Sewing a front band

HelenBlackwood Cardigan, Blackwood Sewalong10 Comments

How to sew a knit front band

Sewing a front band

Hi, makers! Welcome to the final post in the Blackwood Cardigan Sewalong! Today we will be finishing up with the bands of the cardigan. In case you missed it, we have already covered sewing the pockets, stabilizing the shoulder seam, sewing the sleeve in flat, and attaching the cuffs.

Before sewing the front band, we need to attach the bottom band. I just have the one picture for this step as it is pretty straight forward. Fold the band in half with wrong sides together, match up the notches with the side seams and you are good to go! I have serged my seam, but you can simply sew it with a zig-zag stitch.

Sewing a front band

Press the seam of the bottom band up. Your Blackwood should look something like this:

Sewing a front band

Line up the notches edges of the two front band pieces together with right sides facing and pin and sew.

Sewing a front band

Press this seam open.

Sewing a front band

Fold the two ends of the front band together with right sides facing. Don’t press.

Sewing a front band

Sew a line of stitching at each end.

Sewing a front band

Trim the corner bulk.

Sewing a front band

Fold the band in half, right side out, all along the length of it.

Sewing a front band

Your band should look like this:

Sewing a front band

Start pinning the band to the cardigan at the center back. Line this up with the seam in the band.

Sewing a front band

Next, place a pin at each shoulder seam. The shoulder seams line up with the notches on the band. You will have excess cardigan fabric to distribute around the neck.

band_11

Pin liberally between these three pins to distribute the fabric evenly. Expect there to be some excess, we will ease this in when we sew.

Sewing a front band

Pin the length of the band onto the cardigan. Make sure you match the notches on the front, too!

Sewing a front band

Sew and serge (optional) the band on. Around the neck, sew slowly and ease in the extra fabric by pushing the fibers together. Easing gets easier (pun intended) with time and experience. Avoid any gathers in the fabric. If you get gathers, unpick that area and ease again.

Sewing a front band

The final step is to topstich the front band. You may feel you want to skip this step so you preserve the pristine nature of the front band. You can skip it, but your front band will have a tendency to stick out from your body. Topstitching helps make this band lie flat, it helps get a smooth fit around the neck, and it helps make the garment more sturdy.

Use a zig-zag stitch about 1/8″ from the edge.

Sewing a front band

The finished topstitching looks like this:

Sewing a front band

Sewing a front band

Sewing a front band

Voila! Your Blackwood Cardigan is complete!  I hope you have enjoyed making this garment, I have certainly enjoyed sharing my tips with you along the way.

Don’t forget to share your make on Instagram using the hashtag #blackwoodcardigan and tagging me, @helens__closet

Thanks for joining me in this sewalong!

About the author

Helen

Helen Wilkinson is the designer and founder of Helen's Closet Patterns. She also co-hosts the Love to Sew Podcast! Helen is obsessed with all things sewing and strives to share her passion and knowledge with the sewing community.

10 Comments on “How to sew a knit front band”

  1. Hard to pick a favorite, I am impressed with all the awesome sew project,I particularly enjoyed learning about the sew a knit front band.I feel honored to be among these great bloggers’ collection! Thanks Helen.

  2. I used a walking foot to apply a cotton knit band especially since I was matching stripes. Worked perfectly.

  3. Thank you so much for these tutorials. I am new to sewing knits, so they help a lot. You refer to small zig zag stitch and to medium zig zag stitch. Could you tell me what the settings would be for each? Why do you prefer sewing on the machine, then serging as opposed to sewing with the serger? Asking due to my ignorance. Thanks

    1. Hi Cindy! A small/narrow zig-zag would be about 1-2 mm in width. Medium would be about 3 mm in width, and wide is 4-6. All are about 2.5mm – 3mm in length. I like to sew on the machine because I have more control. Once I am sure Ive got my pieces together correctly, I can head to the serger. If I make an error on the serger, it can be a real nightmare to unpick.

  4. Hi Helen
    I have just made the Blackwood cardigan shorter version – rather late to the party!
    I absolutely love it however my topstitching caused the band to go wavy even though I used a walking foot . Any suggestions for next time ? The fabric was a very soft and stretchy loop back jersey.

    1. Hi Shirley,

      This is a challenging part of sewing with stretchy knits, to be sure. I would recommend trying wonder tape in the seam to help stabilize it as you sew. It washes away so it is only temporary!

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