How To Add Ease In Knitting Patterns
Ease in a knitting pattern
Wearing and design ease take on an significant role in the design of a knitting pattern.
They are an integral element of the garment design itself. The new knitter should be aware of the function the ease factor imparts to the sweater, cardigan or vest they are about to knit.
Woven textiles, even double knit yardage and other knit fabrics available on a bolt do not have the amount of stretch found in sweater knits. Sweater knits, both store bought or hand knit, have the highwest amount of give.
Wearing ease is an added amount of knit fabric added to any knitwear design. It enables you to move within the completed garment. Without wearing ease, your sweater might stretch enough to “fit” but it will either cling like a second skin or not look as the designer intended.
Drafted to standard measurements for a particular size, knitting patterns have a built-in, minimum amount of wearing ease. The amount of added ease is directly related to the design, the fit, and the size of the actual garment. Even though two inches of wearing ease is a typical amount, three to four inches of added wearing ease falls into the generous sort.
A knitwear designer can also add “inches” to create a specific look and design. Take this into consideration when trying on ready-to-wear knits. Some knits are designed to be clingy or “oversized”
The amount of wearing and design ease drafted into a knitting pattern not only varies from individual size to size but also between knitting patterns drafted for Men, Misses, Petites, and Plus sizes.
Wearing ease is also directly affected by stitch and row gauge specified in the written instructions. In fact, both the wearing and design ease drafted into the pattern depend on it. An true stitch and row gauge is the cornerstone of all knitting pattern directions and determines the outcome of all your efforts – in other words, the size and fit of the sweater!
Knitting patterns do not list actual body measurements. However, they do provide the “finished” dimensions which include ease.
The finished measurements listed in a knitting pattern equal your actual measurements plus wearing and design ease. Actual dimensions are the dimensions you obtain when placing a tape measure over foundations garments.
As an example, if you have a bust or chest measurement of 36 inches, and the pattern lists a finished measurement is 38.5 inches, 2 1/2 inches of wearing ease have been added for that specific sweater style and size.
It is easy to determine the amount of wearing ease included for any given size. Compare your actual dimensions to the finished dimensions provided in the pattern or diagram while keeping certain measurement variables in mind.
The back shoulder width is by far the most important measurement. Verify it against the measurements provided in the pattern. Visualize your shoulders as the frame that supports the sweater. When the shoulder width is correct, the sleeves hang properly and fit well. For a customized fit, lengthen or shorten the sleeves.
When the back shoulder width is precise, the sleeve cap is placed correctly on your arm, with the widest part of the sleeve in the proper position – across the upper arm. The widest part of the sweater body will also be in the right place resulting in a good fit across the chest.
A certain amount wearing ease is also built into the length of a sweater. Are you tall or petite? Knits move in every direction, including the vertical.
A sweater can be short in length, as in cropped styles, as long as other measurement points are correct and certain other design features, including the all important ease variables are allowed to play their assigned roles into the knitting pattern.
Design ease is often ignored when the eager new knitter tackles a first project. Yet it plays a very important role in the overall look of the completed garment. Is your sweater supposed to be close fitting or “oversized”? This is where design ease plays a role – either as negative or positive ease.
Design ease is the additional amount of knit fabric, above and beyond wearing ease, added to create a certain style or look such as a purposely oversized sweater, cardigan or sweater jacket. Jackets and coats generally have 8-10 inches of added ease.
While pullover sweaters may have a generous amount of wearing ease to allow for layering, the design of cardigans usually allow for more ease (5-6 inches) than pullover sweaters. Cardigans are usually worn layered over shirts and perhaps another pullover or vest.
Design ease can also be a negative amount! Those extremely fitted, clingy ribbed pullovers have negative wearing/design ease – as in actual dimensions minus 1 to 2 inches!
It is the varying amounts of wearing ease/design ease which produce different “fits”: very fitted (negative ease), fitted (+1 to 1.5 inches), semi-fitted or average (2.5 to 3 inches), loose (4 to 5 inches) and oversized (6 to 8 inches).
De Ashton, a long time resident of Woodbridge, Virginia has been in the crafts business since 1986 in Prince William County and specializes in custom knitting and sewing. She currently creates custom made reproduction costume components for theater productions worldwide.
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