If you listen to the podcast, or spend time on the KnitBritish ravelry group you will have heard about Make It Fit. This is a planned series of posts curated by Jo Milmine, of the Shinybees podcast, and myself on the issues, hurdles and questions that arise from trying to knit garments which fit your body. The whole idea arose out of various twitter conversations on the subject of being proud to knit to our own fantastically unique proportions. We asked questions of ourselves; why do we choose the pattern size closest to the size *we think* we are? Shouldn’t we embrace our own measurements? We can knit and we can knit well, so why shouldn’t there be more emphasis on knitting to fit?

For me the last question is one that resonates a lot with me, but these questions bring a whole shoal of further questions….what, where and how do I measure? Can I measure myself accurately? Does body shape matter? When I do know my stats can I trust that patterns are designed with all shapes and sizes in mind? Is bust size really the singularly most important measurement to knit patterns by?  These are just the questions pertaining to measuring, we have lots more when it comes to knitted fabric, ease and modifying, etc.

I think what has driven Jo and I to put our own little spotlight on this is that we want to discover the answers to these questions as much as you do. Perhaps the reason why some people haven’t knit to fit before is that all the parts that go into doing so can become quite big and we aim to break these down a little; share stories, posts and practical hints and tips as well as sharing our own – and hopefully your – success stories, horror stories and our own experiences of knitting for your own measurements.

Here are a couple of things that Make It Fit isn’t going to do…

…Jo an I are not the Make It Fit police and we are not crazy enough to say we’re expert. There is lots of amazing work being done by designers to help you knit to fit, there are craftsy and other online courses, books and systems. While we might look at these too, what we really want to do is create a conversation about the wider issues of this topic and tackle some of the questions and complaints that arise often.
We also have some guest posts lined up and we are really keen to hear from you too. Crafting is constant learning curve and this is a journey that we can all lend a voice to.

Make It Fit isn’t a KAL, but as we go along learning about our body shapes and measurements, looking at selecting knitted fabrics, starting to think about modifying patterns. etc  you might find yourself selecting a pattern that you want to knit to your own measurements (hands up who doesn’t already have a fantasy project in mind?) We’d love to hear about this if you do! Post pictures in the groups and tell us about your experiences it will be lovely to see your progress and your FOs (….but it is not a KAL.)

There is already quite a lot of chat over in the KnitBritish group and the ShinyBee’s group on Ravelry and so do feel free to join in there. We also have an email makeitfit2015@gmail.com if you wish to get in touch that way. We will be posting on our own websites under the auspices of the Make It Fit moniker, but don’t worry if you think you might miss posts, you can sign up to our monthly newsletter and get all the posts and links pulled together and straight to your inbox. 

We’ll be looking at measuring first and, importantly, the emphasis on taking accurate measurements. We will be launching a survey link in a week or so, which will give you an opportunity to know what body measurements you need to take – you could print this off and use this as your own reference, but your (anonymous) info will also be collated to draw up an image of what is really “average” in terms of sizing standards (another topic we will look at).

Whilst at Indie Burgh Yarn Crawl this weekend (13-14th June) Jo and I will be on hand if you need a helpful hand in measuring up. We do recommend that you ask someone to take your measurements as it is so difficult to get accurate results from measuring yourself.  You can find us in the Safari Lounge with our tape measures on Saturday from 4.30-6pm and Sunday from 12-1.30pm. We will also be at the after party on Sunday evening. Don’t be scared to ask!