How to Attach a Sleeve on a Sweater by Machine

Sew machine-knitted pieces on the sewing machine for fast and neat seams.

Machine knitting, though tricky to learn, is fast and furious when you know what you're doing. Having knitted up the pieces of the garment quickly, the knitter can find it frustrating to have to take a long time completing the seam work that assembles the garment. Joining machine-knitted seams on the sewing machine is a quick and painless process that provides a professional result.

Instructions

1. Line up the edges of the top of the sleeve with the armhole edges of the garment's body, as you normally would if preparing to hand sew the seam. With the right sides of both the body and the sleeve together, pin the two garment pieces into place. Position the pins at right angles to the edge of the seam so you can stitch straight over them without damaging the sewing machine.

2. Set the sewing machine to zigzag, choosing a medium length and width stitch size.

3. Sew the zigzag stitch around the edge of the knitted seam, keeping the stitches one-quarter inch from the seam edge and starting from the underarm.

4. Stitch around the sleeve top until you arrive back at the underarm seam, then make a short backstitch to secure the stitches. Remove the knitting from the sewing machine and trim the thread ends.

Tips & Warnings

• Experiment on pieces of scrap knitting before joining the seams of your garment. Different thicknesses or weights of yarn may react differently to widths of zigzag stitch on the sewing machine, and experimentation beforehand will show you the stitch width and length you need to get the best results.

• The technique works just as well for hand-knitted garment pieces though is more suited to fine machine knits.

• Don't be tempted to stitch straight stitch, because straight stitches on the sewing machine don't have enough stretch to work effectively with knitted yarn. If your sewing machine has an overlock stitch function, use that in place of the zigzag.