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Soft Seam front:
Soft Seam back:
My mother in law, Nancy Schaeffer, was an avid knitter. She would knit, watch TV and read simultaneously. Every member of her family received a handknit sweater each Christmas. She passed on in 1990, having shared with me one of her techniques, picking up armhole stitches to knit sleeves from shoulder to wrist. She also taught me how to knit a classic sweater in a few easy steps. When I returned to knitting after a 20 year break, I examined several of the sweaters she knitted and admired the slightly raised, tidy shoulder seams. I carefully untied a shoulder seam and found there were 4 strands of yarn. I tied a differently colored strand of yarn to each, then began to unravel the seam. It turned out to be a simple oversewn / whipstitch seam. Each bound off stitch was sewn through the outer loops only (see diagram).
It has turned out to be a soft seam suitable not only for shoulder seams as Nancy used it, but also for baby clothes and bootie soles. It has much less thickness than mattress stitch, back stitch, or any other seam except grafting. It is flatter on the back side than the front side. It does not disappear as mattress stitch does. It does not sink in as three needle bind off or crocheted seams do. On the top side you see a rounded raised seam.
I'm not knowledgeable (yet) of sewing terms. Looking at your diagram, when the needle tip comes out of the stitch on top, do you bring it back down and insert it in the same place as the first insertion, except one stitch over....
or do you insert it into the stitch right beside where it exited on the top row? Is that at all clear? :-o
Posted by: Renna | February 25, 2012 at 02:38 PM
Yes, bring it back down and insert the same way, one stitch over.
The orientation of the needle stays the same, it always points upward. (It does not point up on one stitch, then down.)
Posted by: ArtDesign1 | March 05, 2012 at 11:10 PM