Not everyone is a size 00 to 10. A few principles must be kept in mind when designing flattering items for real women.
Knitters, crocheters, and seamstresses have an advantage when making clothing for themselves; they can incorporate design elements into their projects that flatter their individual body types. For voluptuous women who want to play down certain areas and emphasize others, there are fundamental principles to follow that really do work.
Designing Tips to Slenderize
Use fine yarn instead of bulky, bumpy yarn. Worsted weight yarn or finer is preferable. Particularly avoid chunky, furry and fuzzy fibers as they add pounds. Use them sparingly with other yarn, or knit them loosely to make lace. Especially flattering to fuller-sizes are fibers blended with lycra, microfibers, and ribbon yarn.
Buy good foundation garments. Don’t be afraid to spend money on a high-quality bra. The difference will be immediately noticeable.
Don’t try to hide curviness; it only makes things worse to wear only boxy sweaters. Instead, keep balance in mind. For example, bottom-heavy women should offset their bottoms with tops like turtlenecks, scarves, and a bit of lace at the neckline. Top-heavy women should opt for V-necks. However, take care not to wear things that are too tight—the reason should be obvious.
Buy good yarn. People regret cheap mistakes; good yarn turns out good projects, and rarely leads to disappointment.
Try different colors. Contrary to popular opinion, black does not slim anyone, except perhaps in photographs.
Avoid ponchos or items that fit like them. Opt instead for wraps, shawls, or ruanas made of very light fiber. Be sure to use enough yarn, as wraps of any kind don’t do justice to anyone if they are too small, and don’t fit correctly.
Utilize scarves the right way. That is, use all the other tips in this article to emphasize the good, and to turn eyes away from those areas that may not be so great.
Don’t carry tiny purses. The contrast makes the person carrying the bag look bigger.
Go for styles that have “verticalness.” Horizontal stripes should be avoided, period. Choose stitches that are long vertically if possible.
Wrap-style sweaters are wonderful for real women. They help define a waist or create the illusion of waist where none exists. Any sweater should end at the most narrow part of the body possible.
Feel Great
In general, accentuate the best parts of the body, and play down the not-so-favorite parts. Knit and crochet what you love, and wear what you knit. Looking “skinny” is not the goal—looking good is.
More tips are available at the fantastic book, “Big Girl Knits” by Jillian Moreno and Amy R. Singer. Feel great!
