Shape it for your figure

I finished my waist shaping and am happy with the results. I worked the increases so that the hip is a bit wider than the Bust. Also more increases on the hip were worked on the Back than the Front which works for my figure on a closer fitting top.

As you might imagine, waist and hip shaping can be endlessly adjusted. On this top I've made the Front 3" wider than the Back to accommodate the bust. The Front is on the right and you can see that it's slightly wider.

With a Belly:  I worked decreases to bring the waist in. I did the same number of decreases on the Front as I did for the Back. At the waist the Front is still 3" wider than the Back. This fits my figure.

No Belly:  If you don't have a belly then you might want to work more decreases on the Front to get to a place where the Front and Back have the same stitch count. You could start working decreases on the Front as soon as you knit past the largest part of the bust. You can work these decreases every 2, 3 or 4 rounds. When the Front and Back have the same stitch count the top will be 3" smaller than it was at the Bust. That might be enough shaping. But if you can, still work the waist shaping on the Front & Back as usual too.

Hips:  At the waist begin to work increases until the hips are the same width as the bust. Then you can work a couple more sets of increases if desired, to give you more hip room, as I did. I also, as mentioned, worked more increases on the Back than I did on the Front, to accommodate my back end. That gets me closer to the same number of stitches on the Front and Back.

No Hips:  You can work the increases to the width you need around your hips. Make sure you give yourself a couple of inches of ease so that the top doesn't bind at the hip.

Every sweater can teach you how to get closer to a good fit. What has worked for you?
-Deb

Went away for the weekend and did NO knitting. Very, very weird for me but restful. Read a couple of books instead and now I'm ready to tackle the end of my square neck pullover.

I did indeed rip back and work different hip shaping. After trying it on a couple of times I decided that what my figure needs is a bit more fabric on the back. This photo is of the ribbing running down the side with 2 increases worked on the Front (on the right of the ribbing) and 3 increases on the Back (on the left of the ribbing). One extra increase worked on the Back gives more room for my backside. I'm going to do a bit more so that I end up with 3 increases on the Front and 5 increases on the Back. I think that will work better for a close fitting pullover.

-Deb

P.S. You're right Brenda, unfortunately I won't have it worked out for all sweaters but I'd be happy to have it worked out for Cotton Tweed since I use it a lot.  I'll have to see if I can apply this method to other sweaters.

Chez Lizzie, I do a similar thing. There is a straight 2" section for the waist. The bottom of this section sits at the waist. The first hip increase is at the waist so the sweater width gets ahead of my hips. Seems to work.

 

Waist Shaping

Waist shaping, it makes a difference. I worked a decrease before and after the side ribbing on each side, 2 times, for a total of 8 sts decreased. This takes the waist in 1 1/2" and when worn it does create an hour-glass figure. Even doing this on the back only, if you don't have a waist on front, helps to shape the sweater. And it also gives you something new to work towards as you work down the body, which is also important. For the hips, I worked increases back to the original number of stitches (a little further apart) and then took the hips out one more set of increases so that the hip is 3/4" wider than the Finished Bust. If more hip shaping is needed, the increases have to be done closer together.

I've been playing with waist and hip shaping for my own particular figure. On every sweater I do it a little bit differently to see if the results make the sweater fit better. Eventually I will know what to do with all my sweaters! I think here, I could have worked the hip increases closer together since there aren't that many and a quicker hip flare would make the sweater look better at the back. Hmm, I think there's another frogging coming up.

 

-Deb

P.S. Comments: t_a  Ha, ha, just another day at the office.

Hi Ann, Long time since we saw you, hope to remedy that soon.

 

Lyn and I spent the weekend at camp (a cottage, to southern folks) working on the Accessory Book. It's amazing how much work needs to be done at the end. We were trying to be adjust words to be consistent with the instructions. We added in some black & white photos. Today we moved pages around so you won't have to flip pages to find the stitch patterns when you want them. Also we check and recheck that all the information you need is there where you need it. I think we are very close to being ready to let it go. One more edit on Thursday and then it goes to the printer so they can do the proofs. Still several weeks away from publication.

Some last minute knits had to be done. Lyn knit a cowl on the drive up and I knit another mitten on the way back home. We'll need new photos of them.

I did have a bit of time to knit on my sweater.

I'm ready to do the waist shaping now. It's really comfortable to wear even as it is. Can't wait to get a little more done. That's Lake Huron in the background.
-Deb

I'm adding bust darts in the form of increases between the underarm and the largest part of the bust. These stitches are going to add 3" of extra fabric across the Front only. You can see that the sleeve stitches have been put on spare yarn at the Great Divide.

 It all starts with one stitch increased right beside the underarm cast on stitches at the side of the Front. Two navy markers are set on either side of the cast on stitches. The light green Marker is the Bust Marker. The bust increases will be worked next to the Bust Marker so that the number of stitches between the navy and light green Markers will equal 1 1/2".

I'm working down the sweater and have added 5 sts so far on each side of the Front (5 sts between the navy Side Marker and the light green Bust Marker).
You'll see that I'm working the underarm cast on stitches in a rib pattern. These stitches will do some of the fitting for me. These rib stitches will expand a little at the bust and come back in for the waist. I'll have to decide if I want to work more waist shaping or not. A few more bust increases and that will be done. Then I can cruise along, working the Panels and the ribbed side stitches. Still lots to interest me as I work down the Body.
-Deb

Back to sweater knitting, still my favourite garment to knit. The Square Neck is progressing after several changes. The question for me was where am I going to put some increases for the Bust. I'd like the Fronts to be 3" wider than the Back. This does a couple of things. Most of us are a couple inches bigger on the front because of the 2 obvious reasons. This is also a pattern based on a 3x1 rib. I don't want the wearer to stretch out the ribbing across the Bust so I'm adding in some more stitches for the bust area. There are a couple places to work increases for the Bust:
1. the bottom 1-2" of the Yoke before the Divide Round (double up the raglan increases on the Front).
2. on either side of the centre Panel (vertical darts starting in the Yoke).
3. angled darts worked between the underarm and the bust (angled from the underarm toward the bust).

I thought I would do vertical darts but they need to start before the bottom of the Yoke is reached. The knitter is already working raglan increases and keeping track of the Panel pattern at the same time, enough already! I decided against working double increases at the bottom of the Yoke for the same reason. Let's do one thing at a time. I know knitter's love that phrase At The Same Time.

I'm going with the angle darts worked at the edge of the underarm and angled toward the bust (the same darts as in the Need A Plus Cardigan book). To do this I had to reconsider the ribbing I had running down beside the Panels on the Front and Back. I took it out (handy crochet hook does the trick). Now I've hit the Great Divide and can start the Bust Increases. Yay. I also added one more detail. I should have a couple more inches done in a couple of days so you can see.
-Deb

We're in book production now. Lyn is converting the entire contents of the book into a printer ready copy. I've been over it with my tech editor and have some correction work to do on the new copy. As you might imagine, the wording across the entire book is not consistent since it was written over the last 6 months, bit by bit. Then as test knitting came in, further changes were made. Now it has to come together as one book. It's really difficult to edit my own writing since I don't really see what's on the page but all that has gone on behind it. To read a pattern as if it's not your own takes putting yourself in someone else's head and reading it from their point of view. It makes a huge difference if it can be done throughout the whole book. That's my task over the next week.

-Deb