Neat ways to finish off raw steeked edges
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knitted a project in the round and then cut it open with a steek, you’ll be left with a raw cut edge. These are typically hidden on the inside of the project – for example, if you’ve picked up stitches along the cut edge of a cardigan to attach buttonbands – but many knitters don’t like the untidiness of an unfinished steek edge, even if no one else will ever see it!
Tidying up these raw edges not only gives a well finished look to a garment – particularly where these raw edges might be visible – but also helps to protect the cut edges against unnecessary wear. The three most popular methods to finish off a steek are by covering it with a ribbon, sewing down the cut edges, or knitting a facing to completely encase it.
ADDING RIBBON
Using a length of ribbon is a decorative way to cover raw steek edges, and also helps to stabilise a garment’s opening. This method is well suited to cardigan projects, where the inside edges of the front sections may be visible from time to time; even if they’re not on view, though, it’s a pretty touch which will bring a smile to the wearer’s face when they see it! Choose a ribbon in a complementary colour, or go wild with a contrasting pattern.
Before starting to sew the ribbon in place, pick up and knit any buttonbands or front bands as required in your knitting pattern, then block the garment properly. Trim the raw yarn fringe at the outer edge of the steek, if it seems particularly long and messy, or you want to use a narrow ribbon. Next, lay your knitting on a flat surface, and carefully measure the length of the edge you want to cover – watch out for bulges in the fabric, which could give you an inaccurate measurement. Cut the ribbon to the length you’ve measured, adding on a little extra to enable you to fold over the cut ends of the ribbon at the top and bottom.
Now carefully pin the ribbon in place over the steek edge. Rather than pinning from top to bottom in one go, it can be easier and neater to add a pin first at the centre, and then a pin at each end (e.g. at the neckline and bottom edge), and then adding pins halfway between these pins until you have secured the entire length of ribbon. Ease the ribbon round any curves if your project has them, and make sure you haven’t covered any buttonholes!
Hand-stitch the ribbon in place, sewing through the top layer of your knitted fabric so that your stitches don’t show on the right side of your garment.
SEWING DOWN
A straightforward way to finish the raw steek edge is by sewing it down. If your project yarn is relatively thin, the tidiest way to do this is to fold the cut edge under, press it flat, and then whipstitch it in place. Sew carefully through the top layer of fabric so that your stitches don’t show on the right side of your garment. (We’ve used a contrasting yarn to show up the stitches.)
If your steek edge is too thick to do this, however, you can use whipstitch to encase the raw edges without folding them. Some knitters like to use a decorative stitch for this process – Elizabeth Zimmermann, for example, recommended herringbone stitch, while others prefer blanket stitch.
ENCLOSED FACING
To completely hide the steek edge, you can knit a facing, sometimes known as a ‘steek sandwich’. This is often used in Faroese knitting, for example, to strengthen raw edges around armholes, and to tidy up the front edges of cardigans. It’s usually used where no additional button bands are knitted onto the project, such as on cardigans designed to be worn open without buttons, or at necklines. It’s a method that’s best reserved for projects which have been knitted in thinner yarns, because it creates a border that is three layers thick – the outer layer of the border, the original cut edge of the fabric, and the inner layer of the border.
3 To begin, hold the fabric flat, with the right side facing up. Insert your knitting needle from the RS to the WS, between the last two stitches of the fabric next to the steek. On the WS, wrap the yarn around the knitting needle and pull through to form a stitch. Aim to pick up three stitches for every four rows along the side of the steek. (Our sample includes a row of crochet stitches in blue, which was used to reinforce the steek before it was cut open.)
Now, knit a border twice as deep as will be need to fold over and cover your steek edge. We’ve used stocking stitch in our photographs, and we have also included a purl foldline for a crisper edge – working one row of purl stitches on the right side, at the middle point of the facing ( 4).
When the facing is complete, trim the steeked edge to reduce bulk, then fold the facing over and pin down on the wrong side, encasing the steeked edge within the facing. Sew in place ( 5). Alternatively, you can leave the stitches on your knitting needle once the facing is the desired length, and graft the stitches in place on the wrong side of the fabric.