do these seams look like .... ! ? first time

[VictoiseC]

Oh geez. Ok, this is my first cardigan made out of really plain sheepy wool.

I went to this link

http://www.lanagrossa.com/service/st...chenstich.html

to read about seaming shoulders. The pieces were off the needles already so no 3 needle stuff.
I couldn't really understand in that link about taking only "half" of the stitch. I just went up and down taking a whole stitch each time. I did have a little extra on the back and eased that in. There's also a wee hole that I can get rid of.

But all in all, it doesn't look very uh smooth/professional / perfect.

Did I do it wrong? Should I rip it out and try again. Is that how it's supposed to look?

[VictoiseC]

P.S. It looks really bad in that picture coz it's folded down. This is what it looks like when it's laying flat! It's tricky to get a really nice seam isn't it! I want to take a finishing class....

[hunterjenn]

Hmmmmm....looks like what's supposed to be inside is on the outside, KWIM? I've never tried that particular technique before, but it looks like you needed to do the stitching from the other side of your work to have it look right. What does it look like on the WS?

[suzeeq]

The edges should be inside the seams not on the outside. You'll have to take it out and do over. Read up on mattress stitch - it works for shoulders as well as the sides.

sue

[hunterjenn]

OK, now that I look at the link, I have done this before. When she says "half" a stitch, she's talking about just one side of the V. So if you're putting your needle under "the second half of the previous stitch and the first half of the following stitch," you're putting it under the left side of one V and the right side of the V next to it at the same time. So you'll have two pieces of yarn on the needle, but they won't be from the same V. That will help things

Did you do the seaming from the RS? If so, I can't figure out what you did that made the seam come together inside-out...

[VictoiseC]

Thanks you guys. I looked at the inside out suzieq and it looks much better. I didn't know you could do mattress stitch when it's off the needles....

Hm. I layed it out like in the picture in the link and I guess that's where I screwed it up, although that picture is misleading then. I know what you're saying about the V coz I watched Amy do that. But it seemed to only pertain to the sides of a sweater to me anyhow.

Ok, I'll rip it out and start over. thanks!

[VictoiseC]

I can't do it!!!! Ok. So I watched Amy's video on mattress stitch again.
But there it's not horizontal, it's a side seam. So, I'm trying to do it anyhow and I put the right sides together

then do you still go in and out ONLY between the Vs? So you have to keep it apart and look inside (well I'm having to turn it over to look inside each time to see the V)... because you can't see a V when it's inside out/garter stitches.

Excuse me for being so obtuse here...
I know this must be a lot easier than I'm making it out to be but I'm not sure I'm doing it right!

And, p.s. wouldn't it be a tighter better seam if you went into the inside of the V also? I think that's what the Lana Grossa link was all about, maybe.

[VictoiseC]

ok ok ok ok sorry if I wasted your time but I just found my Knitter's Bible buried somewhere and there's a picture and it sure looks easy. I'll try it again! duh

[suzeeq]

You can do mattress stitching on the shoulders, but because you're working on the ends of the stitches instead of the sides, you can't do it exactly the same. You have to look for a similar bar to stitch under.

sue

[cam90066]

If your seaming re-do doesn't work, you might want to consider doing 3-ndl BO. Undo your seam, undo your BOs putting each shoulder's sts on sep ndls. (Check the vid for 3-ndl bo.) That'll give you a flatter, cleaner shoulder seam. (But still a good idea to learn mattress on bo edges.)

cam