A Sloped Bind Off is ideal for shaping necklines, shoulders, and underarms. It eliminates the unruly, little steps you get when you bind off stitches at the beginning of alternate rows, and instead, leaves a nice, smooth edge, perfect for tidy pick ups. Our Sloped Bind Off Tutorial shows you this simple technique, one of those little tricks that takes your knitting up a notch!

Video Tutorial

Click To See Video Transcript

I am going to show you how to do a Sloped Bind Off. As you can see here, I have two swatches. I have the same number of stitches bound off on each swatch and at the same rate. But you can see here there’s this stair-step situation happening, whereas here there’s this really smooth edge. This is really great for shaping necklines or at the underarm anywhere where you might want to come back and pick up into this edge. Yeah, so I’m going to show you how to do it.

I have a swatch started, and as you can see, I’ve already bound off the first six stitches of the swatch and I worked to the end of the row. The first row of binding off, just bind off as the pattern instructs. The slope is created in the transition between the bind-off rows. So the first row is normal. And now I’ll show you how to do the rest of the rows. So here I’m going to just work in pattern up until the last stitch of the row. So I’m in stockinette stitch, so I’m just purling across.

There we go. So we’ve reached the last stitch. So I’m going to slip it purlwise, just slip it right onto that right needle. And now I’m going to turn my work. So now I’m ready to do my second bind-off row. You start this row by slipping two stitches onto the right needle. You want to slip them one at a time and you want to slip them purlwise. So that’s one and that’s two. Then use the tip of your left needle to bind off that first slip stitch. Now you’re going to bind off the rest of the stitches that you need to on this row as you normally would. So I’ve just bound off one. I want to bind off a total of three, so I’m just going to bind off two stitches normally. So that’s one and two. So you can already kind of see that slope is starting to take place. I’m going to work to the end of the row and then show you guys those steps. One more time.

Turn my work and purl back. I’m going to purl right up to that last stitch. So here we are at the last stitch. I’m going to slip it and now I’m going to turn my work. So I’m onto my next bind-off row. I’m going to begin it by slipping two stitches, one at a time, purlwise. So that’s one, that’s two. I’m going to bind off that first slip stitch and then bind off the rest of the stitches needed for that row as I normally would. So again, I want to do a total of three. I already did one, so I’m going to just bind off two more normally. There we go. I’m going to work to the end of my row and we’ll admire this slope we’ve created. So here we go. You can already see that slope is taking place. Very approachable and easy to pick up into. It’s a really great technique. I hope you enjoy it.

Step-By-Step Tutorial

Follow along with our step-by-step Sloped Bind Off Tutorial. Simply…

  • Work the first bind off row as usual.
  • One row before the next bind off row, work to the last stitch of the row, slip stitch purlwise, and turn work.
  • Slip 2 stitches, purlwise. Pass the first slipped stitch (the unworked stitch from the previous row) over the second slipped stitch, binding it off.
  • Bind off the remaining stitches of that row as usual.

Looking for more inspiration? Explore all of our free knitting patterns and knitting tutorials, buy one of our many knitting kits and yarn bundles, and shop for beautiful yarn. We have over 45 gorgeous natural fiber yarns in 1000’s of magnificent colors, designed to bring integrity, beauty, and joy to your next knitting project and only available at Purl Soho!