Part 2 of How to Design a Crochet Sweater is all about crochet sweater sizing. Everything you need to know about measurements and fit.
Now that you have a design in mind and have sketched out the details, it’s time tofigure out what size it needs to be. For women, this is often a trouble spot.
I used to sew and found that I always had to alter the store-bought patterns and finally progressed to making my own using a personalized sloper. You will need to use accurate body measurements for whomever is going to wear the sweater.
If you are unsure of their size or are making a garment for publication (such as a women’s small sample) then you need to check out the Craft Yarn Council. They have ALL the standards and guidelines for knitting and crocheting.
Help with Crochet Sweater Sizing
If you are making a garment based on the Craft Yarn Council’s website, you will see that they offer standard body measurements for babies, children, women, and men. This is very helpful, especially if you are not sure who will be wearing the garment but do know the size you want to make, such as medium.
If you click on the category you are interested in, it will give body measurements for each size:
| Size | From | To |
| Babies | 3 months | 24 months |
| Children | Size 2 | Size 16 |
| Women | XS | 5XL |
| Men | S | 2XL |
They also have ahead circumference chart and foot sizing. If you are asked to make a sample in a women’s size small or medium, head over to the Craft Yarn Council website right away!
If you are making a sweater for yourself or someone very close to you it is best to take accurate body measurements. The Craft Yarn Council’s website explains how to measure the chest/bust (chest for babies, children, men and bust for women), center back neck-to-cuff, back waist length, cross back, sleeve length, armhole depth, waist, hip, and head.
Obviously you will not need all of these measurements for every garment, but use the ones that are suitable for what you are making. If you are designing a sweater, you should measure at least the first six measurements on the site and the waist or hip if needed. Some sweaters have waist shaping or are long enough to cover the hips so use your judgment here.
Crochet Sweater Sizing: Ease
When designing a sweater it is important to consider how it fits the body. A standard fit (which is what I use most often) includes 2-4 inches ease. What this means is that you add the ease to the body measurement.
For example, I know I have 38” bust and I want the sweater sketched in the last post to fit me, so I am going to make it between 40-42” for the finished bust measurement.
How much ease you want depends on the fit, and since this is a fairly roomy sweater I am going to go with the 42” bust. For some sweaters you may want a tighter fit and some even have negative ease, where you make the garment a few inches smaller than the body measurement.
Be sure you have an elastic stitch for this so it will fit! I have never made a garment with negative ease, but my first design, the Jetsetter Sweater, was created with no ease to have a tighter fit.
When I first started designing, there were several different software programs to help with the math, but they have since been discontinued. Sad!! They stopped working after Windows 7, but they helped me learn the basics of sweater design.
There is a new app called Bellish that is aimed toward knitters that helps design a pattern, but it is still in testing and very limited. You can’t enter your own gauge, which is a major drawback for me, but maybe they will add that feature in the future.
Crochet Sweater Sizing: Length and Schematics
So now I know the measurements of my sweater and have charted out my schematic as seen here, which I completed using Paint. I measured a sweater I really like to determine the length, but you can also use this handy chart form the Craft Yarn Council:
My schematic is measured as laying flat, which is how my bust measurement of 42″ is now 21″ – both the back and the front will be 21″ wide and when connected will equal a 42″ bust.
The next step we will be looking at is gauge – which is extremely important! Even one stitch off on your count can skew the entire project, which I have done before!
No fun! See you then!
You can check out all of my published work at my Ravelry page!
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