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 make a sweater that stretches too provocatively over your assets? Are you doomed to wear ill-fitting sweaters?
Not a chance. Here’s a tip you may have overlooked.
Perhaps you’ve tried Elizabeth Zimmermann’s Percentage System with pretty good success. As a gal with plenty of bust, you can tweak your pattern for better fit.
Find a great-fitting sweater you already own.
Lay it down flat and measure it from armpit to armpit. This tells you how much ease you enjoy best in a sweater. Got that number? EZ calls it your key number.
Put on your best bra.
You know, the one with great support so you look ten pounds thinner? Yes, you may want it under this next sweater with great fit. Find out what you measure around your bust in your good bra. Got it?
Now for the tip: measure yourself from side seam to side seam across your front. Not your back. Just your front. Got that number?
Betcha it’s more than half of your bust measurement.
You need more room up front than you need across your back. So make your next sweater with a wider front and a narrower back. You’ll have the same number of stitches overall, just redistributed to better accommodate your curves.
Your armholes will be closer together in back than they are in front. Compare your numbers with your gauge and figure out how many stitches (what percentage of your key number) you’ll switch from back to front.
No more baggy back or stretched armholes in front!
If you make a bottom up sweater with a narrower back and a fuller front, you’ll decrease more stitches from bust to neckline on the front than before, more than on the back.
You might like more length in the front as well. Some short rows can help here as they won’t change the side seam length and mess you up when you seam a pieced sweater. No more boob fairy sweater fitting mistakes for you. Happy knitting!
Best,
Karen
P.S.
Thanks to Robin Hunter at KnittingRobin for this great sweater fitting tip.
