Fact:  boxy, square sweaters hide anything you’ve got worth showing.

An image consultant came to one of our local knitting guild meetings a couple of years ago.  She had a handout that showed some “before” and “after” pictures of women dressed in various clothing styles, which either suited and enhanced their body shapes, or didn’t. Here are some statements from the “before” pictures about “what’s not working”:

  • Extra fabric at mid-torso
  • Boxy jacket silhouette
  • Gathers at waistband (think about ribbing!)
  • Boxy, straight shirt
  • Absence of implied waist

Notice any trend here?

A straight-sided, boxy, shapeless sweater does nothing for a woman’s silhouette. (At least, nothing positive.)

A shapely sweater, OTOH, will enhance curves that are there — or it can give an illusion of curves that are not there.

A big turning point in my personal knitting life came after completing Sally Melville’s "Simple Cardigan" from the Purl Stitch book, and not being happy with it. While it does have some mild underarm shaping, in the body it is totally boxy, and it just doesn’t do me any favors. I decided to never again spend time, money, or effort on knitting a garment that doesn’t have side shaping. Consider this an invitation to join me in my knitting pledge.

Now, I’m not talking about TIGHT sweaters. I’m talking about sweaters that FIT, with some contours to follow the body.

Granted, the boxy look can be cute on some women (usually young, thin ones) – and they are great for men. But guess what, girls? – women look better with curves. And remember too, that shapeless, boxy sweaters take up extra yarn and extra time.

Hmmm… I’m more in favor of polishing up your knitting skills and learning how to do some simple shaping, or even learning how to add it to a pattern that doesn’t have it.

So — well and good — but how do you avoid making a shapeless sweater that has been doctored up in the photo to look like something it isn’t?

Sometimes you can get a clue just from the picture. The sweater may simply look suspicious, like the fabric is being pulled to the back to be wadded up behind the model. The sweater may not fit properly: the shoulders may not sit right on the model. A sure giveaway is if the rows look distorted: in other words, they are not hanging straight but instead look as if as if they are being pulled to the back.

One memorable example of this was in a KnitScene magazine, I think, a couple of years ago. They had a pale aqua, bulky knit raglan pullover on a model with long red wavy hair. The fit of the raglan lines was just so wrong — they were up over her shoulders if I remember correctly — that I had to look at the instructions to see what was up. Turned out the pattern was given in exactly two finished sizes: something like a 34", and something like a 56". Obviously the model garment had been knit in the 56" size, and they must have had to wad up about half of it behind the model’s back for the photo shoot.

But the most reliable way to tell what shape a sweater really is, is to check the schematic. If it’s got straight sides, well, there’s your answer.

The one exception I can think of is a sweater with negative ease, i.e. where the knitting is expected to stretch to fit and hug the body. As an example, my Sassy sweater is just a big tube of ribbing with no side shaping. As the tube is somewhat smaller than my body, though, when I put it on, it conforms nicely to my curves.

Side note: schematics are important. If you are considering a pattern with no schematic, I strongly urge you to pass, and instead look for a similar pattern that does have one. Schematics are useful in knitting, fitting, and finishing, and are a sign of thoughtful design. Lack of a schematic is a big red flag, especially given modern publishing technology. There are too many knitting patterns available out there to justify knitting a mystery garment.

I used to have a sweater that I knit which was oversized, boxy, and straight. The fabric was a really fabulous blend of 2 natural color yarns, in seed st, and practically every time I wore it, I would get compliments (one was from a gentleman who correctly identified the st pattern – turned out he had knit his own socks in wartime!).

BUT – the compliments were aimed at the sweater: "My, that’s a lovely sweater."

Picky person that I am, I think it’s more of a compliment when someone says, "You look wonderful in that sweater!"

Now, I’m not saying that total strangers are likely to say this in public. But even my husband, when he found out I had given away the sweater, said something like, "But that was such a nice sweater."

Granted, straight sweaters are easy to design, easy to knit, comfy to wear. But think about what you want to spend your precious knitting time on:  miles of stockinette that covers you up? or creating a sweater that fits you and your curves, in a color that looks fabulous on you, with details appropriate to your body shape, and that garners you the ultimate compliment:

"That sweater looks like it was made for you!"