looks like three parallel vertical lines.
• Stretch stitch: This stitch looks like a spiked lightning bolt. The spikes become linear while stretching the knit garment to allow the thread to expand and thus prevents snapping.

One should always try and find out the best stitch for himself after trying the stitch several times to stitch the fabric. This will ensure the regulation of stitching length, width and thread tension.

There is another good alternative that is using the twin needle or double needle. This type of needle makes two parallel stitches on the outer surface and a zigzag stitch on the inner surface, which allows the thread to expand while stretching the knit garment or dress.

Understanding Knit Edges

The edge of a knit fabric doesn’t wear away because knit fabrics are made from a single thread. So it is not mandatory to finish off the knit fabric edges. But it looks good if the edges are well finished. But the edges that are cut to give the dress the desired shape have some irregularities. These imperfectly cut edges can easily be hidden by rolling the knit fabric edge and stitch it. This will look more finished.

Using the Feed Dogs Properly

The denticulate metallic things that are on the needle plate of the sewing machine are called feed dogs. The feed dogs move from back to front to move the fabric along. The knit fabric cannot be pulled out during sewing because it will make the fabric stretched out and make the sewing wrong.

A common problem occurs when the knit fabric gets stuck on the feed dogs if the sewing starts from the margin. This can easily be avoided by starting the stitch from a centimeter from the edge, a bit backstitch; then, regular stitching can be continued.

Use a Walking Foot

The seams of Knit fabrics usually pucker up and become wavy after sewing. The easiest way to prevent these problems is using walking on foot. Walking foot grips the fabric and move the fabric under the needle at the same place thus prevents puckering.

Using an Iron

Iron can be a great help and very needful for pressing the fabric and seam while sewing. A good steam iron pressing will easily compress the wavy seams. Stitches can be made perfectly linear zigzag and flat using an iron pressing.

Use Tissue Paper

A tissue paper can be placed between the knit fabric and the machine foot, which will prevent the fabrics from pulling out by the sewing needle. If the tissue is placed under the fabric, it will prevent the downward pulling of the fabric by the feed dogs. The tissue can easily be removed after the completion of the sewing.

Final Words

Well, that’s it; hopefully, if you follow these methods and sew knit fabric, there will be no more problems. By following the given instruction, you can sew knit fabric without puckering. If you have any further questions or suggestions about sewing knit fabric, please share with our readers; we will welcome them.