A sticky tip for sewing

i had decided some time ago that i would like to have a striped bateau neck t-shirt.  i shopped around for awhile and then decided i would be better off sewing one. minor problem, i had not machine sewn any knit fabric before. but i decided that wasn't going to stop me. i found a pattern, new look 6838, that i thought would work and some fabric. i cut out the pattern, and then it just sat there waiting for me to work on it. i even ran across this tip on pinterest about sewing on knit fabric and doing away with wavy seams.

then today i decided to try to work on the shirt. i got out the pattern, the cut fabric, my scissors, my pins, and my lovely featherweight. i am not a very experienced sewer, even though i have sewn for quite a few years. and while i adore my featherweight the needle plate does not have seam allowance marks. so i got out the handy dandy blue painter's tape to make my own seam allowance mark. 

as i started to sew the back seam the edges of the fabric were rolling like crazy. my mum had come to sit with me while i was sewing. she and i got to discussing how knit fabric was notorious for rolling. i mentioned to her the cool tip i had pinned on pinterest. then my mum being the clever and resourceful lady that she is asked why i didn't just try using the painter's tape.

 brilliant! that is exactly what i did, and it worked wonderfully. i simply tore off short pieces of the tape and laid it close to the edge of the fabric on the seam i was preparing to sew.

i also pinned the pieces together below the tape.

i then zipped it up on the sewing machine.

how it looks after it's sewn

then comes the fun part of taking the tape off. since i used a painter's tape, available at most hardware stores in the paint department, it is a low tack and is easy to remove. i simply tore off one side of the stitching.

and then the other side. as you can see the fabric started to curl up.

sometimes when you pull the tape off a wee bit of the tape gets stuck under the stitches. don't worry it's quite easy to remove. so there you have it a sticky tip for sewing knit fabric.

if you give this tip a try let me know how it works for you.

Cheers!