Where is your waist?

I taught a "Get Fit" class last weekend and a question I always ask is "where is your waist?" Are you laughing yet?

We all know where our natural waist is. It's where you bend if you bend yourself to the side. You can also easily put your hand on your waist at your lower back. 

BUT... is that where your torso is narrowest when you look in the mirror? If your narrow part is at your natural waist, congrats. If not, you can still create a waist in your sweater.

There is no point in your sweater coming in at your natural waist if your body no longer goes in there. You are not alone here. I'm right with you. I am narrowest a couple of inches above my natural waist. You may be narrowest just below your bust. That's OK too. 

We're going to call this narrow spot in your torso your "sweater waist". That's where you can work some shaping into your sweater.

You can work decreases at the side seam (imaginary side seam if you're working in the round), one decrease on each side of the Front and one decrease on each side of the Back. That decreases your sweater body by 4 sts, approximately 3/4" in the medium gauges of yarn. I think working two sets of these decreases makes a very nice indent for your sweater waist. How far apart you work the 2 sets of decreases depends on how much room you have to work with. If you are putting your waist right under your bust you can work rows/rounds for 1/2" and do the second set of decreases. If you have more room on your torso to work you can work 1" of rows/rounds or more between decreases.

Work straight for 1" to 2" and then work the increases in the same manner back to the original number of stitches. You've created a lovely curve to your sweater.

The GOOD NEWS is that you can create a waist in your garment even if you don't have one. Your sweater is fairly stiffish fabric when finished and it will hold a curve for you. Yay.

If you don't have a waist in the front, you can work a waist on the Back only because all of us have a dip at the small of our back. This also makes a nice curve in your sweater.

If you need more room in the body Front, you know who you are, you can work the increases on the Front only, to accommodate a round belly. This also creates a curve and a better fit for your sweater.

A curvy sweater is better looking on everyone than a boxy sweater. If the pattern doesn't have some shaping built in then I would put some in. Create a curve. Even a small curve will make you look sensational in your sweater.

Do you add shaping? Tell me about it.

Happy shaping,
Deb

P.S. t_a So glad to hear from you. I'm glad to know you're lurking.