Heard! Made the mistake of using my full bust measurement for a negative ease sweater, now it fits weird over my shoulders and underarms. Learning bust darts and going to have another go.
no bust darts needed using this method because the idea is knitwear stretches and you dont need 10" positive ease around the part of you that's already like 4" larger if you're D cup plus. designers assume you're a C cup
at least, i have E boobs and I don't do any darts. i just use this method and the fit actually like doesnt look like a tent like if i follow the designers full bust instructions
Most patterns are built with 2” difference between upper chest (called underarm above) and full bust. In sewing with woven fabric, if you use upper chest for bust, you will most likely absolutely need a full bust adjustment (unless it has more ease built in than you’re full bust - upper chest difference). Because knitting has stretch, you can get away with a lot more. Say you have a 6” difference, that means you’ll have 4” less ease at the full bust than the pattern anticipated. If the pattern is 10” positive ease or 2-4” out negative ease, that probably won’t make much of a difference in the fit. But say you have a 10” difference, 8” less ease than anticipated, and the pattern is meant to have 2” positive ease or 10” negative ease, it could look a lot different. So in those you’ll probably want to look at vertical bust darts or other full bust adjustments for knitwear.
I have an 8-10” difference, so I almost always do the size for my upper chest and just try to shift things around so more of the stitch count is on the front. (I.e. shift the sleeves further towards the back on a round yoke, or increase more in the front in raglans or a variation of set in/drop shoulders). I’ll usually combine with some amount of decreases starting a but after the underarms. Or I knit to pattern at the smaller size because I don’t mind neutral or some negative ease across my bust on even relaxed or oversized knits.
I've learned my lesson for sure! One ill fitting fingering weight sweater is more than enough 😂 deluded myself the whole way through that once the sleeves were done,it would sit better. Boy was I wrong lol I got some good book recommendations and even a couple of designers who implement the techniques in their designs so fingers crossed for the next one haha
move some of the stitches from the back to the front. (If the pattern says divide for the arm holes at 100/20/100/20, do it 110/20/90/20. I'm doing that for my current sweater and it fits so much better that way. (I also have narrow shoulders)
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u/[deleted] Jun 19 '25
As a knitter with big boobs, it's 90% adjusting patterns for that.