Knit to Fit: How Do You Want Your Sweater to Fit?

In your closet you might have casual clothes, fitted clothes and fancy dress clothes. Or you might be like me. In my closet I have casual clothes, old shabby clothes and more casual clothes. I’m assuming you might be a little more upscale than I am.

Casual clothes fit differently than fitted or dressy clothes. You also have a very personal way you like your clothes to fit you: close fitting, relaxed fit, over-sized fit (they still fit even though the fit is looser).

How you want your sweaters to fit?

A close fitting sweater is meant to hug your curves. At the bust this sweater will probably have negative ease (the sweater is slightly smaller than your measurement around your bust). It will have an inch or two of ease at the waist and will be shaped to the hips with minimal ease. This requires that you work both waist and hip shaping and if you are on the busty side, bust darts.

I have one of these fitted sweaters and wear it sometimes (read that to means only in a class demonstration to show this kind of fit). If you can wear close fitting sweaters go for it. They are beautiful sweaters.

I wear relaxed fit clothes which have a little more ease but still have a curve in them to represent the waist and have lots of wiggle room in the hips. They still follow the shape of the body, just a little distance from it. Generally the amount of ease is that same over all your curves, with possibly a little less ease at the bust.

Then there is A-line shaping or over-sized sweaters. These are comfy, easy to wear garments. They can still look fantastic, especially if the bust fits closer to the body. To finesse them you can decrease a little bit under the bust before you begin working increases for the A-line shaping.  This gives this style of sweater a nice curve.I especially love this style of sweater.

Thanks for reading,

Deb

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Author: debgemmellmods

I'm a Knitter. The capital K means every day, everywhere. I'm co-owner of Cabin Fever with my sister Lyn. We have published over 100 patterns and 11 books. I'm also working on a new set of patterns for Any Gauge knitting. Dive into your stash and cast on for a Top Down sweater that fits, or an accessory to use up those odd balls of yarn. View all posts by debgemmellmods