When you start sewing knit fabrics, you quickly hear about ribbing... but what exactly is it... Want to know more? 
So let's discover together the world of this special textile...

What is ribbing?

Ribbing consists of strips of "knit" fabric (knitted in ribs) that are sewn to the edge of a garment. This is actually where their name comes from: elastic stitches knitted in ribs that are placed on an edge. 

The special feature of "knit" fabrics (like jersey) is that they have more or less stretch. This elasticity is very important for ribbing. Imagine sewing tight ribbing around a wrist; you will need this knit stretch to pass your hand through to put on your garment. 

The ribs are oriented along the grain; in other words, the knitted lines you see run along the grain. Most of the time, ribbing is quite compact, and its composition can vary. It can be found in cotton, polyester, acrylic... with or without added elastane. 

You will find different presentations of ribbing in the shop. It can be sold in a tubular form, meaning you can buy a "tube of ribbing" in a small width (often 35-40cm) or you can find it as a ready-to-use strip like in my shop.  

All colors are allowed, it's a chance to brighten up a plain sweatshirt by adding contrasting cuffs or playing with color combinations, lurex, fluorescent fabrics... In short, everything is allowed. 

What is it used for?

As stated above, the ribbing will be sewn to the edge of a garment with the purpose of:

• to finish it neatly
• to give it support (e.g., the cuffs tighten the sleeve, the band under the bomber jacket helps keep warm air inside...)
• to add pep and originality to certain creations.

Its elastic composition really makes it an ally for finishing your garments. You will find it at the bottom of sweatshirt sleeves, jackets... at the bottom of a jacket or pants waistband as well as around necklines. 

How to sew it?

Materials

• ribbing
• fabric
• polyester thread or foam thread
• one or two stretch or jersey needle(s) 
• your sewing machine or your overlocker

Indeed, ribbing is sewn with a stretch stitch. You can therefore assemble your ribbing with an overlocker (for example, for my sweatshirt, this is the technique I used) or you can sew ribbing with the stretch/elastic stitch on your sewing machine. 

Caution before sewing

The ribbing band you will sew to your work should be slightly shorter than the fabric to which it will be attached. This also means that during sewing, the ribbing will be slightly stretched to fit the length of the fabric; so it is important to pin well or even baste the ribbing to the fabric by hand. 

How to assemble?

First step, cut your ribbing band (if using a ready-made band: one height is enough; if it's tubular ribbing, double the height so you can fold it over itself and thus form a "natural" edge, see photo 4).

Second step (photos 1 and 2) close the ribbing band to form a circle.

Third step, carefully pin your ribbing to your fabric. Feel free to mark quarter points as noted in the caution above. 

Fourth step, sew together in a single seam (by turning your work on itself), you can press over your first stitches to reinforce the seam.

And there you go, all that's left is to finish (tuck in or cut the threads depending on the sewing technique used) and to turn the ribbing band which below becomes a little cuff for my godson's sweatshirt ;-)