How to Assemble a Knitting Project

There are multiple ways to attach knit pieces together. You may need to attach pieces of a sweater, for example, or attach blocks together to make a throw.

Sewing knit pieces together is the most common way to attach them. You may also crochet pieces together, or you may pick up stitches on one piece and knit the second piece directly on it.

This guide is concerned with seaming and with crocheting knit pieces together.

Assembling A Knitting Project: Mattress Seams and Crocheting

Assembling a project has two components: placing the pieces together so they are correctly lined up, and attaching them.

If you are attaching pieces that are the same size and stitch count, you can line up the stitches so they are in pairs, and then attach each stitch to its paired stitch. If you are attaching pieces that are slightly different, such as a flat piece and a curved piece, or the end of a piece to the side of another piece, you may want to pin the pieces together before you start so they line up neatly. Pinning pieces is also recommended for larger pieces. Pinning helps keep one side from being stretched out or the seam from being uneven.

Regular sewing pins often will not work with knit pieces, since the yarn is too thick and the existing spaces are too big. Instead, use Knit Klips or Stitch pins (locking stitch markers).

A pattern may call for a particular method of attaching pieces together, or it may just say to attach them or to sew them. Use whichever method you are comfortable with and that gives you a seam you are happy with. Seams are generally designed to be invisible or unobtrusive. Using the same color yarn as the project is made in will help the seam to be invisible. Generally projects are sewn together using the same yarn they were made with. If a yarn is very bulky or textured, use a finer, smooth yarn in a matching color to attach them.

The Mattress Stitch is a very common stitch for joining seams. (Read the guide.)

The whipstitch is another common stitch, although it may be more noticeable.

The Kitchener Stitch (grafting) is used to join the toe of a sock to avoid a seam. (Read the guide.)

Another common method is to crochet the pieces together, either with a slip stitch seam or with a single crochet seam. A single crochet seam will be bulkier, but also more elastic.