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Need help sewing sleeves of knitt Tshirts where sleeves cut off

Need help sewing sleeves of knitt Tshirts where sleeves cut off

Old 01-17-2015, 03:27 PM
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Default Need help sewing sleeves of knitt Tshirts where sleeves cut off

My daughter a nurse, has to cut of all long sleeves off her shirts above the elbow. I have viking 835 tried with double needle and it broke, moved to far over when I entered the sewing stitch they told me at the shop where I bought it. Tried using knit needle and slightly stretching but was not happy with the results.
T shirts today are lighter and thinner fabrics than years ago. Tried so many different ways with the cut off pieces of course, but don't like the way it turned out. Can anyone help me? Would really appreciate your imput you girls and guys are so talented.
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Old 01-17-2015, 03:33 PM
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A zig zag stitch should work. I had to repair the waist band of a pair of knit pants. I just used a zig zag. Stretches great. See what YouTube/Nancy Zieman might have.
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Old 01-17-2015, 03:35 PM
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BTW I'm not a seamstress. I just looked at my manual.
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Old 01-17-2015, 03:56 PM
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I use a hem stitch on my knits after I serge them to finish the edges. It only has a tiny stitch showing on the front of the garment after you are finished. The way the hem is folded before you stitch, makes it kind of like a tailor stitch they use on suits. At any rate, you can use a small amount of knit fabric samples to figure out the best treatment before you sew the actual top. It would save you doing it over and over until it is right. I would also check at sewing with nancy or some other sewing on knits site for a video. Those are a great help.

My mom lived in leisure world for many years in seal beach.

Last edited by RedGarnet222; 01-17-2015 at 04:00 PM.
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Old 01-17-2015, 04:03 PM
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I found this tutorial at craftsy for you.

http://www.craftsy.com/blog/2014/06/...m-knit-fabric/
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Old 01-17-2015, 04:06 PM
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I just did a you tube search " how to shorten t shirt sleeves" and a bunch of videos came up. I usually use a very long and narrow zig zag. Nancy Zieman calls it a wobble stitch
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Old 01-18-2015, 08:20 AM
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Cut strips of fusible lightweight interfacing and press it on, don't iron, press so you don't stretch the fabric. I use a ballpoint needle with a narrow zig zag stitch or if your machine has a built in stretch stitch use it. Don't pull the fabric as you sew, you don't want to stretch it.
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Old 01-18-2015, 10:10 AM
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I don't know if your daughter would like the style, but I've shortened t-shirt sleeves and hems into a "lettuce-edge" style by pulling on the raw edge of the cut knit as I serged it. It turns out pretty and feminine, and is super easy to do. You can do it with a DSM, too.

example of lettuce edging:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]506679[/ATTACH]
Attached Thumbnails lettuce-edge.jpg  
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Old 01-19-2015, 07:21 AM
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Originally Posted by Peckish View Post
I don't know if your daughter would like the style, but I've shortened t-shirt sleeves and hems into a "lettuce-edge" style by pulling on the raw edge of the cut knit as I serged it. It turns out pretty and feminine, and is super easy to do. You can do it with a DSM, too.

example of lettuce edging:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]506679[/ATTACH]
Beautiful lettuce!!! what is the fabric? What is your serger?
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Old 01-19-2015, 08:10 AM
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If you don't like the way the sewing is showing up on the T shirt fabric, you might try cutting a narrow band that you can fold in half and sew to the edge, and then turn down. It will look like a band like polo shirts have but no stitching will be visible on the shirt. If the original sleeve is pretty straight you can just cut the band an inch or so off the top of the part of the sleeve you cut off.
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