Several factors affect the fit of a garment. Some of these are obvious: the measurements of the body, the measurements of the finished garment, and the differences between these two. Other factors are less obvious: the thickness, drape, and stretch of the fabric; the silhouette; and the structure of the garment. When you are knitting from a pattern, you can’t control all of these factors, but you can make informed choices to help ensure success.
Q: How do I take body measurements to guarantee a good fit?
A: If the garment is for you, get someone else to take the measurements. Wear whatever clothing you expect to wear under the garment, and use a flexible tape measure. Make circumference measurements at the widest points of the chest/bust and hips, and at the narrowest point of the waist. Be sure to hold the tape measure horizontally, untwisted, and a bit loose. For accurate length measurements, let the tape measure hang loosely from the top. The most important measurements for sweaters are across the shoulders (because this measurement is used to select the correct size) and around the chest/bust (because this determines how the body fits). Fit in these areas also affects the fit of the sleeves.
Q: What does “ease” mean, and how do I know the right amount to allow?
A: Ease is the difference between the measurement of a garment and the body it is supposed to fit. The amount of ease required depends on the thickness of the fabric and the silhouette of the garment. In a very close-fitting, stretchy garment, such as a leotard, the garment may actually be smaller than the body because it is made of very thin fabric that is designed to stretch when worn. A bulky sweater requires more ease to fit comfortably than a sweater knit in a thinner yarn. A slim, fitted garment silhouette needs less ease than an oversized one.
Q: How do I choose the right size from the pattern?
A: Select the size in the pattern that is closest to your body measurement plus the appropriate ease. The most important section of the garment to fit is the shoulder and neck area, so select the size that fits you best in that area. You can adjust the number of stitches by increasing or decreasing along the side seams, if necessary, to make the sweater fit in the bust/chest and hips. Some patterns state the finished garment measurement, but you should still check your calculations and your desired measurement against those given in the pattern. Keep in mind, though, that the finished garment will be the correct size only if your knitting matches the gauge exactly.
See also: Sizing, Gauge, and Measurements and Schematics
Q: How can I control the qualities of the fabric?
A: When knitting from a pattern, your goal is to recreate the fabric of the original garment as closely as possible. To do this you need to match the yarn and the gauge. Choosing the same weight yarn with the same fiber content is very important. If you substitute a worsted-weight cotton for a worsted-weight wool, or vice versa, the fabric you knit will be very different. Some yarns, even those with the same fiber content, are spun to be loftier than others. If you know the yards or meters for a given weight of the yarn (for example, 200 yards = 50 grams), then look for a yarn with the same fiber content and the same yards per weight. You must also make sure that your knitting matches the gauge specified in the pattern. If you use the same kind of yarn and match the gauge perfectly, then your fabric should have the same thickness, drape, and stretch as the original.
Q: What does “silhouette” mean, and how do I go about choosing it?
A: The silhouette of a garment determines how closely it fits the body and how it hangs. Choose silhouette depending on current fashion and personal preference. Take a look at the clothes you already own. Try on a sweater or sweatshirt that is comfortable and looks good on you. Measure it and compare the ease in the chest/bust and hips to your body measurements. Then take a look at the Ease Guidelines to see which silhouette you prefer.
For more on silhouette, check Herzog’s Knit to Flatter; Newton’s Designing Knitwear; and Radcliffe’s The Knowledgeable Knitter; see Resources.
Q: What difference does garment structure make?
A: Generally, the simpler the garment structure, the less well it fits. The simplest sweaters can be knit in rectangles to make a basic T, leaving a slit at the top for a boat neck. Unfortunately, this type of garment doesn’t fit well unless it is knit in a very thin, loose fabric that stretches and drapes to conform to the body. This is because excess fabric forms folds under the arms and in front and back of the shoulders, and the untapered sleeves result in extra bulk at the wrists. If the sweater is bulky, these problems can be both unsightly and uncomfortable. Shaped neck openings, sloped shoulders, and tapered sleeves make for a better fit.
Seamless sweaters knit circularly can still be shaped effectively in the shoulder area if you make raglan sleeves or a circular yoke.
shaped neck, shoulder, armhole, and sleeve
circular yoke
Use a sweater you already like as a model for your knitting. Choose a sweater of the same weight and style as the one you plan to make. If your yarn is thicker, be sure to allow a little extra ease; if it is thinner, allow a little less.
Lay the sweater out on a flat surface and take accurate measurements. Compare these to the finished measurements of the sweater in the pattern. If the garment is knit from either the bottom up or the top down, decide on the size to make based on the width of the shoulders; if the sweater is knit sideways (cuff-to-cuff), determine the size based on the length you want. Next, compare the measurements of other key areas to the pattern instructions. These include the length from bottom to armhole, the depth of the armhole from underarm to shoulder, the width of the front and back at the chest and hips, the width of the neck, the depth of the neck opening in front and back, and the shoulder slope. Also compare the sleeve length, the sleeve width at the underarm, and the width at the cuff.
If you’re working from top to bottom or bottom to top, you can easily adjust the body length of the knitting as you work. Sleeve length can also be adjusted (see Adjusting Length). Adjusting the body length and width above the armhole, and the width and shape of the sleeve cap, is a little more difficult because the two must fit each other.
When working from cuff-to-cuff, adjust the length of the sleeves and the width of the sweater as you work.
Rather than calculating lengths in rows and widths in stitches and figuring out how to manage the shaping ahead of time, you may find it easier to make a full-size pattern on knitter’s graph paper with a grid that matches your gauge, and then knit your garment to match this pattern.
See also: Adjusting Sleeve Length
Q: Do you have any general suggestions to improve fit?
A: Here are some tips that should help:
Q: Is there a way to see if my sweater will fit before it’s completely sewn together?
A: Check the measurements of the pieces against the planned measurements as you knit. If they don’t match, investigate the problem. Hold the pieces up to your body or against an existing sweater to see if they look the right size. If the length isn’t right, simply knit it longer or shorter. Working seamless raglan sleeved or circular yoked sweaters from the top down allows you to try on the garment for fit as you work. (To check the sleeve length accurately, see Fitting Sleeves, below.)
To ensure that your sleeves are the correct length, complete the back and front, then join them at the shoulders and work the neck ribbing or border. Now try on the partially completed sweater and measure the length of your arm from the edge of the shoulder to the point on your wrist where the cuff should end. This is the length your sleeve should be.
If you need to end each sleeve at a certain point in a pattern stitch and can’t match the length exactly, you may want to make the sleeves a little shorter because the weight of the sleeves tends to stretch the shoulders when they are attached.
Q: How do I measure my knitting accurately?
A: Lay it down on a flat surface, smooth it gently to flatten it, and then measure it with a flexible tape measure. The knitting must lie flat while you measure it. If the knitting is bunched up tightly on a straight needle, work halfway across the row before laying it down. If it is still too gathered to get an accurate measurement, you may need to transfer it to a circular needle or divide it between two circular needles. Do this, too, if you are using a circular needle that is too short to allow the knitting to be laid flat. If the knitting curls at the edges, gently unroll it and hold it flat with a book or a yardstick while you measure. Be careful not to stretch the piece. Remember that washing and blocking can also affect the measurements of the finished garment, so any measurement taken before blocking must be considered an estimate.
Q: How do I make the sleeves on my sweater shorter than the pattern indicates?
A: When you shorten the sleeves, you’ll probably need to make your increases closer together than the pattern indicates. Instructions to help you recalculate the spacing of the increases are on the facing page. For longer sleeves, you may also want to change the spacing of the increases. The same procedure works for either.
For example, let’s say you want a sleeve that’s 16" long. The pattern calls for a sleeve with 40 stitches at the cuff and 78 stitches at the underarm. The row gauge is 7 stitches per inch.
16" × 7 rows per inch = 112 rows
78 stitches at underarm – 40 stitches at cuff = 38 stitches
38 stitches ÷ 2 = 19 increase rows
112 total rows ÷ 20 = increases every 5.6 rows
Make a plan: To accommodate the fractional number, you can increase a little more frequently at the bottom of the sleeve, and to make it easier to keep track of your increases, you can work them all on right-side rows. In this example, you can increase at the ends of every fourth row 4 times (4 × 4 = 16), then change to increase every sixth row 15 more times (6 × 15 = 90), for a total of 106 rows. Work 6 rows after the final increases to reach the desired length of 112 rows. Alternatively, for an even slope along the entire sleeve, you can intersperse the 2 frequencies. Work increases every sixth row 3 times, then work increases in the fourth row. Repeat this sequence until you have completed all the required increases, then work even to get to the correct length.
Note: If your sleeve is worked from the top down, simply substitute decreases for increases.
Q: How can I tell what size to make for someone else?
A: You’ll need their measurements. The Craft Yarn Council provides charts of standard sizes, or you can base sizing on a garment the recipient already has and likes.
See also: Resources
Q: Which is better: knitting a sweater from the bottom up or from the top down?
A: Neither is better than the other. Working from the bottom up is the method most frequently used, but proponents of top-down knitting advocate it because you can complete the shoulder area and fitting first, then go on to make the garment exactly the length you want. If it needs to be lengthened or shortened later, it’s simple to unravel from the bottom and rework to the correct length. (Check Walker’s Knitting from the Top; see Resources.)
Q: Can I tell ahead of time if my sweater will stretch out of shape?
A: Hang the pieces up as you finish them. Before hanging each piece, measure its length and make a note of it. Use a skirt or pants hanger, or clothespins, to hang the back and front upside down. Don’t hang from the shoulders; without any ribbing or seaming, the shoulders will stretch excessively. Wait a few days, then measure again. Garments that have no seams or are loosely knit from very bulky yarn or fibers other than wool are more prone to stretching.
Q: What should I do if my sweater doesn’t fit when it’s finished?
A: Try it on to figure out exactly where and by how much it doesn’t fit. If it’s too big, pinch the excess fabric and secure it with safety pins until it hangs correctly. (Get a friend to help.) Remove the garment and note the measurements, so that you can determine how much needs to be removed. If it’s too small, lay it on top of a similar garment that fits correctly to see what areas need to be expanded. Make notes and sketches to document the changes you plan to make.
Q: My sleeves are too long/short. Is there any way to shorten/lengthen them?
A: Yes. Follow the suggestions for lengthening or shortening the body (How to Adjust Body Length). To shorten tapered sleeves, be sure to work decreases across the new bottom edge of the sleeve so that the number of stitches matches the cuff before reknitting or rejoining it. If you lengthen the sleeve and decide to continue tapering it down to the new cuff, make sure the sleeve doesn’t get too narrow. Hint: When lengthening a sleeve, you can also simply pick up stitches across the bottom of the cuff and widen the border.
lengthening a sleeve
See also: Kitchener Stitch
Q: I made a cuff-to-cuff sweater, and it stretched. The sleeves end way below my hands. What do I do?
A: You have two options. You can either add support to the shoulder line and to the sleeves to prevent the stretching, or you can shorten the sleeves. To add support, turn the garment inside out and try to unobtrusively crochet a chain across where the shoulder seam should fall and down the center of the sleeve. You could also add this chain to the outside of the garment as a decorative element. You’ll need to experiment to determine how tightly to work the chain. If you decide that shortening the sleeves will be a better solution, try on the sweater and use safety pins to mark the point on the sleeves where the top of the cuff should be, then shorten the sleeves as described (at left). It may be that a combination of the two will produce the best results: support the shoulder area to prevent it from stretching under the weight of the sleeves and shorten the sleeve somewhat.
Q: How do I correct the length of the body?
A: If your garment is seamed, remove the seams in the area to be changed. See How to Adjust Body Length for instructions on how to proceed. Note that to lengthen the body you can pick up stitches at the bottom edge and simply widen the border, assuming it looks okay to do so. When you are done adjusting the length of both the front and back, sew the seams back up.
If You Knit from the Bottom Up: Carefully snip a single strand of yarn at the center of the garment. If you plan to shorten it, then snip at the point where the bottom border should begin. If you plan to lengthen it, snip at the top of the existing border. Working from the center out, unravel the 2 ends to the edges of the piece.
If You Knit from the Top Down: First unravel the bound-off edge and the bottom border.
If You Knit from the Bottom Up: If the body was worked in Stockinette, you will be able to extend it seamlessly simply by knitting down from this point. Then work the bottom border or reattach it using Kitchener Stitch. If the body is in a pattern stitch, this won’t work. Instead, put the bottom border on a needle and work the pattern stitch upward. When it is long enough, use Kitchener Stitch to join it to the body. Alternatively, you may find it easier to simply knit a longer border down from the body.
If You Knit from the Top Down: Put the stitches back on the needle and work until the desired length to the bottom border. Reknit the bottom border.
If You Knit from the Bottom Up: Put the stitches at the bottom edge back on the needle. You can either knit the border down from this point and bind off, or unravel the detached section down to the top of the border and weave the sections together using Kitchener Stitch.
If You Knit from the Top Down: Continue unraveling back to the point where the bottom border should begin, put the stitches back on the needle, and reknit the bottom border.
Q: The neck of my sweater is too loose. What do I do?
A: If it is only a little loose, unravel the bind off and work it again more tightly. If it is much too loose, try on the sweater and pinch up the neck border in sections until it fits. Use safety pins to secure these tucks. Take off the garment and count the number of stitches that have been taken up in the tucks. Subtract this from the original number in the border to determine the approximate number of stitches for a new border. Unravel the original border, pick up the correct number of stitches, remembering that you’ll need to adjust the total number of stitches to suit the pattern stitch, and work a new border. If the neckline looks gathered, you may need to work a shaped border. In this case, pick up a larger number of stitches and work a row or round of Reverse Stockinette. Work another row or round of Reverse Stockinette, decreasing about half the number of extra stitches evenly spaced around the neck. Work the border. On the last row, decrease to the desired number of stitches, and then bind off.
Q: The neck of my sweater is too tight. What do I do?
A: Unravel the bound-off edge and work it again as loosely as you can. If it is still not loose enough, put a string or piece of yarn around your neck where you want the neck opening to fall. Measure the string or yarn to determine the correct size of the opening. Measure the opening as it is now and calculate how much larger it needs to be. Based on the number of stitches per inch in the border, calculate how many more stitches you need. Add this to the original number of stitches in the border to determine the total number of stitches. Unravel the whole border, pick up this number of stitches (remembering that you’ll need to adjust the total to suit your pattern stitch), and work the border again.
Q: The shoulders of my sweater are too wide. Can I adjust them?
A: Many times, too-wide shoulders in a sweater are actually caused by a neck opening that’s too loose. First, determine whether making the neck opening smaller will solve the problem. Next, consider the fit of the sweater. If it is an oversize sweater, the shoulder line may intentionally be wider than the natural shoulder line of your body. In this case, it is best to leave the shoulders alone and shorten the sleeves. If it is a fitted sweater, decide where the shoulder line should fall. How many stitches away from the armhole edge is this? To make the shoulders narrower, you have two choices. You can unravel the sweater back to the underarm and reknit, making the armhole opening wider. Or you can remove the sleeves and cut away some of the fabric at the armhole using the following technique:
Mark the desired armhole opening edge (contrasting color basting thread works best). Using a sewing machine set for very small stitches, make two rows of stitching to the outside of the marked edge. You can also use hand sewing to secure the knitting before cutting. Be careful to sew through each strand of yarn along the length of the cut, or you can crochet a chain firmly through each stitch. Cut the knitting beyond the stitching. Pin the sleeve to the new armhole opening to see if it still fits. If it is too small and the armhole puckers when it is joined, then unravel the sleeve cap and make it a little taller or wider. If the cap is too big, you can either gather it as you sew it in or reknit it a little shorter or narrower.
Q: My armholes are too tight. Is there a way to make them bigger?
A: Undo the sleeve seam for a few inches on both sides of the underarm. Knit a diamond-shaped insert and sew it in to form a gusset, aligning the widest point at the underarm seam.
inserting a gusset
Q: My sleeves are too tight. Is there a way to make them bigger?
A: Undo the sleeve seam from cuff to underarm and the body seam for a few inches beyond the underarm. Knit a diamond-shaped insert and sew it in to form a gusset, with the widest point at the underarm seam.
inserting a gusset to enlarge a too-tight sleeve
Q: My sweater’s too narrow. Is there any way to make it bigger?
A: If the body is too narrow but the sleeves fit properly, open up the side seam all the way to the underarm, plus a few inches down the sleeve seam. Knit a long strip tapered at one end, and sew it in to form a gusset, with the tapered end at the sleeve. Note that the insert enlarges the body, but then tapers at the underarm as it fits into the sleeve.
enlarging a too-narrow body by inserting a gusset
Q: Both the sleeves and body of my sweater are too tight. Is there a way to make them bigger?
A: Undo the sleeve and side seams from top to bottom. Knit a strip and sew it in along the body and sleeve seams. Or pick up stitches along one edge, knit until the addition is the desired width, then sew to the other edge, either before or after binding off. A combination of Mattress Stitch and weaving or Kitchener Stitch allows you to join the addition to the edge of the existing knitting, just as you join a sleeve to an armhole. Another option is to pick up along both edges, knit to the center of the area to be added, and then use Kitchener Stitch or Three-Needle Bind Off to join the two halves. The insert enlarges both body and sleeve. Work a noncurling pattern where the insert meets the ribbing.
inserting a gusset to enlarge a too-tight body and sleeve
See also: Sewing Up, Kitchener Stitch, and Three-Needle Bind Off
Q: My sleeves are too loose. Is there a way to make them smaller?
A: First decide whether simply making the cuff smaller will solve the problem. Pinch in the cuff and secure it with a safety pin. If you like the way it looks, note the number of stitches you need to make a cuff the proper size. Remove the cuff, as described in the instructions on lengthening and shortening garments (How to Adjust Body Length). Put the stitches back on the needle. On the first row, decrease to the desired number of stitches and reknit the cuff.
To make the whole sleeve narrower, try on the sweater and pinch the sleeves along the seam line to remove the excess fabric. Use safety pins to hold it in place. Remove the sweater and mark the desired seam line. Unstitch the original sleeve seam. Using a sewing machine set for very fine stitches, stitch twice just to the outside of the marked seam lines. Cut off the excess fabric just beyond the stitching and sew the sleeve seam up again.
Q: My sweater’s too wide. Is there any way to make it smaller?
A: If just the body is too wide, you can make it narrower by cutting and reseaming below the armholes, as described in the previous answer. If the shoulders are also too wide, however, it would be best to unravel the sweater and make a smaller size. If the shoulders and neckline fit properly, but the body and sleeves are too loose, you can sew seams up the sides and down the sleeves to make both narrower. Baste along your planned seamlines with sewing thread and try the sweater on. If it’s comfortable to wear this way, you can simply leave the basting threads in and consider the modification complete. If the excess fabric at the seams is too bulky, you’ll need to secure the yarn before cutting away the excess, as described in the previous answer.
Q: My sweaters and vests ride up in the front. How can I prevent this?
A: This happens when there is no back neck shaping. When the back of the neck is too high, it forces the shoulder seams to fall farther back on the shoulders, which makes the bottom of the back hang lower and the front higher. Look for patterns where the back of the neck is shaped, not straight. On women’s sweaters, bust darts also serve to lengthen the front to fit the body (see Short-Row Shaping).
Q: My sweater shifts from side to side and hangs off-center. What’s wrong?
A: It’s possible that the neck opening is too wide, which allows it to shift back and forth. You can usually correct this problem by making the neck border with fewer stitches or by making the neck border wider in order to fill in the neck opening more. On the other hand, in some designs the neck is supposed to be wide, with the shoulder shaping holding the garment in place. Add shoulder shaping, as described in the next answer.
Q: Can I add shoulder shaping to a sweater with square shoulders?
A: Yes, but keep in mind that shoulder shaping is not appropriate with all armhole and sleeve types. Introducing sloped shoulders into a drop shoulder or square armhole sweater may not work well unless the fabric is very stretchy. You will need to know the width of the sweater’s shoulder in stitches and the shoulder depth in rows (measured at the armhole edge of the sweater). Divide the number of rows in half, then divide the number of stitches by the result. For example, if the shoulder is 25 stitches wide and the shoulder depth is 10 rows, divide 10 in half to get 5 rows, then divide 25 stitches by those 5 rows to get 5 stitches. Work the shaping either by binding off or by making short rows (see Short-Row Shaping).
Start working short-row shoulder shaping 1 or 2 rows earlier than bound-off shaping to ensure that the overall length is correct when the shoulder shaping is completed. If you use short-row shaping for your shoulders, you can join the front and back using Three-Needle Bind Off.
Q: What are short rows? When would I use them?
A: Short rows are a way of shaping knitting that involves working partway across a row and then turning back before finishing the row. Working a series of knitted short rows makes it possible to seamlessly work sock heels, add darts, or make a round shape like a ball.
See Also: Resourcesfor Gibson-Roberts’ Simple Socks: Plain and Fancy and Bordhi’s Cat’s Sweet Tomato Heel Socks; for how to add darts, Radcliffe’s The Knowledgeable Knitter or Newton’s Designing Knitwear.
Failure to wrap when you turn causes holes! To avoid this, when you reach the turning point, slip the next stitch, bring the yarn from back to front (or front to back if you’ve been purling), then pass the stitch back to the left needle, and turn your work. Place the yarn in the correct position to work the next stitch, and continue back across the row. As you work each wrapped stitch, pick up the wrap and knit it together with its stitch. This will make it disappear.
wrap-and-turn
How you pick up the wrap will depend on whether you are knitting or purling and whether the right or the wrong side of the fabric is facing you. What you want to accomplish is to pick up the wrap and to work it together with its base stitch so that the wrap falls to the wrong side of the fabric and is hidden. The four possible situations are covered below:
knitting on right side
purling on right side
knitting on wrong side
purling on wrong side
Q: How can I use the Three-Needle Bind Off to join shoulder seams when the shoulder is shaped by binding off in steps?
A: Use short rows to shape the shoulders one or two rows before you would bind off. Follow the instructions for binding off your shoulders, but instead of binding off, just leave these stitches on your needle unworked on subsequent rows. For example, if the instructions say to bind off 5 stitches at the armhole edge 5 times, stop working 5 stitches away from the armhole edge, wrap-and-turn the next stitch, then work back to the neck edge. On the following row, stop 10 stitches from the edge and wrap-and-turn, then 15, and so on. When your shaping is complete, work back across the whole row, picking up all the wraps. Do this on all four shoulders (left and right, front and back), and then join the shoulders using the Three-Needle Bind Off.
Note: If you have trouble keeping track of where you should turn, work across the stitches the pattern directs you to bind off, then place a marker. When you turn and work back to the marker on the next row, remove the marker, and wrap-and-turn the next stitch. Work across the next group of stitches to be bound off, and replace the marker. Continue in this manner until you’ve short-rowed all the stitches.
See also: Three-Needle Bind Off
