Fit to Flatter Installment 4: Sweaters and You.
Posted on 23 May 2010 | 18 responses
Fit to flatter is a ten-part series of tutorials on choosing and modifying knitting patterns to flatter your shape. These tutorials will be released every two weeks both as blog posts (free) and as separate, professionally formatted PDF files for printing (nominal charge). Should you desire the PDFs, each installment can be purchased from the tutorial page as they are released, or via a “buy now” button at the end of the installment. Individual installments are US$2.00 and at the end of the tutorial series the whole series will be available for $US10.00. All text copyright Amy Herzog and all images copyright splityarn 2010, unless where otherwise noted. I hope you enjoy the series!
This ten-part series is not about making you feel badly about what you have already knit. It is not about making you feel badly about your shape, or about making you feel like you can only knit certain things, in certain yarns. In writing these tutorials, I want to help you learn basic principles for dressing the figure you have in the most flattering way possible.
Every person reading these words has both fabulous assets to show off and a thing or two that you wish would disappear forever (or, in some cases, appear forever). The fact is this: Though I won’t argue that we’d all be healthier if we exercised more, wearing flattering clothes will do much more to change the way you feel about your body than losing weight or gaining muscle will.
As knitters, we have the ultimate power of creating a piece of couture perfectly suited to our figures, every single time. Your hand-knits should make you look and feel like a million bucks, and not just because of the skill required to form the stitches. I want to help you get there.
In previous installments, I’ve gone over the general principles of dressing to not just fit, but flatter your shape. The first three installments were quite comprehensive and covered a lot of ground; in the next few I’ll cover individual topics in more detail. Today, we’ll get into the weeds and focus on the data you’ll need to create hand-knits perfect for your form. Future installments will explore different garment elements that can have a big impact on flattery. I’ll end the series with thoughts on advanced sweater modification and custom sweater design.
Please click through for the whole installment, which is 14 pages when formatted for printing. Thanks!
Eating my own dog food.
Posted on 20 May 2010 | 17 responses
I work in computer security, and at least in my little corner of this field there’s a saying/principle that we should ‘eat our own dog food’. It basically means that before we roll some new security enhancement out on the general populace, we should be willing to try it out on ourselves first.
Now, I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this before, but one of my biggest motivators for capturing my thoughts on knitting to flatter is that my own shape has changed quite a lot since having my children. Pre-kid, I didn’t carry my weight in my lower half. My hips were still pretty narrow and my bust was 2 sizes larger. I was a top-heavy shape and my closet was full of bias-cut skirts, straight-leg pants, and deep-vee sweaters. Post-kid, 2 cup sizes are gone, my hips have sure widened, and all of a sudden every brownie I eat seems to go straight to my legs.
For the first couple of years after Jacob was born, I stayed home with him and mostly wore jeans. After Daniel was born I went back to work part-time. I quickly lost the weight I’d gained with the pregnancies but still, none of my old business clothes fit or looked right. Pants that had been perfect before were now gappy in the waist and my thighs looked like sausages in them. I gave a lot away and have been making do with what was left (ouch, preschool/nanny costs) since then. So when I had the chance on Mother’s Day to go shopping for some new business clothes, I decided to ‘eat my own dog food’: Try out my own rules for bottom-heavy shapes.
I was chagrined at how difficult it was to follow my own advice. My hands and eyes automatically strayed to things that would have flattered my pre-kid figure. I persevered and got a nice selection of stuff that makes me feel great. I wanted to share one thing in particular with you, though: After getting a bunch of great stuff at the Banana Republic 60% off suiting sale, I decided to treat myself to something bright. (I was a goth for many, many years and have only slowly been moving away from my gray, black, and dark brown staples.) I purposely chose something that met all of my rules but that I never would have chosen in a million years otherwise.
I shouldn’t have been surprised that it looks great, but I have to admit I was.
Things we can all agree on
Posted on 18 May 2010 | 1 response
Life has been frenzied, lately, with several business trips and (extended) family stuff going on and knitting, knitting, knitting.
Not that I have much I can show you, for that last bit.
I tried to tell myself that ripping out beaded knitting, with its repetitive and hard-fought little tugs as the beads come free, was life’s way of telling me to slow down a bit. It didn’t really help.
On the plus side, the sweater is now done, I’m pleased as punch with it, and it’s making its way through the path of tech editing and photo shooting and laying out. Will I make May? Who knows, but at least it’s more fun to try that than to rip out the beads!
Fit to Flatter Installment 3: Mindful Project Choice
Posted on 9 May 2010 | 22 responses
Fit to flatter is a ten-part series of tutorials on choosing and modifying knitting patterns to flatter your shape. These tutorials will be released every two weeks both as blog posts (free) and as separate, professionally formatted PDF files for printing (nominal charge). Should you desire the PDFs, each installment can be purchased from the tutorial page as they are released, or via a “buy now” button at the end of the installment. Individual installments are US$2.00 and at the end of the tutorial series the whole series will be available for $US10.00. All text copyright Amy Herzog and all images copyright splityarn 2010, unless where otherwise noted. I hope you enjoy the series!
Normally I don’t like jump cuts in blog posts, but this installment got so long that I felt it was a little cruel to flood everyone’s reader (and my blog’s front page) with the whole thing. Please click through for the whole installment, which is 20 pages when formatted for printing. Thanks!
This series is not about making you feel badly about what you have already knit. It is not about making you feel badly about your shape or about making you feel like you can only knit certain things, in certain yarns. In writing these tutorials, I want to help you learn basic principles for dressing the figure you have in the most flattering way possible.
Every person reading these words has fabulous assets to show off and a thing or two that you wish would disappear forever. The fact is this: Though exercise offers a plethora of benefits, it won’t change your fundamental shape. And wearing clothes flattering to your inherent shape will do more to change the way you feel about your body than losing weight or gaining muscle will.
As knitters, we have the ultimate power of creating a piece of couture perfectly suited to our figures every single time. Your hand-knits should make you look and feel like a million bucks, and not just because of the skill required to form the stitches. I want to help you get there.
The first two installments of this series have introduced the concepts of shapes and dressing to flatter them generally, and stepped through specific shapes in detail. In this third installment of a ten-part series, I’ll move from dressing your shape to flatter in a general sense to choosing hand-knitting patterns for your form. Future installments will explore different garment elements that can have a big impact on flattery. I’ll end the series with thoughts on advanced sweater modification and custom sweater design. One note on this installment: For each body shape, I’m going to include a selection of examples of sweaters particularly suited to that shape. I’ll include links as footnotes, so that you can look for yourself to see the principles illustrated in those exapmles. Just in case this wasn’t clear, these are all sweaters that I’ve taken note of over the years and happen to think illustrate my points; my opinions are just that and shouldn’t be construed as being approved by (or speaking for) the talented designers I reference.
Various and Sundry, Secrets and Spring
Posted on 1 May 2010 | 11 responses
I am completely, wonderfully overwhelmed by your support of the Fit to Flatter series. I feel so excited to share the upcoming installments with you, and hope they continue to please. I’ve been asked to do a couple of guest blog postings for other sites, too, and will be sure to let you know when they go live.
Knitting, of course, continues. Here’s the state of the next design on the track:
I hope to get this one out to you in May (have you figured out that I’d like to put up a design per month this year?). Speaking of designs, I can finally tell you about the project that started the whole design thing off. One year ago, the lovely ladies (and my good knitting buds) Debbie (Stitchy McYarnpants) and Caro mentioned to me that they needed a specific design for a secret project, they thought it would be a good fit for me, and was I interested?
“I haven’t ever done that before!” said I.
“You do math for your JOB, and that’s the only hard part!” said they.
“I am totally without experience!” said I.
“You do nothing but modify your sweaters and you have a great eye!” said they. “Besides, we have Kristi Porter as our tech editor. It’ll be fine.” And it was.
And now, a year later, the secret project is available for pre-order!
I can’t even begin to tell you how many talented designers are included in this book. (The incomparable Marnie MacLean did the cover sweater in case you’re wondering.) I feel totally unworthy of their company and very, very excited for the actual book.
Spring has been blooming and heady in Boston for a few weeks, but it’s slower in Maine (where my husband and I are from). Last weekend we took the family to the lovely Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens in Boothbay, hoping for a riot of tulips. Really, things were just starting to bud and only a few tulips were blazing their color over the landscape. But we had a good time anyway!
I hope spring is blooming beautifully wherever you are, as well.
Fit to Flatter Installment 2: Shapes (and how to flatter them).
Posted on 25 April 2010 | 25 responses
Fit to flatter is a ten-part series of tutorials on choosing and modifying knitting patterns to flatter your shape. These tutorials will be released every two weeks both as blog posts (free) and as separate, professionally formatted PDF files for printing (nominal charge). Should you desire the PDFs, each installment can be purchased from the tutorial page as they are released, or via a “buy now” button at the end of the installment. Individual installments are US$2.00 and at the end of the tutorial series the whole series will be available for $US10.00. I hope you enjoy the series!
Normally I don’t like jump cuts in blog posts, but this installment got so long that I felt it was a little cruel to flood everyone’s reader (and my blog’s front page) with the whole thing. Please click through for the whole installment, which is 16 pages when formatted for printing. Thanks!
This series is not about making you feel badly about what you have already knit. It is not about making you feel badly about your shape or about making you feel like you can only knit certain things, in certain yarns. In writing these tutorials, I want to help you learn basic principles for dressing the figure you have in the most flattering way possible.
Every person reading these words has fabulous assets to show off and a thing or two that you wish would disappear forever. The fact is this: Though exercise offers a plethora of benefits, it won’t change your fundamental shape. And wearing clothes flattering to your shape will do more to change the way you feel about your body than losing weight or gaining muscle will.
As knitters, we have the ultimate power of creating a piece of couture perfectly suited to our figures every single time. Your hand-knits should make you look and feel like a million bucks, and not just because of the skill required to form the stitches. I want to help you get there.
The first installment of this series introduced the concept of a shape and how the right clothes can change the appearance of that shape. In this second installment of my ten- part tutorial series I’ll dive into details on the different shapes and how to use specific kinds of clothing to make them all appear more proportional. Future installments will tailor this advice to hand-knits in particular and explore different garment elements that can have a big impact on flattery. I’ll end the series with thoughts on advanced sweater modification and custom sweater design.
FO/Pattern: Adelina
Posted on 20 April 2010 | 9 responses
How excited am I to share this with you? Pretty damn excited.
Pattern: Adelina
Yarn: Rowan Calmer, in coffee bean and… purple.
Time Elapsed: A couple of weeks. Most of this (all but the collar) was done during the knitting olympics this year. Then the collar waited while I designed and knit Hootenanny. *cough*
Pattern Notes: This fitted V-neck sweater has a bold stripe of color to give it a modern, figure-flattering edge. The sweater is knit flat in pieces, with two options for sleeve length. The sleeves and hem are done with fairly deep 1×1 rib. Vertical darts, also known as princess seams, are used for shaping. The color stripe from the front is continued horizontally around the hips and at the square neckline on the back, but not vertically. The vertical stripe on the front is accomplished via intarsia.
(All images in this page copyright splityarn. She’s awesome.)
The color combination of the stripe and main color can be adjusted to flatter a variety of body types. Those who are bustier on top and have slim hips should choose a trim color brighter than the main body. Bottom-heavy shapes should do it the other way around, with a darker stripe. Those in between can keep the brightness of the two colors the same and play with hues.
Princess seams allow for extremely flexible shaping, customized to fit your body. Should you desire less waist shaping than specified, you can either omit the shaping rows entirely, or omit only the shaping on the front of the sweater. Omitting only the front shaping (or using a smaller amount of shaping on the front) can provide a very nice fit on the small of the back without stretching the sweater too tight in the waist. Bustier women can accommodate their needs by performing more increases on the front of the sweater, and not in the back. This creates vertical bust darts that are exceedingly flattering. The extra stitches increased can be decreased into the neckline, preferably outside the color stripe.
I’ve written it up in 7 sizes, from 32″ to 50″ in the bust. I think it looks best with 0″ ease in the bust, and 1-2″ positive ease in the waist. In the pictures, I’m wearing the sweater with 0″ ease in the bust and about 2″ of positive ease in the waist.
One of my favorite elements about this sweater is the modern, squared shape of the back neck colorwork.
The crisp lines continue on the front, where the shaping allows the colorwork to gracefully part around the V-neckline.
Overall, I couldn’t be more pleased with the way this turned out. I hope you like it too! You may purchase it for US$6.00 from within ravelry or on this page.
Previews
Posted on 18 April 2010 | 8 responses
The tech editor is nearly finished with her work, so I thought I’d give you a preview of a pattern I will hopefully release this week:
image copyright splityarn 2010
It’s called “Adelina”, and I hope you’ll all like it!
*****
Meanwhile, things continue at a good clip on the sweater swatched here:
You can see a little glimpse of my original sketch in the corner there. I have the pattern written up, the back done, and am working up the fortitude to string the beads for the front.
*****
I’m so excited about the response to fit to flatter so far. Thank you all so much for your comments! I’m really happy with the way the second installment turned out, and can’t wait to share it with you all. Hope your week is full of fiber happiness!
Fit to Flatter Installment 1: Introduction.
Posted on 11 April 2010 | 37 responses
Fit to flatter is a ten-part series of tutorials on choosing and modifying knitting patterns to flatter your shape. These tutorials will be released every two weeks both as blog posts (free) and as separate, professionally formatted PDF files for printing (nominal charge). Should you desire the PDFs, each installment can be purchased from the tutorial page as they are released, or via a “buy now” button at the end of the installment. Individual installments are US$2.00 and at the end of the tutorial series the whole series will be available for $US10.00. I hope you enjoy the series!
This series is not about making you feel badly about what you have already knit. It is not about making you feel badly about your shape or about making you feel like you can only knit certain things, in certain yarns. In writing these tutorials, I want to help you learn basic principles for dressing the figure you have in the most flattering way possible.
Since this is the first installment, please let me repeat that. Every person reading these words has fabulous assets to show off. Likewise, I’d wager that every single one of you has a thing or two that you wish would disappear forever. The fact is this: Though exercise offers a plethora of benefits, it won’t change your fundamental shape. And wearing clothes flattering to your inherent shape will do more to change the way you feel about your body than losing weight or gaining muscle will.
As knitters, we have the ultimate power to create a piece of couture perfectly suited to our figures every single time. Your hand-knits should make you look and feel like a million bucks, and not just because of the skill required to form the stitches. I want to help you get there.
In this first installment of a ten-part tutorial series, I’ll cover the basic concept of a woman’s shape, and the technique of using visual tricks to make any figure look more proportional. The tutorials that follow will cover specific shapes and how to dress them for maximum flattery, with thoughts on mindful project choice, as well as individual sweater elements and their effect on how a sweater will (or will not) flatter your individual shape. I’ll end the series with thoughts on advanced sweater modification and custom sweater design.
First Things First: Some background.
Why am I doing this tutorial series in the first place? The answer to that question is behind my desire to design. When friends asked me to do a design for their book, I figured I would help them by quickly writing up a pattern and then get back to my normal knitting life. But once the first hurdle of pattern-writing was over, I kept noticing the same things over and over again in knitting blogs. And it made me want to design more:
“The knitting process was great, but I wish I’d chosen something a little more flattering.”
“I really enjoyed knitting this sweater, but I’m not giving a modeled shot because I over-indulged recently and need to lose some weight.”
“The sweater is really cute, but I’m a little disappointed in how it fits.”
The non-modeled shots are the ones that really fire me up. What we do as knitters is difficult, often expensive, and results in beautiful pieces of art that should be worn and loved. Why is that so often not the case? Why aren’t we proclaiming to the universe that our handiwork is not only fun and challenging but results in pieces that make us feel beautiful?
I’ve begun to conclude that what makes a pattern flattering (or not) is a mystery for many knitters. Fit for flattery is a topic I feel passionately about, both generally and in particular for hand-knitted items. I am on a design mission, of sorts, to help knitters find patterns that are both fun to knit and flattering to their shape. Because a deep V-neck that looks great on my girls just won’t hang right for you if you’re a broad-shouldered A-cup. (And, incidentally, that thigh-length sweater dress with a huge cable down the front that looks so phenomenal on you? Will make me with my thick, stumpy gams look about 50 pounds heavier.)
Trust me. We’ll both feel like a million bucks when we wear hand-knit items that are both gorgeous and flattering.
Okay, Enough Motivation. What’s a “shape”?
The first thing I want to draw your attention to is your shape. It’s highly likely that you’ve never really thought about your shape, perhaps other than considering a feature you dislike. For some, it’s extra weight they’re carrying. For others, a total lack of chest. (For me, it’s my disproportionally heavy thighs.) But quite aside from these individual dissatisfactions, everyone has an overall shape. There are quite a few common variations in body shape, and your shape is the key to choosing clothes that flatter. It matters much, much more than your size.
We’ve come to the point in these tutorials where I need to ask you, the reader, to take a big leap of faith: Please spend a few moments compartmentalizing all of your individual dissatisfactions with your body and shoving them away, down into the far, dark corners of your mind. Leave them there for awhile—they will only get in the way of progress.
(Is that dissatisfaction on hiatus, for the moment at least? Good, and thank you. I promise, we’ll get back to problem spots and dislikes later.)
The easiest way to start thinking about the shape of your figure, or anyone else’s, is to imagine yourself or someone else reduced to their outline, like in an introductory art class. If you hunt around online, you can pretty easily find a diagram of an “average woman’s shape”. It’ll look something like the figure below.
Her shoulders and hips are of equal width, her waist is noticeable but not extreme, she has slender limbs, and a small bust. The problem with figures like that, of course, is that only a few women actually have that abstract, «average» shape. Actual people come in a wider variety.
(There are lots more variations not pictured here, of course!) To understand the differences in the above sketches, and in different shapes generally, start by imagining three horizontal lines on these drawings and on your mental image of yourself (or someone else, if you really dislike how you look and it’s getting in the way): the widest point on top (be it bust or shoulders), the narrowest part of the waist, and the widest point on bottom (be it hips or thighs). “Average” figures tend to have the top and bottom lines of roughly equal length, with a distinctly narrower waist. Those same lines drawn on my set of three look like this:
The first, most basic principle of dressing to flatter is to use visual tricks to make your lines appear to be like those of the “average” woman, no matter what they actually look like when you draw them out.
Let’s grasp the concept of shape on some real women before going into the nitty gritty of how to change the way it appears. For this series, I convinced some of my best knitting buds to head over to photographer extraordinaire Caro’s and try on a variety of clothing. These wonderful women were very generous with their time, wardrobes, and humor in support of the tutorial project. I’m exceedingly grateful for their help. First up, two group photos that include women of a variety of shapes.
(From the left: Erin, me, Beth, Thea.)
(From the left: Crystal, Sarah, Danielle, Jess.)
Although we’re turned slightly to the side to all fit into the frame better, it should still be fairly clear that we’re a variety of shapes. There are some whose lines are pretty exactly proportional already (Jess), some with larger bottom lines (me, for example), and some with larger top lines (Danielle). We also represent a selection of tall/average/petite heights, curvy and not-so-much frames, and heavier and more slender bodies. Different clothes will flatter us differently.
Changing the Appearance of a Shape.
Sarah and Beth are two of the most attractive women I know, but they have opposite shapes and will require different kinds of clothing to look their best. Sarah loved this sweater, which belonged to someone else, and nearly walked home with it. Beth tried it on as part of our exercise in unflattering clothing and couldn’t wait to take it off.
Consider their shapes in these two pictures. They are wearing the same sweater. Sarah, who is a bottom-heavy shape, looks proportional and fantastic in a bright, wide yoke. It visually widens her narrow shoulders and brings them into balance with her hips. If we imagine those three lines on Sarah’s picture, the top and bottom lines look the same width, with a smaller waist.
Beth, on the other hand, has very broad shoulders and narrow hips. The yoke of this sweater exaggerates that imbalance, giving her the visual impression of a shape even more triangular than is actually the case.
Still don’t believe me? Sometimes the best way to grasp the impact of clothing is to look at the same woman in different outfits. The always-lovely Danielle has a top-heavy shape and enviably slender, shapely legs.
She has a figure built expressly for a deep, narrow V-neck. It cuts the width of her top in half and gives a long, vertical line for the eye to follow—all the way down to those $1,000,000 legs.
This same lovely lady, ten minutes later, looks twice as wide on top in a dolman-sleeved sweater. The fact that her legs are still slender and fabulous only adds to the visual impression of imbalance.
Although I’m sure Danielle has had days when she wished for Sarah’s petite shoulders and the ability to wear bare-backed little numbers, there is not a single thing wrong with her figure. Danielle is a beautiful woman with many attractive features. One outfit highlights those, while the other hides them.
What’s Up Next.
So there you have it. In this series, I’ll dive into the nitty-gritty details of determining your own shape, how to choose patterns that will make you look phenomenal, and how to modify existing patterns to be better for your individual shape. In the next installment, we’ll go into shapes in detail, dissecting a range of them and illustrating what the right (or wrong) clothes can do.
I feel passionately that you should have a closet full of hand-knits that you’re proud to wear wherever you go. Helping you understand what your own shape is and how you can choose knitting patterns that will make you look your best are the reasons I’m writing this tutorial series. I hope you’ll enjoy reading them!
(If you would like to purchase the individual PDF of this installment for US$2.00, please click the button: 
)
Quickie FO (ha!)
Posted on 7 April 2010 | 11 responses
Well, knee socks for Jacob should have been quick, anyway… if I had been focusing on them.
Pattern: Generic 3×1 rib socks with a slip stitch heel, over 56 stitches.
Yarn: Kaffe Fassett Regia
Time Elapsed: 4 days, over 5 months. Whoops.
Notes/modifications: No modifications as I can basically improvise socks like this, now. The only twist to these was that Jacob requested knee socks. (He requested knee socks! How much do I love this kid?)
In case you were wondering, he’s a robot-dancing snake trainer in these pictures. Cobras can be dangerous, you know.
Apparently if you shake them enough, they’re dazed into submission.
That’s all there is to say about these, really, except that now I’m just one WIP away from getting some long-standing ignored projects off my list. I decided that after Hootenanny (thanks for the love on that, all!) I’d get some projects cleared away to gain the peace of mind it’ll give me. Next up: Chinese Sweater for Katherine (out of an Interweave back issue). For which I bought the yarn in 2004. Which I started in November, which is really pathetic since it’s worsted weight with 3/4 sleeves. I will finish this thing in April. I will.
Housekeeping note: I’m toying with a much more clean, sparse site mini-redesign while I’m waiting for the next major Drupal release. Would those of you reading from a feed reader be so kind as to drop by the actual site, and let me know what you think? Is it too empty-looking? Are the pattern links/pages in the sidebar helpful? Any other comments? Thanks so much!
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