Measuring for sweater fit - a survey for knitting
Measuring for sweater fit
A survey for knitting
Clothing size charts for women are based on 1939-1941 data collection of women's body measurements that only included white women aged 18-30. Size charts today still strongly reflect this data, including for knitting. Over the last decade, some sweater designers have worked to change that. Read on to participate in a survey toward creating a size chart for knitting that represents women's bodies today.
History of women's size charts
Did you know that modern size charts for women's clothing are based on data collection in the US from 1939-41? The survey was conducted by R. O'Brien and W. C. Shelton through the Bureau of Home Economics and their research became the model for sizing throughout the world. The problem is that the research was carried out on a relatively small group of white women aged 18-30 - not at all inclusive then nor representative today of women's bodies.
The history of women's size charts is rather fascinating and astonishingly, many size charts still strongly reflect the numbers used in that original research by O'Brien and Shelton. There is no 'standardized' size chart - companies create their own as part of building their own customer loyalty.
Size Charts in Knitting
The size charts for knitting have had a similar history except for the work by some modern knitwear designers to change that. In 2017, Teresa Gregorio of Canary Knits worked on sizing for petite women through her project, Knit Petite Project. She has some great articles with additional resources listed for reading more about the history of size charts. I especially appreciated this article: How did we arrive at the sizing we have today?
Ysolda Teague also has worked on size charts. Her blog post from 2017 offers her size chart. A 2019 post offers insight into choosing a sweater size.
Amy Herzog published a book in 2018 called Amy Herzog's Ultimate Sweater Book. The book is excellent for understanding sweater fit, sizing, sweater construction, and how to make adjustments so that your knit sweater will fit you.
Survey for size data collection today
Recently, I've been taking classes from Kim McBrien Evans of Indigo Dragonfly on size inclusivity in knitting. Kim currently is collecting data for her ongoing research to create a size chart for women that is inclusive and representative of women's bodies today. If you want to dive deeper into sweater fit and making alterations so sweaters will fit you, Kim offers a series of classes through Vogue Virtual Knitting Live that are worth your time. Sign up for Vogue's emails so you'll be in the know on their next virtual event class lists coming in Sept, Oct, Dec, 2024. Kim, along with Natalie Warner of Natalie in Stitches, started a new Marketplace Extra session for the Vogue Virtual events where they field knitters' questions on sweater fit and sizing. The Marketplace Extra events are included in all the class packages, as well as the marketplace only ticket. The sessions are a great introduction to Kim and Natalie's work on sizing and getting fit in your sweater knitting.
How to participate in Kim's surveys
Kim's body measurement data collection has been ongoing and you can participate in that here: Measurement Research by Kim McBrien Evans. Just last month, Kim added a new survey to tackle sizing and fit for sleeves, an area where there still is little detailed information for knitters. You can access that survey here: Sleeve Measurement Research by Kim McBrien Evans. Both surveys offer detailed instruction on how to take body measurements.
I encourage all of us to participate in Kim's research as it is, in my opinion, absolutely what is needed next to help knitters unravel the mystery of sweater fit in knitting. In talking to our June Cashmere community, sweater fit is an ongoing issue and rightly so. We invest time, money, energy to make a sweater and if the result is something that we cannot wear, it's devastating.
As always, find joy in knitting with our yarn!
-Warmly, Amy
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Precise Sweaters Size Chart & Measurement Guide
The Sweaters and Cardigans size chart from The Apparel Factory is user-friendly, self-explanatory, and guarantees a perfect fit for every purchase. To ensure accuracy, measure your best-fitting sweaters and cardigans, and determine your size following the guidelines provided in the charts.
Ysolda’s sizing chart for knitwear designers
Years ago I shared the sizing chart I used for calculating my garment patterns. It didn’t survive a website migration, and I’ve made adjustments over the years based on feedback from knitters. Finally, here’s the updated version.
My free women’s sizing chart in inches and centimetres.
It’s a google doc so you can use it as the basis of your sweater grading spreadsheets. The second sheet in the file gives explanations of where on the body each measurement is taken. They are all body measurements.
Essentially this is a compilation of sizing charts from a range of sources, including the ASTM standard charts for misses and plus-size women and several patternmaking manuals. It’s specifically intended for grading hand knitting patterns rather than sewn garments and follows knitting industry conventions (at the simplest level, for sewn garments it would be normal to grade sizes so that measurements of the smaller sizes are closer together than larger). I definitely do not recommend using this for purposes other than knitting patterns.
CYCA StandardsMany publications require designers to follow the sizing chartspublished by the Craft Yarn Council. These lack measurements and, I suspect, cause some confusion around shoulder widths and armhole depth. I’ve tried to make a chart that follows the sizes set up in that chart but with a wider range of measurements. When designing for other publications it’s always a good idea to double check whether there’s a specific sizing chart they’d like you to follow.
Lengths
You’ll notice that some lengths are consistent across the size range. This is because the sizing chart is based on women of the same average height across the size range. Whether larger bust sizes should also be proportionally taller is a matter of some debate, and you may wish to make slight adjustments to these measurements.
The length of the underarm to neck area *will* increase between sizes, some designers handle this by reducing the sleeve and body lengths as the sizes increase.
Personally I prefer to keep sleeve and body lengths close to the same across the size range allowing knitters to make adjustments as required for height independent of bust size. The exception is for very close fitting garments where a little extra length is required to follow the curves of the body in larger sizes.
Precision
You’ll notice that the difference between some of the smaller measurements is very small, and that the rounding is more accurate than you’d usually see in a knitting pattern. This is simply to reflect the distribution across the size ranges and isn’t an indication that the actual garment measurements are this accurate.
Metric conversions
The conversion between inches and metric are notaccurate. The conversion is intentionally done at 1″ = 2.5cm because knitting patterns usually give gauge over 4″ or 10cm. These measurements will reflect the measurements a knitter will get following the gauge directions for their chosen system. In practice we probably can’t expect a level of accuracy with gauge which would make a difference here!
Learning more about grading
I’m hoping to put together a tutorial, or maybe online class, on how I approach grading patterns in excel — if you have any specific things you’ve been wondering about please let me know. In the meantime you might want to check out Marnie Maclean’s tutorial. Or Faina Goberstein’s Craftsy class. I found the class a bit difficult to follow, like most Craftsy classes it’s very slow and it would have benefitted from screen sharing but you might find it a helpful introduction. Every designer has a slightly different approach to this so seeing how different people work is really valuable.
