All about ease and finding your perfect fit
Finding your perfect fit when knitting a garment can be tricky. But it gets easier once you understand ease!
Ease is one of the many ways we try to measure how a knitted garment will fit a person's body – relaxed or oversized (positive ease), snug (negative ease) or form-fitting (zero ease). Essentially, ease is the difference in measurement between the wearer's body and the finished garment.
Negative ease
If the garment is designed to have a snug fit, like a ribbed sweater or accessories like beanies and mittens, the pattern will have negative ease so the fabric is smaller than your body and stretches over it.
Designers will often include details about ease in the sizing descriptions or the final garment measurements. Read them carefully to check whether the sizing already accounts for ease or if you have to subtract the recommended negative ease from your measurements to choose a size.
Camisole No.9 by My Favourite Things is designed to have a negative ease of approx. 12–15 cm (4.75–6 inches). After measuring yourself, you'll need to subtract the desired ease from the measurement and use that number to choose your size. For example, if your chest circumference is 88 cm - 12–15 cm = 76–73 cm. Meaning you would choose a size S.
Tumble Tee by Lydia Morrow has between 9.5–17.5 cm of negative ease considered in the sizing measurements.
Positive ease
Garments like sweaters and cardigans are more likely to suggest positive ease so the fabric is larger than your body and has a more relaxed drapey fit.
Love Note sweater by Tin Can Knits suggests choosing a size that has between 10–30cm (4–12 inches) positive ease relative to your chest measurement. So once you've measured your chest, add 10–30cm to this measurement and choose the size closest to that.
Ida Tee by PetiteKnit is designed to have 6 cm (2¼ inches) of positive ease and has already accounted for the ease measurements into the sizing chart.
Zero ease
Garments with zero ease will match the measurements of your body giving you a form-fitting shape.
Designs like the Pink Velvet sweater by Andrea Mowry fit just right. The pattern suggests zero ease or up to 5cm of positive ease. If you're knitting this pattern with zero ease you would just have to select the size with the finished garment bust circumference that matches your bust measurements.
Finding your perfect fit
One of the benefits of knitting your own garments is that you decide how you want it to fit (if it all goes according to plan!).
A great tip from Wiebke, to help you figure out your preferred fit, is to keep track of garments you like to wear. Measure them across the chest and choose to knit a garment size where the final chest circumference matches the sweater's. You can also calculate the difference between the garment and your measurements to get your ideal ease.
Ravelry has a handy Fit filter to make finding patterns that will suit your fit preference!
Need help taking the right measurements? You might just need a retractable tape measure like our very own Loopine Wool Co. Tape Measure or the Chiaogoo Tape Measure for the job ☺️
We hope you found this helpful!
Happy Making! 🤗
xx The Loopine Team
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