GorlitsaKnits

Begin with your actual body measurements. Make a sketch of the garment and include at least your bust, waist, and hip measurements, as well as the vertical distance between these points. Be sure to measure the vertical distances straight down, not along the curve of your body.

Now decide on your desired ease. I prefer to have a few centimeters of ease for the bust and waist, and a few more for the waist. The amount of ease you want depends on how you want the garment to fit. If you want a tighter garment that really shows off your assets, you’ll want no ease, or maybe negative ease. If you are in doubt, measure a garment you already have the fits well.

Now we need to do a little more math. Make yourself another chart with your desired garment measurements listed down the side, and with the needle sizes (and their st/cm, as calculated last time) along the top. Grab a calculator again, and multiply the measurement times the st/cm for each box. For example, 107×1.894=202.658. You can follow the rules of rounding, or just chop off the decimals like I did.

You want whole numbers because this chart is showing you the number of stitches you would need to work in order to get the desired measurement with the given needles. So in my case, if I wanted to work the bust on size 3 needles, I would need to work 202 stitches in order to get the 107 cm measurement.

Once you have your chart, it’s time to make some decisions. What you want to find is one number (one stitch count) that occurs in all three (or two, if your bust and hips are the same) rows. If you end up with exactly the same number in all three rows, great! That’s the number of stitches you need to cast on.

But more likely you’ll end up with a situation like mine. You have some numbers that are close, but no matches. I see that I could work 183 stitches on #6 needles for the bust and 184 stitches on #3 needles for the waist. Those are very close! But the closest I have for the hip measurement is 188 stitches. I have two options — re-swatch with #7 needles and see if that gets me closer, or average out all the numbers and loose a little of my shaping.

Since I actually already did swatch with #7 needles and found the fabric to be too loose for my taste, I am going to go with option number two. I have to pick a stitch count that is “close enough” for all the measurements. Since I know I already added more ease to my hip measurement than to my bust measurement, I decide that I would rather loose a few stitches at the hip than add a few stitches at the bust. And so I decide that I will use 184 stitches throughout the body.

Think through your measurements and desired ease, and pick one number that will work for all of your measurements. You will most likely have to add or give up a centimeter or two in a few areas, but you will end up with some very easy shaping!

Next we’ll look at how to divide up the sections of the garment, and finally cast on!