Unpicking is the process of reversing a seam or knitted row by manually extracting the thread or yarn. In sewing, it is done with a seam ripper to correct mistakes, alter garments, or salvage fabric. In knitting, unpicking involves undoing stitches one by one to fix an error without dropping the entire column, preserving the yarn for immediate reuse.
Heard on the job
I sewed the sleeve in backwards, so I have to unpick the entire armscye and start over.
Insider tip
Always unpick from the bobbin thread side when possible, as it is usually looser and easier to pull out in long sections.
Also heard as
- tink