Maybe it’s the magpie in my blood, or the fact that as a child I never had a spangled tutu, but the current fashion for sequins touches me to the core. They’re all out there, in cellophane packets, waiting to adorn some fabulously flashy outfit—shiny, concave cuvettes and sparkling, flat paillettes, shaped like snowflakes, leaves, and stars.
During the first part of the century, sequins were associated with bawdy, barroom garb and theatrical costumes. But in the 1930s, Norman Norell created elegant evening gowns with handsewn sequins. Oscar de la Renta added sequins to evening pajamas, and Suzy Perette attached them to paisley prints. Constance Rivemale, a designer of wearable art, creates quilted collage fabrics with sections outlined in sequins. Today, sweaters, shoes, dresses, even hairpieces arc sequinned—the list is limited only by the imagination.
Sequins are usually sewn onto knitted garments, but I like to make them an integral part of the fabric. You can add paillettes with large, off-center holes over the needles one at a time as you work, but small-holed cuvettes must be threaded onto the yarn before you knit.
Threading cuvettes is easy if you buy them strung together. Tie the thread to the yarn with a single knot, and slide the sequins over the knot onto the yarn. The cup, or front, of the cuvettes should face the ball of yarn so they’ll be cup side out on the knitted fabric to each the most light. Work with a smooth knitting yarn so the sequins will thread easily.
Push the sequins far enough onto the yarn so that you can cast on and knit at least two rows of stockinette stitch. To attach sequins to the right side of the garment, you must be on a knit row. Slide a sequin up close to the right needle, insert
The needle into the next stitch, yarn over, and push the sequin through the old stitch before taking the new one off the needle. Knit the next stitch through the back of the loop to keep the sequins lying flat and in diagonal lines, as shown in the drawings at right.
Another way to add couvettes—and one I find faster—is with the linen stitch. With the yarn in front, slip any knit stitch and slide a sequin onto the yarn that is carried. This method gives you a different effect. Instead of dangling vertically, the cuvettes are positioned horizontally across the fabric, and they don’t lie as flat as they do when they’re threaded onto the yarn.
Never put cuvettes on the first or last two stitches of a row, as they’ll interfere with the seams. In circular knitting, alternate plain-knit and sequinned rows so the sequins won’t overlap. On flat and circular work, stagger the sequins in consecutive rows to obtain an even coating of shine. You can get a lot of dazzles by patterning just one area or by creating stripes.
To cover a medium-sized, long-sleeved sweater with 8mm cuvettes, you’ll need about 10,000 of them; but if you use 20mm paillettes and don’t overlap them, you’ll need only about 500 for a sleeveless shell.
To add a large-holed paillette to a row (see photos below), knit to the stitch where you want to place it, and hang the paillette on the tip of the right needle. Knit the next stitch, lift the paillette over the needle so that it hangs on the new stitch. The paillette will lie flat, so you don't need to knit into the back of the next stitch. This technique was so easy when I discovered it that I was certain it couldn’t work. But it does.
As a “continental” knitter—I hold the yarn in my left hand—I preferred this technique, but depending on how you knit, you may find that it’s faster and more comfortable to attach large-holed paillettes in this way: Insert the tip of the right needle into a paillette and then through the next stitch. Yarn over and pull the new stitch through both the old stitch and the paillette.
If you’re a machine knitter, you can't add cuvettes or small-holed paillettes to your knitting (they won’t fit onto the needles or the double thickness of yarn), but you can add large-holed paillettes (see photos, p. 62). You’ll be adding them to the wrong side, or purl side, of the fabric. Machine-knit one row beyond the row you want to sequin, select the needles to which you want to add paillettes, and then push the needles all the way forward to holding position. Hang a paillette on a latch hook, and use the hook to grab the stitch below the one on the needle. Now push the needle back to nonworking position so the stitch drops and unravels one row. Slide the paillette off the hook and onto the stitch. Then push the latch hook into the dropped stitch so the yarn is behind the latch. Rehang the stitch onto the original needle, lifting the dropped stitch at the same time. It isn’t necessary to reknit the dropped stitch—hanging it back on the needle creates a tuck stitch. Add paillettes across the row. Then knit at least one row plain and repeat the process. Stagger the sequins in alternate rows.
You can also crochet with sequins. If you're using cuvettes, slide them onto the yarn with the cups facing the ball. I alternate rows of single- and double-crochet stitches, with sequins on the latter. To add a sequin with a double-crochet stitch, slide the sequin up close to the hook and lift it over the hook with the first yarn over. Then put the hook into the top of the single crochet stitch below, pull a loop through, yarn over, and pull it through two loops behind the sequin, twice.
When working on a knit or crochet project, always makes a sample swatch that includes the sequins, measuring carefully to determine the stitch and row gauges. When working with cuvettes, check your work frequently—ripping out is a nightmare, because each sequin must be passed back through a stitch. After you've finished, be sure to block the pieces. Place them between wet towels, and when they're saturated, push them into shape with your fingers. Never use steam or a hot iron for blocking, or you will have a melted disaster. I prefer to hand-wash sequinned garments, but if you decide to have them dry-cleaned, test a swatch first. Some sequins dissolve in the chemicals.
As I write, I find a paillette in my shoe. I wonder how sequins would look on socks?
