How many times have you invested money and hours of your time into knitting a sweater that made you look like Cinderella’s carriage–when it was a pumpkin? Or a horse’s hind end? Yeah, me too. The trouble wasn’t our knitting, but choosing a style unflattering for our shapes. Here are tips for how to dress for your body type so your next hand-knit sweater makes you look like a dream. [...]
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If you’re a short person interested in knitting a sweater to fit, how do you adjust your knitting pattern? Your primary problem with store-bought clothes is excess fabric in the upper part of a shirt, blouse, top or dress. Straps are too long. Necklines are too big. Clothes fit you better if you pinch up your shoulder seams as if to hang them on a clothesline. This same alteration works with knitting a sweater to fit. Here’s how to adjust your pattern. [...] Making your hand-knitted sweater fit right involves many factors. Your gauge, what size, how long, how wide, your special fitting challenges and what style works best for your body shape are all very important. As a professional tailor, I can tell you one top tip for sweater fitting that ensures failure if you mess it up. [...] Negative ease in knitting means no wiggle room or worse. If a blonde bombshell in a tight sweater springs to mind, you may think you don’t want your knitting like that. Unless you’ve got the bod and want to flaunt it. But even if you don’t want negative ease in a sweater for fear it shows how many doughnuts you’ve eaten lately, there is one garment that always needs it. [...] If you want to knit a top down sweater, where do you start? Have you ever tried a percentage sweater with top down knitting? You can create your own top down sweater patterns if you know three things: your knitting gauge, what size you want your finished sweater to be and your neck measurement. Can it be that easy? [...] It’s all Elizabeth Zimmermann’s fault. There you are, champing at the bit to knit your sweater you designed for yourself or a loved one. What on earth are you doing knitting a hat instead? [...] Did you ever design a knitting pattern using Elizabeth Zimmermann’s Percentage System? Her method helps you create a sweater from scratch, one that fits you just right. If you never tried designing before, there’s no better time than now. Why? Because August 9, 2010 is 100 years since her birth. I’m designing an Aran sweater in celebration of this master knitter’s birthday. Warning: designing is a messy process. [...] If you fear math, even knitting math, you probably have the unwearable sweaters to prove it. But if you’re a new knitter, and you can’t quite get gauge when you knit your swatch, you may think “close” is good enough. Let’s just see, shall we, how much difference one stitch per inch in gauge makes. [...] Sweater fitting for boob fairy blessings. Photo courtesy of Terwilliger911 How many of your hand-knitted sweaters have been ruined or stressed out because you’ve been double blessed by the boob fairy? Which sweater fitting mistake keeps tripping you up? Do you make a tent that hides your waist so you have no shape at all? Do you [...] Body flaws? You can't possibly mean us! Photo courtesy of seeinside Even if you’re an identical twin, you are one of a kind. Your unique body is beautiful, even though you yourself may regard some part as a body flaw. Do you have a special fitting challenge that makes all your hand-knitted sweaters fit not quite right? [...] |
Helpful Links
Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Cast On Video Tutorial Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off Photo Tutorial TECHknitting Sweater Knitting Pattern Generator Meg Swansen explains Elizabeth's Percentage System on Math4Knitters podcast Knitmore Girls podcast on ratios #78 Knitmore Girls podcast on sizing, fit and ease Brass Needles podcast Episode 48 with Gail Carriger's segment on sweater sleeves (about 7 minutes in) Brass Needles podcast Episode 49 with Gail Carriger's segment on sweater necklines (almost 9 minutes in) Fabulous Crochet Designer Vashti Braha Start Knitting Socks for Soldiers  
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