An Unpopular Opinion

 

For the purpose of my discussion I am talking about wool, not cotton, linen or other plant-based/man-made fibers that have different qualities.

Also, this does not apply to 100% of knitted garments.

There is a trend to add darts to knitting patterns. Ostensibly to make the garment fit better – whatever that means. And for some people with big differences in various circumferential measurements, darts might be helpful but for the majority of people darts are not necessary.

Why is this? Knit fabric made from wool is a stretch fabric. Stretch fabric moves and drapes in a different way to woven fabric so openings, fastenings and shapings are not the same. Imagine using a T-shirt as a pattern base for a cotton top and then you try to put it on. Even if you do manage to get into it, it is not going to look or fit the same as your t-shirt even though they are both the same size. That delicate little button and loop at the back neck makes a lot of difference in being able to wear the garment.

Knit fabrics have less seamed shaping because any stitching stops the stretch of the fabric. Which may be what is required to stabilize the garment but if the fabric needs to stretch where the seam is placed what is going to happen? The seam will break.

Knitted garments have been fitting fine (not always perfectly because knitters and wearers are human after all) for many decades but now garments need shaping. Why this change? Let’s blame the internet. The internet has been good for the proliferation of knitting patterns and hand dyed yarns but this comes with the downside of the influx of people who have no idea what they are doing. They learn to knit, add some colourwork to a basic sweater design and know they’re a designer. But they know nothing about design or fabric characteristics. And with so much poor quality work on the internet, they are too inexperienced to know if the sweater pattern they are using as their base is any good or not. So a garment doesn’t fit, let’s add shaping rather than analyzing the problem.

The other reason for the change? Designers need a new thing to draw attention to themselves again. So let’s make a size-inclusive pattern with horizontal bust darts. And the person who can drum up the most attention for their pattern is the expert even if they were not the first nor the best.