One of the disadvantages of knitting a pieced sweater is all the finishing that’s involved, and one of the most unpleasant duties when it comes to finishing a sweater is sewing in the sleeves.
One of the things that often causes problems when it comes to setting in sleeves is the stairstep nature of many sleeve designs. That shaping is there, as Gwen from 2 Sides 2 Points tells us, so that the shoulder seam will form a straight line from the neck along the shoulder. (Note, this article is now available through the Internet Archive, which might not always be the case.)
This is usually accomplished by making a stairstep bind off, which looks in the pattern like “BO x stitches at the beginning of next Y rows.” It’s easy to write a pattern that way, and it’s easy for the knitter to execute, but it’s not the best when it comes to seaming. Looking for sweater patterns? Check these books out
.
As is so often the case in knitting, the answer is short rows. Check out the article linked above for more on why short row shoulders are so great and how to convert a pattern written for stairstep shoulders into a short row shoulder.
It’s a really clever idea that will make seaming that much easier. (And if you’ve never worked short rows before, check out my tutorial at the Spruce. Disclaimer: I wrote this when it was still About, and haven’t worked there for years and am not responsible for edits or deletions.)
Have you ever done a short row shoulder? I’d love to hear about it!
Did you know, specific to knitters, you can join our Knitting Patterns Only group to get knitting patterns, ask questions and gain inspiration for what to knit next. Or how about our VIP Knitting Group with Free knitting pattern access including vintage and Etsy designer patterns for less than $1 a month.
[Photo via 2 Sides 2 Points.]
Check out our New DIY Crafty Creative T-shirts featuring Knitting and Yarn Designs.
I always do German short row shaping on my shoulders, but I don’t bind them off and sew them together. I hold the stitches until the corresponding shoulder is finished, then I bind off both shoulders together using the three needke bind off method. It makes a very flat seam with a little, but not too much, stretch.
Did I miss something? Where is the instruction on this?
That page doesn’t seem to exist anymore, but here’s another page that talks about short-row shoulder shaping. https://www.sistermountain.com/blog/short-row-shoulders
How do you do german short rows for a kite shaped scarf ?
I do my shoulders the same Marlene does. German Short Row shaping and connecting back to front with a 3-needle bindoff. So neat and clean and no bothersome seaming.
I do mine the same as Marlene, a whole lot less bother