The Struggle for the Straight Seam

The Struggle for a Straight Seam

So this blog has come from a place of frustration and a lot of frogging! Having struggled so much with achieving a straight seam, I decided I can’t be the only one and well, here I am sharing a couple tips and tricks to, hopefully, help you achieve a straight seam.

It all started with a bath mitt, yes that’s right, a bath mitt, this pattern will be a separate blog once the spa set has been completed. Who would have thought a straight seam on a bath mitt would be so crucial, but I’m one of those people that if a pattern says doing X Y Z will give you a straight seam and it doesn’t, I will delve into the depth of Youtube, blogs and comment boards to figure out why it didn’t work and how to get it to work. Needless to say, no matter how I interpreted the pattern, I just couldn't get it to work, so off I went to Youtube to watch endless videos to find one that worked for me and explained why it would work.

Whilst trawling through Youtube, I was very pleased to stumble across Designs by Phanessa who really clearly shows you how to achieve a straight seam both when increasing in the round, and when working in the round once you have your desired number of stitches.

If you’re not one for videos, here is a quick summary of how to first maintain a straight seam whilst working in the round. Don’t increase in the first stitch, unless you are increasing in all stitches. So just shuffle your pattern around and make it work for you. It really is that easy (once someone explains it for you). For example, if your pattern says ‘*2 HDC in the first stitch, HDC in the next* repeat from * to * around’ then swap those two instructions over so your pattern reads ‘*HCD in the first stitch, 2HDC in the next* repeat from * to *’. 

If you are working in the round and have finished increasing it’s a little more complex but comes down to just working 2 simple rounds. I’m going to use HDC as my main stitch for this example:

Rnd 1 - chain 1, HDC in the second stitch of the round (place a stitch marker in the skipped stitch, this will help you later), HDC around to the last stitch in the round, HDC in the skipped stitch. Slip stitch into the top of the 1st HDC of the round. Count your stitches, you should have the same number as you stated with as you still crochet in that skipped stitch. The skipped HDC which was the first of your round becomes the last stitch of your round.

Rnd 2 - chain 1, HDC in the same stitch, HDC around, slip stitch into the first HDC of the round.

Repeat these two rounds.

Sometimes a little pattern jiggery-pokery will be required to ensure the design still works, so have a think about your pattern and how this may affect it and adapt as necessary.

If what I have recommended above doesn’t work for you, there are loads of other videos that explain it in different ways and show you different methods for getting a straight seam.

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Happy crafting and until next week!

Emilly x