It’s been awhile since we’ve done a “From Scratch” post here on Fashion Fridays! Unintentionally so – things have gotten super out of hand lately, and we’re far, far behind in sharing all of the wonderful sweaters people have been making with CustomFit. (Want to see the first two posts? here’s Jackie’s sweater, and here’s Kim’s.)
CustomFit is aaaallllmost ready to be opened up to the great wide world, so I wanted to take this Fashion Friday to spotlight Keri’s wonderful, amazing, fabulous sweater.
I’ll start by talking about Keri’s most pressing fit issue, which is getting a sweater that fits all of her, all at the same time.
Pattern: CustomFit. Average fit cardigan, 3/4 sleeves, mid hip length, V neck.
Yarn: Briar Rose Fibers Fourth of July. Colorway? Blue-green, and purchased at Rhinebeck. (I’m so honored when people use such special yarn for their CustomFit sweaters.)
Size: Keri’s. Everywhere.
Keri is the star of this story, because she’s lovely. But shaping is the star of her sweater, and I really want to talk about how important it is. It might not be clear from that beautiful front picture up there, but Keri has some fit challenges. In her words:
I’d honestly given up on knitting sweaters for myself, as I could never get the fit I wanted.
Why? Well, Keri is curvy, in the way that I typically mean that: her waist really scoops in beautifully on the sides.
And she’s curvy, in the way others sometimes mean that, which is to say busty. Further, she has slimmer hips and small arms.
Larger bust + slimmer hips and shoulders + slimmer arms + curvy waist = substantial modifications when knitting patterns designed for “Ms. Average”.
Even if she chooses a size to fit her shoulders, the hips, waist, and bust would likely all require at least some modification. And is there anyone who really jumps for joy when they think about figuring out how to add bust darts to a pattern? Other than me, I mean?
(*crickets*)
But CustomFit knows how to fit all of you. So Keri’s sweater pattern didn’t need modifications. There was no scary “bust dart” piece, no “gotta change that waist shaping” section, no “will this work?” bit. She just knit the pattern, which had one set of numbers (hers), and got a great sweater.
That fits perfectly, everywhere, without a single change. It was built, from scratch, for her body, instead of retrofitted.
It’s still so amazing to me that the best sweaters are also the easiest sweaters. I’m thrilled with the way Keri’s sweater turned out. And she is too. Here’s what she said:
This process has changed how I feel about knitting sweaters for myself. Thank you so much. This is my favourite sweater, and the only sweater I have that fits. Now I’m planning multiple sweaters, even fitting pullovers. CustomFit showed me how worthwhile it is to do the modifications, and it was so easy!
The other thing I found fascinating was when I was swatching, I was choosing the fabric I thought the yarn wanted to be, rather than trying to see if I could get it to match a pre-existing pattern. This meant I really got to show off some beautiful stash yarn that I’d been saving for the ‘right’ project.
We are so, so excited about sharing these sweaters with you. The CustomFit pattern is up on Ravelry, our preview users are making sweaters like mad, and we’re almost ready to share CustomFit with the world.
So stay tuned! And have a great and yarn-filled weekend!
Amy Herzog Designs