When it comes to sewing, most people expect to make a few alterations to get the perfect fit. Knitting offers a bit more wiggle room because of the nature of knit fabric, but there are many instances where you might need to customize the fit to get a good looking sweater. Shaping, especially front darts, might need to get moved around, or you might need to add extra fabric using short rows to accommodate a fuller bust, a round belly, or rounded shoulders. I get a lot of questions about modifying my patterns to get a custom fit, but that’s outside the realm of pattern support, so I usually try to recommend a book or two that I know covers that information. I almost always recommended different books for different fit issues because I hadn’t found a book that covers a wide range of fit issues that also has a positive attitude towards bodies. Books like that are easy to find for sewing, but I didn’t have one for knitting.
So I decided to look for the perfect book on fitting your knits. I asked around on Twitter and picked up a few of the recommended books, but they weren’t quite what I was looking for. Next I went with what I found through Google and Amazon searches. I still didn’t find what I was looking for. At this point I don’t think my ideal fit book exists. Although most of the books I looked at covered full bust adjustments and length alterations, very few covered much more than that. Very few contained information on alterations for narrow shoulders or broad shoulders. Very few contained information on alterations for round bellies and rounded shoulders. Very few contained information on altering sleeves and sleeve caps for large upper arms. It was both surprising and disappointing.
What I did find is that a lot of these books contained useful information, just not necessarily the information I was looking for. I decided to add in a few from my collection and share what all of these books have to offer. Every Tuesday this month (or until I run out of books) I’ll be talking about books that discuss fit or have “Fit” or “Custom” in the title. I’ll share what kind of fitting information is included, how much of the book is about fit modifications, and what the book is most useful for. If there are any books that you’d like me to include, please let me know!
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