Hi, I am Kathleen and nearly 40 (but do not feel so )
I am an addict knitter and love to modify given patterns or do my own designs. I also like to do the “maths part” before knitting, as perfect preparation ensures a totally relaxed knit and saves me from correcting stupid mistakes or fiddling around, which often ends in frustration and an UFO (unfinished object)…I am a handknitter as well as machine knitter (brother KH 900, KH 860, singer memo) and there is nearly no day that I do not at least touch my knitting.
I am looking for an affordable (garment) construction program that helps me changing given patterns (once designed for myself) according to individual measurements (of friends or others) without having to construct/calculate everything again. By now, I do not know, whether to find this here, but it looks quite interesting to me!
I am curious to learn more about seamly and am also interested in learning to know this international community, as this universe hides so so many interesting things to know about and i cannot get enough of learning and trying new interesting topics.
As you might have noticed English is not my mother tongue, but I love languages and learned a few and would love to use this opportunity to improve this as well - so to speak in a win win situation
Hello Kathleen! Welcome to the Seamly community! I have never attempted knitting myself, though I do have a few needles just in case. I do remember that knitting patterns are supposed to be possible with Seamly. Hopefully someone familiar with that use will stop by soon. Maybe @slspencer has some idea.
Hi, there. I watched some Video tutorials totay and have to say: this is all so interesting and addictive!!! I have just rudimental sewing knowledge but by seeing all these exciting functions of this software I just want to learn how to construct garment patterns correctly. I love the logic behind all this. Adapting this to knitting is just another interesting step (I was also searching for knitting Software for ages, but the top product (designaknit) is a) just not affordable for a non-professional and b) just does not run on Mac and I do not want to buy an extra program for Mac just to run a super expensive program for Windows…that does not make sense for me. ) So I am looking for alternatives at least to do the construction part (calculating the gauge and inserting charts would be a dream, but I will simply do this the old way) and I found this friendly community!
Hello K8thy, welcome to the forum.
I am also a knitter!
I started knitting in the 1980’s then put it down for many years.
I started again a decade ago, and I mostly knit socks.
I did knit a sweater for my husband two years ago, just a basic one, of my own design/pattern. I did make a basic block pattern on paper, because it felt right to plan it that way.
I am sure you would be able to design knitting patterns here. At least the schematic drawings would be very easy to draw in Seamly 2d.
I hope you find the program useful!
Cheers,
Terri
Along with other needlework skills, I learned how to knit before I even started school. However, my older, left-handed sister taught me, so I never got the hang of handling the thread around the fingers
In the late 70s, I got my 1st single bed Janome knitting machine & knitted up a storm on it, later got an Empisal double-bed & also used it extensively, and later got a Passap Duo-matic, but somehow, the wools just got so expensive and jerseys seemed to go out of fashion here in South Africa, so it stood gathering dust until my mom took it. I got another one about 4 years ago, but never really used it & gave it to someone who needed it. And called it a day on knitting
As @Ttailor says, this program will produce a flat pattern for your garment which you can measure to determine the number of stitches and rows needed and where darts go, you will need to decrease, etc.
Other than that, I’ve used the Seamly software for various things other than making clothing or even working with fabric. It has become my favourite program for creating layouts for anything that needs to change dimensions
Willkommen hier. Ja ich stricke auch. Zur Zeit näh ich mehr und teste verschiedene Schnittkonstruktionen auf ihre Paßform und wie einfach manuelle Anweisungen umzusetzen sind.
Never got the hang of hand knitting… one of my aunt’s tried to teach me. I did pick up crocheting from her though.
It’s been quite some time since I’ve used them, but we do have a bunch of “vintage” Passap Duo-matic knitting machines at my costume shop… like this one.
We also have a machine that makes tubular knit trim. Tubular knit will turn easily in any direction. We use that when we need to make custom trim for use in one of the Cornely machines we have. They look like this… and a real trip to use as they stich (actually hook) in any direction - which is controlled by the hand crank below the table. We use a Cornely a lot for military braid on period uniforms.
Hello @K8thy ,
I knit as much as I can, and have used Seamly2D for a knitted top a few months ago. Worked great the first time, but I had to do it all over again when I knitted the second one with a lacy stitch : my gauge didn’t render properly the fact that the finished piece would be heavier and distort in a much different way… Well, Seamly2D worked great anyway.
@Douglas, that’s a very curious machine
I’ve seen machine for tubular sock knitting, which are larger (and look like vintage typewriter). How exactly does this one work ? How many needles are there ? Are they like Cornely “crocheted” needles, or more like knitting machine ones ?
You say it can work in any directions, so does it sew the knitted trim directly to the garment ? Or does it produce an independant tubular trim you then sew ?
It must be so great to work with these
The tubular braid knitting machine is a separate machine… it’s like a small version of a tube sock knitter. Has about 8 or 10 hooks, uses a single thread, and produces a braid about 1/4"- 3/8" wide that we can use in the Cornely machine shown above.
Heres the tube knitter - don’t mind the Singer Serger in the pic.
The Cornely machine is a chain stitch machine. The direction of sew is determined by the handle control under the table… there are no feed dogs… it a walking type foot and goes in the direction you turn the handle. You can feed braid (or sequins or other assorted ribbons or cordings) and stitch in any direction without turning the fabric.
We were fortunate enough years ago to buy up a bunch of the Cornely machines and parts dirt cheap from an oldtime sweater company in town that was going out of business.
Another knitting tidbit… the weights shown in pic are from a knitting machine that was used to make the knitted cuffs and bottom ribbing of jackets. The weights were used to keep tension on the knitted goods. The weights were designed to be added as needed to a hanger.
While we don’t have the machine, I did grab the weights from another jacket company that went out of business. I use them to keep pattern pieces on the fabric while marking. And yes it hurts when you drop one on your toes.
I have the same singer serger!
The machine that makes knitted braid, wow, I wish I had know about that a few years ago when we needed knitted braid produced. We ordered some from a guy who had taken over a business, but the braid he produce wasn’t knitted and wouldn’t, bend nicely, so it was virtually useless!
We still have a lot of trim at the theatre, some very old, left over from the 1980’s when they would buy 150 m spools of it at a time from a company that has since gone out of business.
Sad really.
We have about a 1/2 dozen of this type of Singer 246 model… from the black, to grey, to blue. The 246 is built like a tank and holds to much abuse. This particular one is a Frankenstein machine… it’s got parts from 3 or 4 different machines. We also have a Singer 990 - a newer ver of the 246, various Merrow servers, and probably a dozen or so
5 thread machines from Juki, Yamato, and Wilcox and Gibbs. We literally could open a sewing machine museum. Lol
That’s why the knitted braid works so well… it has a lot of give in any direction. Looks like the last time we used it was to make silver metallic braid. Like a lot of knitting machines this one can be finicky… one latch hook getting stuck and you can see the result in the pic… a mess. We probably had enough braid done and left the mess. :o
Yes… sadly so much of the sewing industry in the US is gone… from mills to production facilities to retail stores. We use to have M Wile around the corner from us that produced high end mens suits. Gone. Use to be 1/2 dozen fabric stores in the area… now we’re sometimes stuck scrounging from only 2-3 JoAnn stores to get enough yardage of some fabrics. Many of the sewing machine parts suppliers are gone. Surprisingly though Eastman cutting machines still exists around the corner from us.
Oh wow, very interesting!!! My absolute dream would be a circular knitting machine for sock knitting like the erlbacher gearhart machine (USA) but this has to remain a dream as it is just not effordable (not to mention shipping to Europe)…but it is always exciting to see what there is used all over the World!!!
I love old sewing and knitting machines… I have a Singer 1905 27K, and another 15K from 1936. Both need heavy reconditionning but have all their accessories. The 27K works with a shuttle and the 15K with a classic bobbin.
Recently, we inherited my husband’s grand-father Cornely 103-1 sewing machine (yep. not the embroidery type…), and few other tailoring tools.
The Cornely was still sewing some years ago, and the only thing that needs replacement is the electric cord : the machine is stocked in the attic, and we have 100° summers in Alsace. So it melted. But the motor is a late addition. I might be able to find the right belt and work it by foot.
I recently found two domestic knitting machines, in working condition, one for very fine wool, and the other for very large.
As far as I know of, the oldest one (might be a 1947 “Elnax” or something) was used to knit underwear (hence the lacy top attempt…)
The needles are so thin and tiny ! I hope I won’t mess to much with them fas replacement is not an option…
Oooooohhhh YES!!! I own four knitting machines by now and live in a tiny little two room flat…and there are so many more I need to try or possess…I just have to possess them all…I so much understand all these guys collecting oldtimer cars…same addiction…just to understand how they work and what their specific differences are
The term embroidery for some of the Cornely machines is kinda of a misnomer… don;t know why it’s often referred to as that. It’s really just a chain stitch machine, and while you can do emroidery type sewing with it, it way more than that. especially depending on the model. For example… if you set the needle to pull the stitch up a 1/4 or so, it’s a chenille machine…so you can make school letters or poodles for skirts. You just go around in circles filling in your design. Some models have an “orbiting” spool that you put cording on to do “corde” work. It wraps the cord around the chain as you sew. We have one model that is a twin needle machine and one of things it can do it sew down beads off a spool.
The fascinating thing about the Cornely machines is the original patent was back in the late 1700’s.
That’s why we were lucky when we bought up a bunch of the Cornely machines… we got a lot of the parts for the older models you can’t find anymore.
)
I am an addict knitter and love to modify given patterns or do my own designs. I also like to do the “maths part” before knitting, as perfect preparation ensures a totally relaxed knit and saves me from correcting stupid mistakes or fiddling around, which often ends in frustration and an UFO (unfinished object)…I am a handknitter as well as machine knitter (brother KH 900, KH 860, singer memo) and there is nearly no day that I do not at least touch my knitting.
desde España, a tejer aprendí de pequeña pero nunca me gustó 
