5 Tips for Altering Knitting Patterns
One sweater style rarely fits all body shapes — but you can learn to modify it to your personal preferences! Read further to learn how!
Have you ever spent hours on a sweater and ended up with it staying at the back of your closet because the fit wasn’t right? Designers grade garments according to standard body measurements, but very few of us match those exactly. As you are creating the garment stitch by stitch, it is possible to alter it to fit your body. This may sound difficult and overwhelming, and honestly, it can be. The good news is that there are little things you can start with, and plenty more to learn as you gain confidence and a better understanding of sweater anatomy.
“Start with one thing you want to fix in your next sweater and work towards that modification. Then add one for the following sweater. Soon, it will become more instinctive to change patterns,” says Kim McBrien Evans, a Canadian yarn-dyer, size-inclusive knitwear designer and instructor (indigodragonfly.ca). She has always had to alter patterns to fit her and now offers online courses that teach knitters how to do the same. “Learning to alter patterns to fit my body has changed my life. Being able to make your own clothes and have them fit you well is the ultimate self-care,” Kim says.
We gathered five tips that will help you get started!
1. Change the sleeve or body length
This is easiest to do in stockinette stitch — simply work more or fewer rows. If the garment has ribbing or other details at the cuff or hem, take their length into account. What if the garment has a more complex stitch pattern? If it is a repeat of a few rows, you can work more or fewer repeats. Try to end on the same pattern row in the repeat as the pattern instructs.
2. Start with the shoulders
“When a sweater fits you well in the shoulders, it will look like it fits you everywhere else. My favourite trick is to choose a chest size based on your upper torso measurement plus ease, instead of your actual full chest measurement,” Kim says. The upper torso measurement — measured around your body at underarm level — better represents your body size in the shoulders. This is useful if you are not a B-cup size (the usual standard in knitting patterns), which means a 2 inch/5 cm difference between upper torso and full chest.
3. Blend different sizes
Compare your body measurements with the finished garment measurements, and remember to add ease. The recommended amount of ease for the chest is usually stated in the pattern, and you can get clues for the other parts from the photos. “Try to find a maximum of two sizes that will work with your body. For example, you may choose one size for the armhole to shoulder and another for hem to waist. Work the pattern as written for those sections while altering from the waist to the armhole by increasing or decreasing extra stitches,” Kim advises.
4. Alter the sleeves
If you want to change the sleeve circumference, it’s easiest to start with drop-shoulder sleeves: the only rule is that the top of the sleeve must fit into the armhole easily. You can take the sleeve and armhole instructions from a different size and insert them into the instructions for your chosen body size. A tip from Kim: “Double-check the total length of the sweater from shoulder to hem with the new armhole to be sure it works for your body.”
5. Add room for the chest
You can add more space for the chest with increases at the side seams or by changing the existing rate of shaping on the front. For an A-line sweater, simply work fewer decreases. For top-down sweaters, vertical darts work best. You can create them with increases about 4–6 stitches away from the armholes in the last few inches/cm above the split for the body and sleeves. Once you've passed the chest apex, you can decrease these extra stitches at the side seams. “We often assume that a LOT of stitches need to be added or removed to create a shaped sweater, but just an inch or two can be enough,” Kim says.
This feature was first published in Laine issue 23.
Text: Pauliina Kuunsola
Ilustration: Pauliina Holma
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