How to make a knitted ATC

Last week I shared my ATC Yellow Cable and promised to write a tutorial, so here it is.

You need:

• a knitted piece that measures 2½ x 3½ inch when stretched
• a piece of thick cardboard 2½ x 3½ inch, so you can put pins at the sides (mine was 1½ mm)
• matching fabric for the backside 4 x 5 inch
• pins
• a sewing needle
• strong matching sewing thread
• optional: a piece of matching paper 2½ x 3½ inch to put between the knitting and the backside

Iron the fabric and centre the cardboard on the wrong side of the fabric.

Sew the long sides together with a strong sewing thread. Secure the thread with a few knots, leave a small tail and cut the thread. The tail will help to keep the knots secured.

Pin the small sides and sew them together with a new sewing thread.

Make sure you only stitch the top layer of the fabric at the corners, so you can adjust the fabric when you are sewing the knitted piece.

Secure the thread with a few knots, leave a tail and cut the thread.

The finished backside of the ATC.

Weave in the thread ends of the knitted piece at the backside. It doesn’t have to be neat, only make sure it’s not visible at the right side.

Put the wrong sides together and pin the corners of the knitted piece in the corners of the backside. This is why you need a thick piece of cardboard.

Pin the sides halfway.

Continue pinning halfway until it’s stretched enough to sew the parts together. Sew the knitted piece to the fabric with a whipstitch.

I wasn’t happy with the larger holes in my knitted piece, the inside of my ATC was visible. I just put a piece of yellow paper between the layers and pinned it again. It would have been easier to put the paper between the layers before pinning the first time!

Make 2 small knots in the edge of the fabric and put your needle between the fabric and the cardboard.

Pull tight and cut the thread as close to the fabric as possible without cutting the fabric. The thread will disappear between the layers.

The finished ATC.

Of course this is just my way of finishing a knitted ATC, I’m sure there are more ways to do this.