Knits 101 Session 3: Galleria of Knits

All right, we're ready to start looking at different types of knits and talking about what each one would be good for. In this video especially when we make this skirt we're going to be using jersey which is a very common type of knit. You're gonna find lots of different varieties at your local sewing store. This one that I actually used for the skirt has metallic threads in it. So it's kind of fancy and shiny. Jersey works great for all sorts of different projects. And it comes into not a lot of different weights. So this one's fairly thin. You can kind of see my fingers through it but because it's thin it drapes really nicely. This is another type of jersey. It's also pretty thin but you can get jersey and all different weights. So just look around and find one that you like. In fact, I have, well, we have some jeggings material which is pretty exciting. Here. I have like some double knits and ribbing. The double knit is actually the name of the process of creating the knit. But you'll see it used in stores as double knit or interlock often when you buy it it will come out as a tube. So you can see this is actually two layers here. Oh, maybe we can do that, there we go. It's two layers but it comes off the bolt in this tube format. And when you get this, you can see on one side that there are the wales. And on the other side, looks like there are courses on the side, yes. So the double knit is just a process by which they knit two pieces of knit fabric together as they make it. So it's just thicker. And often with double knit you will see that both sides look the same depending on how it's made. Now, this one in particular is not as thick as all the double knits out there but which is why you can see two differences on the two different sides. So that's a double knit and then there's ribbing. Ribbing is great to use kind of on a T-shirt, collar or cuffs. And it's sold generally by the inch. And it's much smaller because you don't need as much for it. It's very rare that you would make an entire garment out of ribbing but if you love ribbing, you should get some. And it's called ribbing because when you pull on it it makes these vertical lines. And as you work with it, it'll stretch a little bit as you sew it. And then it'll have those vertical lines right there. And that's very common. You'll find that on T-shirts, mostly on T-shirts but you know, on different projects. So if you wanna have ribbing if you wanna have the kind of bumpy feel to it, go ahead and use it. As for the jersey or the double knit, you can use that for anything any sort of project that's gonna work great for. And so here we have like this jegging material which is similar to jersey and super popular a couple of years ago. It's made to look like denim and it's brushed on one side, similar to denim. And on the other side, it's a slightly different color just because of the process of making it. And this would be great for leggings. I've actually made some hats out of this which is really fun. Just anything that you like would be great that you wanna to look slightly denimy. You could make a little like stretchy coat. That'd be pretty cool. And then we have interlock which there are a couple of different types of interlock, but this is a ponte knit which is a very secure type of knit. And it's gonna be stable. You don't have to worry about it stretching or losing its shape as much. These days, ponte knit is popping up, especially like in garments and like skirts is what I'm trying to tell you by motioning there, skirts and jackets of all sorts. So both outerwear jackets and suit jackets or blazers. So here we have this ponte knit which is very, very stable. You can see that it doesn't stretch vertically hardly at all but horizontally it still stretches quite nicely. And that's gonna be a great thing to work with. If you want something a little stable that's not going to stretch as much as you're sewing it. Now, speaking of interlocks, we also have this fun fabric. This is an interlock. An interlock is very similar to a double knit. They use the double knit process to make the interlock but in general, you will not see visible Vs on either side of an interlock. And that's because again, of the process of making it and you'll also not see the horizontal courses because it's two pieces that are knit together. They're very stable. This particular interlock is the kind of fabric that they would usually make PUL out of which is polyurethane laminate. If they had laminated this side of this fabric that's what this would be because of the combination of the fibers that are in it, polyurethane. And that's very common to use it in diaper covers and lunch totes, anything that you're worried about liquid escaping that's where you'd use PUL. This one because it's not laminated, this could easily be a swimsuit material. It's very smooth and soft but it's very strong and it's stretchy. And it has stretched not as much vertically but horizontally. You can find some that have the vertical stretch depending on what you're shopping for. So that would be a fun thing to use that for. And then we kind of have these like athletic knits, right. The first one you would definitely see like shorts to go play basketball in or to run some miles in. It has a pattern done in it. And that is put in there so that this fabric breathes more easily. Again, this is only gonna stretch horizontally and not vertically. So this is just a one-way stretch. And it comes in a variety of fun colors, including neon green. So this would be for athletic uses. This is a swim wear material. Or if you wanted to make a body suit to wear for gymnastics or ice skating, an ice dancing costume you can make that out of this. And it's very stretchy and it stretches both directions. So this is considered a four-way stretch. As you can see, it goes both ways. It's really fun and a cute color which I like I've done a variety of colors. So when you need to make something that's gonna stretch both directions, a swimsuit is a very good example or again, some sort of body suit that you're putting on for something exciting. So in that same, it feels similar. You're gonna find this is a fashion knit and it's actually a panel that has some flowers in the middle which is nice because it has a border edge to it. So if you wanted to make a skirt out of this, that would be lovely. It stretches mostly horizontally and not vertically but it can stretch both ways. And you're gonna see this in a lot of different types of garments and stores and it feels nicely. This is a polyester blend. So it has a nice hand and a nice drape to it. And this would be great for dresses and other garments. It is pretty stretchy and it is a little slippery. So when you sew with it you wanna take that into consideration and add in some of the tips I'm going to show you later like using tissue paper or adjusting your presser foot pressure. Now this is slinky which is a very popular type of fabric. I was not able to find any at my local fabric store but I know that they sell it. By its design, slinky is actually a ribbed fabric. So if you look closely, let's pull that apart right there. You can see the ribs pop up when you stretch it. Slinky is popping up as a very popular form of clothing because it breathes nicely. It's actually made of acetate and Lycra which means that when you're wearing it it's very stretchy, very flattering. And it drapes really lovely. So a lot of different things are made out of it. I've seen pants and dresses and shirts and skirts. So you might see this out there. And if you happen to like wearing slinky fabric then you might as well buy some and start sewing some for yourself. And then we have some specialty fabrics. These are just different types of fabrics I saw at the fabric store that were knit that I thought you might enjoy seeing. This is a textured knit. So it's pretty solid. It doesn't stretch too, too much vertically but horizontally it will. But what they've done, if they've taken two pieces of knit fabric and then press them together and melted them on these little shell patterns. So it's really a cute thing to do. It stretches, you could make a dress out of it though it probably wouldn't breathe very well. I'm thinking about making a little purse out of it. So, there's a lot of different things out there that you can do or a scarf might look cute. Velour, which is sort of velvet's little cousin 'cause velvet is definitely a woven but velour is a knit and it's stretchy and a little it's a little bit stretchy. Velour is commonly used for sort of athletic clothes and relaxing clothes. You'll see velour sweatsuits or sweat pants and sweatshirt material. That's a knit fabric. So if you want to sew yourself a sweatshirt that's a very stable knit fabric to start with. Here we have glittery flocked, cheetah print. This is a very special sort of fabric that you would really only use maybe for a costume or if you were making yourself an entertainment, if you're an entertainer and you need to sew yourself a really fancy dress, this is for you or it could make a really cute prom dress. If you're into that. Again it stretches. The way that the velvet is made is that the entire piece comes out with that velour velvet on it, and then it's burned out in a pattern. And then they add the glitter to this one not to all of them but to this one. So there's that guy and any sort of sequined material that's gonna be a knit as well. Now sequined material also has its own special needs when you're sewing it. You have to be careful and to not sew through the sequence 'cause that can break your needle or at least come up with a plan for how you're gonna sew through them. But it's very stretchy and you could use this to make a dress. You'd need to line it just because it's also kind of see-through and in any sort of costume that would be great out of the sequence. Here, we have another textured knit which kind of reminds me of band-aids but it's a sueded fabric and that's just the creation process. It's actually sueded on both sides. And then they punch these holes in it. This is fairly stretching, not too bad but it actually stretches both directions almost equally. So this is a four-way knit as well or a four-way stretch. You could use this for accessories. Again, a dress would be fine. It stretches both ways so you wouldn't wanna make something that's super loose that you wear just because then it'll stretch down as you wear it. And then of course, stretch lace which is lovely and wonderful, it's great to use on the edges of things or for undergarments. It breaths well because there's all these holes in it. And it stretches a lot. And this is actually also referred to as lingerie lace because it is finished with a nice lace edging on both sides. And it comes in a variety of colors. I happen to like teal and green. So that's why I picked that one out. And then we have our bulkier knits. Sweater knits are very, very popular and you can get them in a variety of colors and shades. I pick this one up, which is fun. It looks a lot like our knit samples that we were looking at earlier because it's just knit with yarn that you could knit this except it would take you a long time but it's knit with yarn that's thicker than the other yarns used in the other ones. And it's stretchy in both directions and it comes in a variety of colors. So you could make a sweater out of it or a sweater dress or anything that suits your fancy. Fleece, a very popular fabric that I'm sure you've worked with. It is also actually a knit and it stretches as you're aware. Because fleece is so stable you don't have to take as many considerations into it when you're sewing it. If not simply because you can make a no-sew things You don't have to worry about sewing it. if you don't want to out a fleece though I recommend sewing it because sewing is fun. And then all you have to worry about is just stitching it. So I've sewn fleece projects for years and years and not sewn them the same way you would sewn stretchy fabric. But if you want it to stretch if you're trying to engage that part of the fabric you should still use stretch stitches and the needles that we're gonna talk about in a little bit. But because fleece is so thick you're gonna wanna use this for outerwear, hats, gloves, mittens. You can make some really nice slippers. It's nice and warm and cozy. Here we have some terry cloth that is knit. This one is very nice. It's sort of almost a fleecy sort of feel to it. And it stretches as you can see. Terry cloth of course you could make yourself a designer set of bathroom towels or washcloths or a robe or anything along those lines. That would be perfect for terry cloth. And now we have faux fur almost all forms of faux fur, in fact, I can't think of any forms of faux fur that aren't a knit. You can actually tell on their back that they're a knit. Some of them are more stable than others and they won't stretch, this one stretches a little bit. It comes of course, in all different finishes, long, long-long, furry-furry hair. This one's shorter cropped and has this circular pattern on it which is nice. Anything that you want to be furry, right? You can make dolls out of it. You can make Halloween costumes out of it. You can make really nice hats, outerwear, et cetera. I'm thinking of making myself a shawl. So there you go. That's all the different knits that I came across that I thought were fun that you might wanna look at today. But of course there are so many more out there. And if you come across a knit that you aren't really aware of what it is or how to work with it, just ask someone at your fabric store. Local fabric stores often have experts working in them that can tell you, oh yeah I've sewn that fabric before. And here's the best way to work with it. And here's some tips. In general, this is just an overview of a variety of types but you'll find some more out there I'm sure that we haven't gone over today and go ahead and look it up or just search for it on the internet to make sure you know how to work with it. Another quick tip when you're buying your fabric, snap a photo of the end of the bolt so that you know exactly what it's made of and you know exactly how to care for it. And if it doesn't tell you care instructions you can always look up again on the internet, exactly the best way to wash it and dry it and press it. And speaking of that I think we're about ready to start learning about washing, drying and pressing our knits. So we're gonna talk about caring for your knits next. Be sure to stay tuned.