On Nov 1, 2019, at 8:58 AM, Jaya Srikrishnan <ermabom@...> wrote:

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Thank you for the thoughts.?

Connie, I don't think reinforcing the buttonhole will be enough. The knitted fabric gives more than the woven fabric so the buttonhole is bearing the brunt of the stretch. The skirt isn't even tight fitting but the buttonholes have stretched.?

I am going to look into buttonhole elastic and if it doesn't look good, I will go with the muslin. I can make the buttonholes on my machine - good opportunity to play with that part of the machine. But I think black buttonhole elastic will be less obvious.

As for the Swan, Mary, yes that is the one that inspired me. I will be working the buttonhole in the cardigan front and in the facing simultaneously, like AsaW has done?

She knit it back and forth though and I want to knit it in the round and steek it. So my facing will be knit in the same direction and at the same time as the body. No purl row. The cut edge will be at the end of the facing and get turned in.

Regarding the humongous Wild Apple, you might want to do what Steph did. She took in the side and armhole seams (I think) by mattress stitching further into the sweater. After she checked that everything was OK, she cut off the excess. I hope I'm remembering it correctly. She should weigh in.?

On Fri, Nov 1, 2019 at 8:06 AM mary_007usa via Groups.Io <sewgood5=[email protected]> wrote:

Jaya,

1.? On the buttonhole issue, all of the ideas here seem fine to me, but I'd probably do the fabric or ribbon, mostly because it would be easily reversible.

2.? You've brought up an interesting question with the cardigan.? So if I understand this correctly, you'd be working buttonholes directly into the patterning and body of the sweater, right?? That could look really lovely.? When you knit the facing, you may want to consider putting in a row of purl stitches to facilitate the facing turning to the front.? Knitting that facing from picked up stitches will be so much easier.? Drop down those two needles sizes though (I write this although I realize you probably know a ton about fibery things)

I've only knit two Bohussies, but I recall the front bands are knit bottom up from a few stitches reserved at the bottom and then it's sewed on, right?

I found one Swan with no bands, but she didn't insert buttonholes.? Is this the one you're thinking about??

Mary

Maryu

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Jaya

On Oct 31, 2019, at 3:13 PM, Jaya Srikrishnan <ermabom@...> wrote:

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1. I found that the knitted buttonholes at the waist of my knitted/woven skirts are stretching out. I want to reinforce them. I thought about making buttonholes in muslin and sewing to the back of the knitted buttonhole. But then I thought maybe buttonhole elastic would be a better choice? Or what about making buttonholes?in Petersham ribbon? Any thoughts on which one might work better??

2. I am planning to knit my Swan Bohus this winter. I want to make it a cardigan, not a pullover. Steeked. The Swan is a yoke design. I'd like to not spoil the yoke by putting a buttonhole band in the middle of it. Someone on Ravelry did one where the design goes all the way to the place where the band folds over - but I think she picked up and knitted a facing after she did the cardigan. I thought I could knit the facing at the same time as the cardi. I'd just add some facing sts on either side of the steek and put matching buttonholes in the front of the cardi and the facing. After cutting the steek, I'd fold the facing to the back and turn the cut edge under and hem the facing to the front. Then I'd sew the two buttonholes together. Do you think this would work?

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Jaya

On 31 October 2019 at 19:13 Jaya Srikrishnan <ermabom@...> wrote:

1. I found that the knitted buttonholes at the waist of my knitted/woven skirts are stretching out. I want to reinforce them. I thought about making buttonholes in muslin and sewing to the back of the knitted buttonhole. But then I thought maybe buttonhole elastic would be a better choice? Or what about making buttonholes?in Petersham ribbon? Any thoughts on which one might work better??

2. I am planning to knit my Swan Bohus this winter. I want to make it a cardigan, not a pullover. Steeked. The Swan is a yoke design. I'd like to not spoil the yoke by putting a buttonhole band in the middle of it. Someone on Ravelry did one where the design goes all the way to the place where the band folds over - but I think she picked up and knitted a facing after she did the cardigan. I thought I could knit the facing at the same time as the cardi. I'd just add some facing sts on either side of the steek and put matching buttonholes in the front of the cardi and the facing. After cutting the steek, I'd fold the facing to the back and turn the cut edge under and hem the facing to the front. Then I'd sew the two buttonholes together. Do you think this would work?

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Jaya

Thanks for sharing this wisdom Mary – it’s much appreciated.

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The entire steek was only 5 stitches, which is what has me nervous about the possibility of too much fraying, even with machine stitching.? Once the front bands were knitted I think the amount of steek left was just about right but those raw ends weren’t pretty and were making me nervous.

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Of course, by the time I saw your post yesterday, I was about halfway done sewing the ribbon on the second side.? I did pre-wash, but I used whatever brand of ribbon it is that JoAnn’s carries because that’s what I had.? If I decide that I’m not happy with how the ribbons themselves are laying (they are not uniformly perfectly flat and I need to figure out if it’s something about the difference in density between stranded colorwork and regular single color stockinette), I’ll definitely invest in Petersham ribbon.? For one thing, it looks like one of the colors listed would be a better match than anything I saw in person.

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I’m using a lovely thin, but strong silk sewing thread for the ribbons and as long as I’m careful, it disappears right into the sewing, so I’m really pleased about that.? I am less pleased that Arielle dumped most of her smoothie on my spool of thread (lengthy story involving a substitute bus driver skipping a chunk of the route yesterday, which doesn’t excuse the smoothie fiasco) but I think that rinsing the whole spool and then discarding the outer layer may have saved the rest.

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Melisande

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From: [email protected] <[email protected]> On Behalf Of mary_007usa via Groups.Io
Sent: Monday, October 28, 2019 10:24 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [yarnmongers] Steeks and ribbons

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Melisande,

I'm late responding, as usual, but since you know your way around steeking, you shouldn't have any trouble with it.

Years ago, when I was about to cut my knitting for the first time, I experimented with wool sweaters from Goodwill.? I machine sewed and cut.? There was one that was worsted weight and another that was closer to fingering.? Both of the edges on all of the test steeks were very secure; gauge didn't matter.?

I wouldn't worry about turning under the raw edge.? If the steeked section is 8-10 stitches, you may want to run another link of? machine stitching closer to the edge of the fronts.? That would allow you to trim the edge even closer to reduce bulk, but that can really only be determined once you look at the results once the front bands are knitted.

Then I'm all for the ribbon.? My recommendation is to get genuine Petersham ribbom for the job and pre-shrink as recommended.? Petersham has a touch of give to it, unlike the grosgrain ribbon that can be found locally.? The result will be excellent if you work on a flat surface.? This really isn't a job to do in your lap b/c you want the knitted fabric as flat as possible.

Britex is a good source for Petersham:?

The Petersham also provides a nice stable base for machine buttonholes - another part of the construction that still gives me pause.

HTH,

Mary.