More and more knitting designers are publishing sweater patterns worked from the top down, often in the round. In terms of finishing and fit, these patterns offer some advantages over more traditional ways to work sweaters (in separate pieces sewn together or in the round from the bottom up). Finishing top down sweaters tends to be easy, but it does require some different techniques and thoughtfulness about cast on and bind off techniques.
I was pleasantly surprised to discover a new love for the sewn hem as a neat finishing technique for top down sweater edges while finishing my Buttercup tee. As long as you aren’t afraid of your yarn needle, I think these hems are even easier than their bottom-up counterpart. And no fiddly provisional cast on technique is required (I can’t be the only one who loathes provisional cast ons, right?).
How to Work a Sewn Hem from the Top Down
* Note: My swatch uses two colors so it is easier for you to see what is going on and to demonstrate how invisible it is from the right side. You are welcome to work your hem in all one color.
These hems only really have five simple steps.
1. Finish knitting the garment exactly to the point where you want the hem to lie.
2. Make your hem turn point: Work one row so it will appear as a purl row on the right side of the garment. Working in the round, this will always be a purl row. Knitting in pieces? Pay attention because if you finish step one on a knit row, this turn row will be another knit row as you work on the wrong side!
3. Work in stockinette stitch for the length that you want your hem to be. This length will depend on the garment, but will likely range between 1/2 inch for sleeves or delicate/light sweaters and up to 2 inches for a heavier sweater. Make sure that the right (knit) side of your hem stitches is the same as the right side of your garment, like so:
4. Bind off in knit.
5. Fold the hem along the purl row (it will want to fold naturally) and sew it down. This is the trickiest step so let me go into a little more detail on what worked for me.
- It may help if you either block or press (or best, both!) the garment before sewing the hem.
- If you are using a plied yarn, you may have a neater hem if you use only one or two plies to sew. To separate, simply cut a short length of your yarn, pull apart the plies at one end, and untwist the yarn. If this step confuses you, don’t worry about it. I sewed this sample swatch with all four plies of worsted weight yarn and it looked fine.
- Insert your needle under one knit stitch on your bound off edge and under one purl loop from the knitted garment body. Pictures should help illustrate how I did this.
I start by inserting my needle under the knit stitch on the bound off edge and then I catch one purl loop from the row above where the hem will be. Catching the purl loop this way makes your sewing invisible on the right side. I then pull the yarn through to tighten the stitch. Do not tighten it so much that your hem gathers!
Second, I catch the purl loop next to the one my yarn is coming out of (I’m working left to right, but you could go the other way) and push the needle down through the knit stitch on the bound off edge just next to the one I just sewed.
Repeat these stitches across your hem and then turn it over and admire your work:
That’s all there is to it! Questions?
