Plus Size Pattern Engineering
Every once in a while we stumble upon a yarn community article that is just too good not to share. The Verge posted an amazing article on how knitters are taking inclusivity into their own hands, and both making demands out of their favorite designers to include a larger array of body sizes, as well as customizing their own garments to fit their unique bodies perfectly.
I especially love the mention of Swanky Emu Knits, who designs knitting patterns with the ability to customize the patterns according to the knitters’ own bust, waist, and bicep circumference measurements. Their motto is:
Knitting patterns that automatically adapt to your unique set of measurements. No size limits, no body proportion assumptions, just truly size-inclusive garments for everyone.
How amazing is that? What this article helps confirm is that including size-inclusive measurements is not unachievable for designers that offer paid, test-knit patterns but that this really needs to be the norm going forward. And simple up-sizing of the number of stitches is not a solution, but rather the calculated tweaking of a design to best fit measurements of real people. This takes specialized design skills-development as well as an investment in taking the time to work with test knitters of various sizes and shapes.
But it is not only in the hands of designers to work out best fit, as we know humans come many shapes and sizes, and part of the knitter’s lifelong learning is how to tweak to best fit their own size and style. And we as local yarn stores can also do our part; we aim to include a selection of quality wool and non-wool based options in a variety of price ranges, but we also offer a cross-the-board 10% off discount to our local guild members. What I can offer is that any plus-sized knitter that requires multiple high-end yarns to make their sweater of their dreams, just tell our staff that you would like to use this Guild discount for your purchase; we are happy to aim for inclusivity in our local community of fibre crafters, and this is one example of the variety of ways which we are able.

Check out this fabulous article here. Please feel free to share in the comment below your own tips, tricks and hacks that you have found to work for you when engineering your knitting to best fit you. We’d love to hear and learn from you!
Special thanks to June and the Knit2gether knit group for sharing this article with us!