Garments
Sweaters, cardigans and tops, with the sizing worked out before you cast on.
Garments are the point at which crochet stops being forgiving. A blanket can be any size. A cardigan cannot, and the gap between a garment that fits and one that lives in a cupboard is almost always gauge rather than skill.
The good news is that crochet garments are built from shapes that are easier than they look. A hexagon cardigan is two hexagons. A poncho is a rectangle with a hole. Even a fitted sweater is four flat pieces, and the shaping is increases and decreases you already know from making a hat.
What changes is that you have to swatch, and you have to swatch honestly.
Start with a shape, not a pattern
These need almost no shaping and teach you how crochet fabric behaves on a body.
- Hexagon cardigan, the free pattern made from two shapes
- 14 poncho patterns for layering season
- 16 shawl patterns, from simple to showstopping
- 12 shrug patterns for awkward weather
Sweaters and cardigans
Where fit matters most, and where the size range of the pattern matters as much as the look.
- 20 cardigan patterns you will actually wear
- 18 free sweater patterns with full size ranges
- 15 free cardigan patterns, beginner friendly
Warm weather
Cotton, open stitches, and garments that take a weekend rather than a month.
- 22 top patterns for summer, sized inclusively
- 12 dress patterns for every body and season
- 10 sundress patterns to make before summer
Gauge, and why the swatch has to be big
A 10 cm swatch is not enough. Crochet gauge drifts as you relax, so a small swatch measures your careful tension rather than your real one. Work at least 15 cm square, then measure in the middle.
Then wash it. Cotton grows. Wool blooms and shrinks slightly. Acrylic does nothing, which is one honest argument for acrylic in a first garment.
| If your swatch is | It means | Do this |
|---|---|---|
| Too few stitches per 10 cm | Your tension is loose | Go down half a hook size |
| Too many stitches per 10 cm | Your tension is tight | Go up half a hook size |
| Right stitches, too few rows | Common in crochet | Follow stitch gauge, measure length in cm |
| Right before washing, wrong after | The fibre moved | Swatch again in the washed state |
Row gauge is much harder to match than stitch gauge, and most crochet patterns are written knowing that. Where a pattern gives a length in centimetres as well as a row count, trust the centimetres.
Ease, which decides how it looks
Ease is the difference between your body measurement and the finished garment. It is a style decision, not a mistake, and patterns usually tell you which they assumed.
| Ease | Difference | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Negative | 2 to 5 cm smaller | Fitted, clings, shows the stitch |
| Zero | Same | Skims the body |
| Positive, small | 5 to 10 cm larger | Classic comfortable sweater |
| Positive, large | 15 cm or more | Oversized, slouchy, uses a lot more yarn |
Measure a jumper you already own and love, flat, across the chest and double it. That number is more useful than your actual chest measurement, because it tells you the fit you actually wear rather than the fit you theoretically are.
Questions
Is crochet or knitting better for sweaters?
Knitting makes a thinner, more elastic fabric, which is why most commercial jumpers are knitted. Crochet makes a denser, warmer fabric with more structure. Neither is better, but crochet garments want a more open stitch to avoid feeling like armour.
How much yarn does a crochet sweater take?
For an adult medium in worsted, roughly 1,200 to 1,600 metres, which is eight to eleven standard skeins. Oversized styles can take half as much again.
Why does my crochet garment stretch out?
Usually the stitch is too tall and too open for the weight of the fabric. Denser stitches and a smaller hook hold their shape. Cotton stretches far more than wool.
Do I have to swatch?
For a blanket no. For anything that has to fit, yes. A 15 cm swatch takes twenty minutes and saves a month.
What is the easiest crochet garment for a beginner?
A hexagon cardigan or a poncho. Both are simple shapes with no set-in sleeves and almost no shaping, and both look far harder than they are.
How do I make a pattern bigger than its largest size?
Go up a hook size and a yarn weight together, which scales the whole garment proportionally. Adding stitches works only if you also redraw the shaping.
Patterns for this section are on the way.