How do you join knitted squares together?

At some point in your knitting, you would have to sew your knit fabrics together. You may have collected many knitted squares from practicing your patterns and stitches, or you may want to start easy on your knitting hobby by knitting squares first. You can assemble your knitted squares into something gorgeous and useful.

Joining knitted squares together, you can create a lovely patchwork blanket or elegant throw pillowcases. You will be able to create something impressive just by sewing together the knitted squares that you made.

The first thing you must do is to layout your knitted squares on a large surface so you can arrange them according to colors or design to your liking. You can join the squares by alternating the horizontal with vertical rows of stitches to make your project look more textured and interesting.

To sew your knitted squares together, place them side by side with each other on the flat surface with the right sides facing up. Use safety pins to temporarily attach a square to an adjacent square, starting at the corners, and place some pins in between to hold the squares together as you sew.

Sew your knitted squares together using the same yarn you used for knitting. You will also need a yarn needle with a blunt end an eyehole big enough for your yarn to pass through. You can join your knitted squares using different tools and methods.

What is the best way to sew knitted squares together?

The best way to sew knitted squares together depends on what stitches you used to knit and the type of knitting project you are doing. One method may work for a particular project but may not be useful for another. A mattress stitch may look great on a sweater but not on a blanket. Sewing your knitted squares together using a different colored yarn may look better than knitting with the same yarn you used for knitting. Read on to help you decide on the best way to sew your knitted squares together.

How do you sew knitted squares together invisibly?

1. Mattress Stitch for Stockinette

When you are joining two knitted squares using the fabrics’ sides, an excellent method to use the mattress stitch. The mattress stitch creates a nice, invisible seam on the right sides of your knitted fabric.

The first thing to do is to thread a yarn needle with a length three times that of the side of your knitted square. Find the edge-most stitch on the left-hand square with the right sides facing you and draw your yarn through it, leaving at least 3 inches of tail.

Bring the needle up through the leftmost corner at the right-hand square. Then pull-up the yarn through the same hole in the left-hand square. You have formed a little figure of eight to join your squares. Pull the yarn to tighten.

Side-to-side Seam

• Look first between the edge and the first row of ‘V’s of your stockinette stitch fabric, and you will see ladder-like yarn bars which some knitters call running bars. You will sew the two squares together by stitching around these bars using the mattress stitch.
• With your two knitted squares joined at the bottom stitches, start your mattress stitch by passing the needle under the first two running bars of the right-hand knitted square.
• Then, pass the needle under the first two running bars on the left-hand knitted square, in the same manner you did on the right.
• Insert the needle down into the same spot where it came out on the right-hand knitted square. Then, pass the needle through the next two running bars and come back up again.
• Repeat the process alternately on the two knitted squares until you have two to three inches done. Pull the yarn to tighten and watch the seam become invisible as the two fabric pieces come together.

Note: The mattress stitch is supposed to connect one row of knitting of one fabric to the one row of the other. But there are times when the number of rows of the squares is not equal. You can solve this situation by taking a running bar from one side and two running bars from the other side to even out at the top. Because the mattress stitch is invisible, no one will notice the unequal number of stitches.

Top-to-top Seam

• Align and pin the bound-off edges your two knitted squares with the right side facing up. On the first knitted square, push your needle under the first knit stitch, then do the same thing on the first knit stitch of the second square.
• Repeat this process along the bound-off edges of both knitted squares until you reach the other end. Note that you have to tighten the yarn for every 2 to 3 inches of the fabrics you joined. Drawing the seam will make the yarn invisible and the bound fabric smooth.

Top-to-Side Seam

• Joining your knitted squares top to side means you are seaming together edges that are not in a 1:1 ratio because of the difference in stitch and row gauge in the fabrics. Aligning and pinning the two knitted squares together is most important in seaming this combination. Your fabrics must be facing the right sides up.
• Start by slipping the needle under both legs of the stitch below the bottommost bound-off edge. Find the first two running bars at the other square between the edge and the first stockinette row and pull up the needle. Go back down to the center of the same stitch on the bound-off edge, then come up on the next stitch center.
• Repeat this procedure until you reach the top. You can take one or two running bars at the other square to make the seam lay flat.

2. Mattress Stitch for Garter Stitch Fabrics

The mattress stitch, when used to join garter stitch knitted squares, creates a flat seam. Notice that the garter stitch fabric is made of purl bumps, half of which are curving upward while the other half is curving downward. The upward-curving bumps are called under bumps, and the downward-curving bumps are called over bumps.

1. Start by joining the two knitted squares together at the bottom corners, with the right sides facing up.
2. Insert the needle under the bottommost under bump on the left-hand square. Then, pass the needle under the bottommost over bump on the right-hand square
3. Insert the needle on the next under bump on the left knitted square, then pass the needle under the next over bump on the right knitted square. Repeat this process until you reach the top of the squares. Remember to pull the yarn to tighten the seam and watch it disappear just as a mattress stitch should.

How do you join knitted squares to make a blanket?

The baseball stitch is a strong, flat, and stretchy seam, which looks the same on both sides of the knitted fabric is a perfect stitch to use in making a blanket from knitted squares. The stitching is not invisible, so that you can use it to your advantage. Using a contrasting yarn color can create a nice finishing touch to your finished blanket. But you can also use a yarn with the same color as your knitted squares so the seam will blend in nicely with your knitted square fabrics. The baseball stitch is an excellent seaming stitch to use for hiding uneven edges.

• Start by placing your two knitted squares side by side and cut your seaming yarn with a length eight times the length of the side of the square. Thread your yarn needle, then insert your yarn needle at the left bottom stitch of the right-hand square. Pull the yarn through and leave a small tail.
• Insert the needle from back to the front of the bottom corner of the left-hand square. Now, you have attached the bottom of your squares.
• To start the seam, insert the yarn needle from the back to front in a spot, one stitch away from the edge of the square, and one row away from the last sewn place. Repeat this method alternately between the two knitted squares until you reach the top of the knits. Pull the yarn to tighten but not too tight, just enough to join the edges of your squares and the seam to lay flat.

Note: You can do the stitches two rows apart, but the seam will be looser and will not hide the edges. Do the procedure which you think is more useful for your knitting project. You can use the baseball stitch on any knitting stitches or patterns.

How do I crochet knitted squares together?

You can use a crochet hook and make single crochet stitches to join your two knitted squares together. You have the option of showing the single crochets at the right side of your fabric to create a lovely texture, or you can hide the crochets at the wrong side of the material and have a smooth seam joining your two edges. Below is a procedure for joining knitted squares with the crochet stitches on the wrong sides.

1. Hold the two pieces of knitted squares with the right sides together.
2. Insert your crochet hook through both bottom corners of your fabrics. Wrap your yarn around the hook and pull through. Wrap both yarns (the one for the seaming and the tail) on the hook and pull through. Pull out the yarn of the tail and retain the other yarn for seaming. Insert your hook on the next two stitches on both pieces, yarn over, then pull through.
3. You now have two loops on your hook. Yarn over, then pull through both loops to make the first single crochet stitch. Repeat the process until you have joined all the stitches of your knitted squares.
4. Secure the ends by weaving the tails into the fabric. The single crochet seam is a sturdy seam to use for any stitches.

Also check: 

• Telling the right side of the fleece fabric
• Stopping a thread from knotting
• Keeping your necklace pendant from turning

Can I sew knitted squares together on a sewing machine?

Sewing your knitted squares together on a sewing machine creates a clean and smooth finish at the right sides of your fabric. Some knitters dread finishing a knitting project because it means joining the knitted pieces together, and the knitting part is finished. Some knitters do not like sewing the knitted fabrics together by hand because it takes so much time, so some find other ways to accomplish this task by using the sewing machine.

Sewing knitted squares together on a sewing machine makes the work faster and easier than joining each square to the other by hand sewing. Using a sewing machine can help you finish your knitted squares blanket in a lesser amount of time.