How to Needle Felt a Steek

When you want to cut your knitting (to turn a pullover into a cardigan, or to create armholes in a tube of stranded knitting), you need to secure the stitches on either side of the cutting line so they wont unravel. While there are many traditional methods for securing those stitches, a new method has gained popularity in recent years. Content Manager Kerry Bogert recently tried needle felting to secure the steeks on her Susurrous Cardigan, and she’s a convert.

What’s a Steek?

A steek is a narrow panel of extra stitches connecting two sections of fabric and intended to be cut when the knitting is complete. The actual knitting or cutting of those stitches is referred to as steeking.

What Is Needle Felting?

Needle felting is the process of using a sharp, barbed needle to entangle fibers, turning them into felt. Unspun wool is often needle felted to create small soft sculptures and embellishments, but yarn can also be needle felted.

What Do You Need?

You’ll need three tools to needle felt a steek. The first, you probably already own: a pair of small sharp scissors. The other two might be unfamiliar: a felting mat brush and a needle felting tool.

The needle felting mat is a brush with a flat surface of stiff nylon bristles secured in a plastic base. Placing this brush underneath your steek gives the felting needles a safe place to go after penetrating your knitting.

The needle felting tool [affiliate link] holds five felting needles in a comfortable handle. The needles are encased in a spring-loaded safety guard, which retracts when you punch through your knitting. The guard can be locked in the closed position for safe storage.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Cutting the Steek

Does It Have to be Wool?

Kerry’s cardigan is made with a worsted-weight 100% wool yarn, and needle felting worked beautifully. I’ve had great results needle felting steeks in superwash wool and in alpaca. But I wondered: would needle felting work with non-felting yarns, like cotton?

I made a swatch with a cotton and acrylic blend and gave it a try. I was initially optimistic, because I could see the wrong side getting the distinctive fuzzy, blurry look of needle felting. But once the swatch was cut, it took no effort at all to pick the individual strands of yarn free of the fuzz. For steeks in cotton, I’ll stick with machine sewing to secure my stitches.

When in doubt, make a swatch and test drive a new technique before you commit.

What is your favorite technique for securing steeks? Have you tried needle felting? Comment below and tell us what you think!

Sandi Rosner
Technical Content Editor, Yarn