Is It Possible?

[hemmelighed]

Hiya, 

So while cleaning out some of my crochet stash, I had an idea I thought was totally brilliant. The problem is that I don't know if its completely possible and kind of don't want to try if its not going to work. Anyways, I rediscovered a single motif pattern that I've managed to adapt to be able to crochet it into an endless pattern in nearly any shape, so my next thought is whether I can turn this motif into clothing.

I mean this as in does anyone know if it would be possible to crochet pieces of a dress/shirt/skirt pattern from a sewing pattern then sew the edges together with a sewing machine?

Keep in mind this would all be done with lace weight crochet thread, so not only will making the pieces be time consuming but hand sewing them would be as well. Which is why I thought my machine sewing idea was brilliant.

Does anyone have experience making whole garment with various pieces of crocheted "fabric"? If so any advice?

[redrosesdz]

My question back to you is:  Do you have experience sewing lace?  If not, I would buy some cheap lace and some tulle.  Practice sewing pieces together and see how you do.  Sewing things on a machine that has holes isn't easy.  Once you've decided that you can sew manufactured lace, create 2 small motifs and try sewing those.  Crochet not only has holes, the thread moves.

You could try to find fabric tape in the same color as the thread.  There is clear fabric tape, too.  Place the 2 pieces of crochet together.  Fold the fabric tape in half and put it along the edge.  Secure with pins (a lot of them.)  Sew the fabric tape.  The tape will give the machine something to grab.  I saw this done with super silky/slippery fabric.  Note: clear fabric tape is a plastic, so it will poke and stick to flesh.  Personally, I'd only use it for something that goes over a top, slip, etc.

I don't have experience with this, but I have tried to hand sew fabric applique to what I thought was very solid crochet work.  I spent a lot of time before giving up.  My recommendation is hand sew the pieces together.  It'll be more secure and will last longer.

[Granny Square]

Frankly I do a lot of machine sewing, and I would not consider it.  Hand sewing may take a little longer, but can be done invisibly (or nearly so);  I just can't think of a way to machine sew it that would be an improvement on the end product, even time-wise, since you can't just sew it up like woven fabric.

Sewing patterns are designed for woven fabric, or knitted fabric that has little stretch, won't unravel, with per-inch stitch thread (stitch) count many times  greater than crocheters could achieve with the tiniest hook and lace weight, even sewing thread.  Patterns designed for fabric may not have the right fit for stretchy crochet fabrics.  If you're using the seam allowances it would be very bulky, probably uncomfortable and unsightly (and would need reinforcement as mentioned above, which would make it worse).  I don't think omitting the pattern's seam allowance and machine overcasting would look as nice as hand sewing.  

Also...have you ever sewn with really stretchy fabrics?  Double kits are pretty stable, but some knit fabrics take a great deal of care to sew up without getting a seam that looks wavey  I would think that it would be difficult to machine sew a flat laying seam on crochet fabric.

As an aside for garment seams, I'm a little lazy and since it sounds like you are in designing mode...If a sweater calls for a front & back piece with side seams, I almost always tweak the pattern to make a combined front&back 'tube' instead to omit the side seams up to the sleeve opening, then in 2 bodice flaps above that.  The only seams are at the shoulders and sleeves.

[magiccrochetfan]

another approach to seaming a lacy garment would be to use a chain technique, that i first saw in posts by designer Jenny King (who called it Asian seaming technique because she first noticed it on well-made retail garments crocheted in Asian countries).   You slip st or sc into your garment piece, chain a bit to get to another connection point, then stitch into the adjoining piece.  thus the 2 garment pieces are joined together but the join itself is lacy and flexible like the rest of the garment.  Ms King did have a blog post about it that i could access but i think it is now moved to a page of hers that you have to pay for.    I will try to find that again, or another  description, I know I was looking at something just the other day....

oh wait I think i remember .....  see Chain St #2 on this page https://rensfibreart.wordpress.com/handy-crochet-tips-tricks-2/d-joining-new-yarn-joining-fabric-squares-motifs/

or Ch St #1 for that matter

(sorry for describing all the rummaging around in my memory   )

[magiccrochetfan]

i found the reference on J King's site, I guess its free but you have to go thru the ordering process to get it https://www.jennykingdesigns.com/product/asianchain-crochet-seam/

but even if you don't do that you can see a pic, where the seam is done in a darker yarn so you can identify it but you can really see how it blends in.

i thought i might order it as i recall it being a really good tutorial, then i realized i already got it and have it saved....the RensFibreArt  link above shows how, it is chain st #2 there.  but Jenny's tutorial goes into much more detail.  

 

[Granny Square]

Great links, especially the chain one, interesting!  

I guess my brain went from "hand sewing" to "by hand".  I rarely SEW seams (for crochet) unless I wanted it to be more invisible than slip stitch for some reason, or if the seam needs to be eased (one side of seam longer than the other).  I usually seam with a slip stitch.

Your links got me thinking (and don't know why this didn't occur to me for other projects because I've run across a couple of doily patterns that worked this way) -- I bet rows of many crochet stitch patterns could be joined-as-you-go at the 'side seam' while making the second piece.  Hmm.  

[redrosesdz]

Thanks, Kathy! 

I feel like I should have thought of this technique for seaming, too. I did a MAM that joined the panels with the technique. The joins look great & lay flat.  It never occurred to me to use it for seaming! 

[hemmelighed]

Thank You to everyone for their thoughtful and amazingly helpful contributions!!

I am still somewhat ambitious in regards to this project and might try to incorporate of of the above methods in something big. I've been aspiring to make an entire dress with lace crochet, which will definitely take forever but I'm willing to try.

Again, Thank you all!!