Knit binding/ band tutorials round-up.

Recently I have had some issues getting good results from knit bindings when sewing with super stretchy knits. and decided to do a bit of research.

I have had three failed necklines - two have been boat neck pieces (one was this dress I made for a Minerva Crafts review) one is a dress I'm currently making from a super stretchy burnout velour knit and I've made a real pig's ear of the binding - so much so that my seam ripper and I have been good friends over the last couple of days. As I carefully take it to bits in the hope I can do something to make it work.

The third disaster was a raglan sleeve top.  The stupid thing is I have had some real successes in the past with neckline bindings. I have had some excellent results on my Gertie boat neck t shirt and a couple of knit dresses. I'm not sure quite where I've been going wrong lately and thought it would be a good ideas to find a selection of tutorials that are out there by great sewing bloggers who actually know what they are doing. I'm sharing this in the hope that I'm not the only one who struggles with this from time to time. If you have any brilliant insight into where I'm going wrong, or have a preferred method - please get in touch I'd love to get this nailed.

Craftsy Blog

Craftsy Blog has a brilliant post offering several different techniques written by Emily Thompson. I have tried both options 2 and 3 from this post. Some times they work perfectly and other times they don't. You can read this post here.

Megan Nielsen

This method encloses all the raw edges and gives a very neat finish. I've used this on a cotton jersey dress with good success, but it's when I use a boat neck that the issues seam to occur with this type of technique. Megan's instructions are really clear. This is a great post with lots of clear photographs to help you alone the ways.

Simple turned edge - Grainline Lark Boat neck

I have used this technique on my ruffle dress for Minerva crafts and it worked beautifully. Jen explains a really simple way to finish the neckline - and it's easy; Take a look! Do we sometimes make knit bindings more difficult that they need to be. I might do this on the dress I'm currently making. I have had a good bound finish on a boat neck, but it was a much more stable knit. What are your experiences here

Colette Blog

This post covers some of the key basics between bands and bindings. Again I've used some of these on round neck pieces and they've worked brilliantly. This is a great post for a beginner to knit sewing as the post is comprehensive. You can read it here.

Made By Rae - invisible finish binding.

This post is the closest to the one I tried for both boat neck pieces - with one significant difference, I cut a 90% neckline and Rae suggests that the binding should be the same size as the neckline as it's flipped to the inside. This might be where I've been going wrong. What's your experience of this technique? Do you think this could be where I've been going wrong? I might try this version.

Pattern Fantastique - Neckband techniques

This post by Heather is a comprehensive post and covers how different types of fabric might behave in addition to techniques for a neckline band.

So what is your favourite technique for neckline binding? do you have a method that works without fail every time? if so I'd love to hear about it.

DP studio Aysmmetric dress

This make was inspired by fellow blogger Shauni, who blogs over at A Magnificent Thread, when I saw her version of this awesome asymmetric knit dress by DP studio. I'd never heard of this pattern company before but looked them up after seeing Shauni's post.

Shauni's version

They are a French company, but their patterns also come with English instructions, although the illustrations alone would have been enough to be able to make this dress, they are brief and do presuppose some sewing knowledge. My hubby bought me the pattern back in April and I've been on the lookout for some inexpensive fabric to make a wearable toile ever since. A couple of weeks ago I picked up a navy knitted rib. it was only 1m wide, so I bought 3m - which was more than enough and I might even scrape a top out of the remnant.

The pattern comes in an A4 sized box and is printed on thick sturdy paper. At first, I thought there were lots of pattern pieces but discovered that there are only 8, but they are BIG! as all pieces are cut from a single layer of fabric.

I bought some tissue paper and traced my size. Based on my measurements I cut a 40 for the top, grading to a 42 at the hip. The drafting on this pattern is excellent. I could take in the waist a little bit, but it's not overly big. What I am really impressed with, is the drafting at the shoulders and arms. A lot of patterns I have made recently have been way too narrow at the shoulder, and the armsyce has been really small (Gertie patterns). This was a pleasant change and I made no adjustments to these areas at all. the dress is a very comfy fit and I may use this as a baseline for all other knit patterns.

The dress came together easily and is suitable for a confident beginner to sew. An overlocker really does help and it would have been a super quick make, but I ended up using the overlock stitch on my regular Janome machine as my overlocker was playing up badly and I spent an age trying to get it to work. It really needs to go and be serviced. I also used the twin needle for hem and sleeve finishes - a first for me!

I found the fit great and had lots of compliments when I wore it today. I do think the split is a little high and I will probably add to the length at the hip to make this a bit more modest, The model version on the website seems to be much longer.

This would be a really stunning dress in a sparkly knit or scuba fabric. It would also work well in a Ponte de Roma fabric (and probably show fewer lumps and bumps). I can see this being a staple of my winter wardrobe and I might even use the top part of the pattern to make a couple of tops to wear with jeans or under my pinafore dress.