If you have a round belly, you probably have some questions

• If my belly is larger than my chest, should I go up a size? (no)
• Can I modify a sweater to fit my belly? (yes)
• If I add stitches for my belly, won’t the sweater look A-line? (no)
• So what DO I do? (read on!)

Summary

Let’s put the good stuff up front: To modify for a round belly, add width in the belly area in the front of the garment only. Decrease that width at the sides, underarm, and/or neckline. Consider adding short rows — adding a series of rows throughout the torso is the best way to do this, but adding some at the hem can be better than nothing in a pinch. To get into the why, the how, and to follow a case study example, read on!

Hey friends - this is a lot of material to read on a webpage. Want a nicer way? We made it into a little mini e-book for you. Happy reading!

Do you need to fit a round belly?

Patterns are graded (the process of making sure a sweater fits multiple sizes) on size charts. That means that each size sweater is based on a set of measurements for a hypothetical person.

Here’s the thing — that hypothetical person isn’t a real person. These numbers are all based on averages. And no human will ever *exactly* match all the measurements from a size chart. Specifically, there’s a lot of variation in how we deposit mass in our abdomens.

Some knitters with breasts may find that since their belly circumference is smaller than their full bust, most sweaters that fit at the bust fit in the belly area. But what about knitters with a belly circumference greater than their full bust, or knitters with a round belly and no breasts?

“Belly Mods” in patterns

We have yet to see any pattern on the market that advertises “belly mods included!”

“Standard” sweaters (not A-line or empire, for example) are typically knit straight from the underarm to the hem with no shaping. The circumference at the underarm = the circumference at the full bust = the circumference at the waist and belly = the circumference at the hip. No shaping is worked between the underarm and the hem.

There are exceptions:

• Some patterns may include waist shaping (the waist is smaller than both the chest and hips).
• Patterns graded on a women’s size chart may have a hip that is slightly wider than the bust, increasing very gently through the belly area evenly to the hip.
• A-line sweaters increase at an even rate from the underarm to the hem.

If you find that garments are snug in the belly or you’ve been sizing up your whole sweater to fit your belly, adjusting the pattern is just might revolutionize your clothes-making experience.

Always fit top-down

If you’ve been with us for a minute, you’ve probably heard this — always fit top down.

That doesn’t mean you have to knit top down, just that you choose the size that will best fit the top part of your body, then plan adjustments to accommodate areas that don’t fit.

For more on this, you can read this article on choosing a size using upper chest, the key fit measurement for people with breasts: https://tinyurl.com/49mb3em9

No matter what your circumferences beneath the underarms, start by choosing a size that will fit your shoulders and upper chest.

If you’re working a One Wild pattern, we’ll give you sizing guidance that will help you choose the right size. If you’re working a pattern that recommends a size based on full bust, you may want to refer back to that post on choosing a size using upper chest.

For a set-in sleeve, cross front is key

For a set-in sleeve, we suggest you choose a size based on cross front (also known as front chest or front chest width). Cross front is measured straight across the front of the body with the arms down at the side, starting at the top of the underarm on one side and ending at the top of the underarm on the other.

Why use cross front? Because cross front is the single most important measurement for fitting a set-in sleeve garment. That measurement is what drives the join between the arm and the body, and if that join is not in the right place, the arm will not be able to move correctly in relation to the body.

Adjust your knitting for your belly

You followed the sizing guidance to choose your size, but you know your belly is a larger size. What to do?

You might not need to do anything!

Step one is to figure out the garment’s circumference at the belly area and compare that to your belly measurement.

For a positive-ease garment, sometimes our bellies will fit into the sweater with no adjustment. Look at the pattern’s schematic: what is the circumference of the garment at the belly?

This is easy if your sweater has no shaping between the underarm and the hem — the chest measurement should be marked on the schematic.

 

In a pattern like Sappho’s love, gentle hip shaping creates a hip that is wider than the bust without “nipping in” to add waist shaping.

Unlike an A-line silhouette that adds stitches evenly from the bust to the hem, waist shaping adds width in the belly area and through the hip. You may not need to make any adjustment with patterns that include this type of shaping. Learn more: https://tinyurl.com/2m5t26h6

If your pattern has A-Line, waist, or hip shaping

If your sweater has shaping between the underarm and the hem, you’ll have a little more work to do.

Start by measuring from your inner neck point down to the “apex” of your belly. The apex is going to be the widest point. For a primer on taking your measurements for knitting, you can visit this article on our website: https://tinyurl.com/3we8695y.

We then need to see what’s going on at the pattern at that point. You’ll need to subtract any length from the garment’s inner neck point to the underarm, and these measurements should be on the schematic. For example, in a set-in sleeve you’d subtract shoulder rise and underarm depth. This will tell you how far under the underarm of the sweater your belly will be.

This process will help you figure out how your belly will fit into the sweater if your garment has shaping. You’ll also need to take similar measurements to figure out where to add shaping later!

Example: You measure down from your inner neck point and find your belly apex is 16.5” from your inner neck point. The pattern’s shoulder rise is 1.5” deep and the armhole is 7” deep. 16.5 - 1.5 = 8. Your belly apex is 8” beneath the garment’s underam.

Then, get into the details of your pattern and see where shaping is worked. It can be helpful to map this out row-by-row. Use the number of rows worked before your shaping to determine the length, and the stitch counts to determine the circumference.

Example: Working an A-line pattern, one increase row is worked every inch down the sides of the body from the underarm. Each increase adds .75” to the circumference of the garment. If the roundest part of the belly is 8” from the garment’s underarm and the chest circumference is 40”, we can expect that the garment will be 46”(40” plus 8 x .75) at the roundest part of the belly and can compare that measurement to the body measurement.

If your body will fit comfortably inside the circumference of the sweater, you don’t need to make an adjustment.

How much ease do I need to be comfortable?

A frequent follow up question here is “do I need the chest/bust ease recommended by the designer for my belly?” For example, if the designer tells you that recommended ease is 4”, do you need 4” at the belly to be comfortable?

The answer is “not necessarily.” Only you know what you need to be comfortable. Most of us will be comfortable if our ability to move in the garment feels the same throughout the body. 6” feels much like 4”, for example.

It’s likely you’ll get the best answer to “how much ease do I need” by trying on things you already own, especially things in a similar weight and from your previous handknits.

Use your target ease + your body measurement (or the measurement of an existing garment) to determine the target measurement for the adjustment you plan to make.

Add the width you need

In this step, you’ll figure out how many stitches you need to add. You know how big you want the sweater to be at the belly, so convert the increase in circumference to stitches using your gauge. Typically, you’ll want this to be an even number.

Where do the stitches go?

The fit goal is to make sure that the side seams (or where the side seams would be, for an in-the-round sweater) fall straight down from the underarm to the hem, perpendicular to the floor.

That means that to fit a round belly, your extra stitches belong in the front only (where belly is). Contrast this with a customization for hips, for example, in which we might to add evenly all around, or for our butts, in which case we’d add the new stitches to the back.

The extra width needs to extend from the apex of the belly all the way to the hips. We do not want to create a bubble silhouette by increasing to the belly and then decreasing. If you’re working top down, you’ll add stitches as you work down from the underarm, reaching the fullest part of the belly before the apex, and then keep those extra stitches all the way to the hem. If you’re working bottom up, you’ll cast on extra stitches and decrease them out after the fullest part of the belly.

If you can’t take the easy mode because you need more or fewer stitches, make sure that you’re adding stitches in an increment that works for your stitch pattern(s).

How to deal with the extra stitches for the belly

We’ve planned more stitches at the hem and through the fullness of the belly — but now what? Do we get rid of them?

What we are doing is what sewists call “grading between sizes.” We’re using the pattern at the top of the garment in one size, and the pattern at the bottom of the garment in another size, and moving between the two.

The only fixed rule is this: your shoulders have to end up the same width in the front and back so that you can seam them together

That means you’re going to have to get rid of the extra stitches you added. There are three places to do this, at the sides, in the underarm, and in the neckline.

You don’t want an A-Line silhouette

Often, knitters worry that a garment will take on an A-line if they remove stitches at the sides. A garment looks like an A-line when there is a gradient of ease — it’s snugger at the chest, with lots more room at the hip.

What we’re doing instead is adding stitches so that we have consistent ease, not an ease gradient. That means it won’t “read” as an A-line. The illustration we’ve been using shows this — I’ve drawn a garment that has the same ease at the chest and belly, and it doesn’t look like an A-line.

Get rid of a few stitches at the side

So that means overall, we can safely get rid of some of our extra width at the sides. How much? It will depend on the size of the garment and the size of the stitches, and your best results may come with experimentation over time. Most knitters can feel safe removing 1” of extra width (1/2 on each side of the garment) without compromising the silhouette.

Deal with the remaining extra stitches

You’ve eliminated some of the stitches you added, but you still have some more to take out.

There are two places to remove these stitches — the underarm and the neck. And please forgive me, but I’m going to rely on some cartoon characters to get us through visualizing this — Peter Griffin and Homer Simpson (I drew an illustration of Peter and Homer, but chickened out of blowing past all copyright rules so you’ll just have to take my word for it being very fun and cool).

Armhole vs. Neckline

Removing the extra stitches in the armhole means getting back to the original yoke dimensions as soon as possible. This is a good option for folks who have a round belly but above that, their upper body matches the size chart pretty closely. This is our “Homer” build.

Removing the extra stitches in the neck means that the whole cross front of the garment is wider than it was in the base pattern. It also means the armhole shaping is exactly the same, which means no adjustments to the sleeves. Choose this option if the front of your upper body is full too — generally, the entire front of the body is bigger than the back of the body. This is our “Peter” build.

Option 1 – eliminate extra stitches in the underarm (Homer)

For a set-in sleeve or drop shoulder, shaping is worked in the bottom 1/3rd of the armhole area. For smaller sizes, you may be able to just work a few extra increases. For larger sizes, you may need to bind off an extra stitch or two, and then work in a few extra WS decreases to get the extra increases in without working the decreases over any additional rows.

In a raglan or yoke sweater, shaping is worked from the neck to the underarm. You’ll want to increase the rate of decreases in the bottom 1/3 of the yoke so that there is not a lot of puffy unwanted fabric in the top of the garment. That usually means adding some wrong side shaping rows, or working shaping rounds every round instead of every other round. It may also mean binding off one or two extra stitches.

Option 2 – eliminate extra stitches in the neck (Peter)

Your goal here is to eliminate the stitches in the neck by working a combination of extra bind-offs and additional decreases that maintains the round shape of the neck. Consider using a spreadsheet software like Excel or Google sheets to create a grid that matches your stitch and row gauge, and mapping your plan visually. That tends to be much easier and faster than trying to apply a formula! Check out the Case Study (starting on page 9) for a visual.

Option 3 – Combine Option 1 and 2

Depending on how many stitches you need to eliminate, you may need to remove stitches in both the underarm and the neck. Play around with different combinations to see what works best!

Bellies are round

The fabric that covers your belly needs to be wider to cover the extra width of the round shape. But the front of your garment may need to be longer to cover the curve of the belly, too.

In a perfect world, each row of stitches would be parallel to the ground, and each column of stitches would be perpendicular to the ground. Fabric is flat and bodies are round: imagine putting a baseball on a table and putting a handkerchief on it. If we were going to make that handkerchief more closely fit the ball, we wouldn’t just make it wider.

If we “slashed” open the sweater in the belly area for someone who has a round belly, we would see gaps like those in this illustration:

So far, we’ve covered how to add width, the extra stitches we’ve added close the gap from side-to-side. To close the gap up-and-down, we can would need to add rows. See how the gap is widest in the middle and we don’t need any extra length at the sides? Short rows will allow us to add length in the center front only.

How many short rows? If you’re already adding width, I would add only a little extra length. Err on the side of not adding enough length, because if you add too much length the front will be saggy and will add more visual roundness to the belly.

For a starting point, you can try on a garment that fits similarly to the one you intend to create. By how much does the front ride up? If you don’t have any good information to go on, try adding just an inch or less to start. You’ll finesse your fit as you make future garments.

Where to put short rows for a round belly

You have two choices for where to work your short rows. In fitting, we always want to add the fabric where it is needed. Here, it’s needed at the apex of the belly. In real-world application, you might not be able to do that.

Option 1: Mid-torso micro-darts

For the best fit, add darts above and below the apex of the belly. If I were going to suggest a solution for our illustrated person, I would add two sets above and two sets below. The more you spread out the darts, the more subtle they will be.

Option 2: Round the bottom of the hem

This won’t contour the body, but it will add length that can visually offset a hem that rides up. Your rows will not be parallel to the ground, but your hem will be. I would only recommend this path if there is a strong reason not to do use mid-torso micro-darts (for example, it would be very obvious because of the yarn or a striping pattern)

Shape your short rows

If you’re working short rows at the bottom, you’ll work the shortest rows closer to the hem. If you’re working microdarts, work half of your microdarts with the shorter rows closer to the hem, and half of them with the shorter rows closer to the underarm.

Case study: Who Could Stay

As an accounting teacher told me, “there’s nothing like a nice relaxing journal entry to bring it all together!” And frankly, I agree. Working through an example is a great way to solidify a concept!

Why Who Could Stay?

Who Could Stay is our first pattern graded on the Men’s chart, and lots of you let us know you needed this information. How better to explain it than to demonstrate it?

Trying your first belly modifications with a seamed garment is a great idea because you will only be tinkering with the front (and maybe) the sleeve cap. That means the rest of the garment is on autopilot, and you have a great chance of working your way through the whole front pretty quickly, while all your thoughts about the tweaks are fresh in your mind.

To follow along, grab a copy of the schematic (https://tinyurl.com/mrx42a7b) and let’s start!

Meet Logan

Let’s call our fit model Logan. Logan is following the sizing guidance in the pattern, which is based on cross front (also called front chest) width. At 19” across, that puts Logan in a size 6.

 

1. Figure out how much width to add

Logan looks at the intended ease, and sees that the intended ease is approximately 4.5” at the chest. Looking at the schematic, Logan sees that the finished chest measurement for size 6 is 56.25.” That’s just about perfect, Logan’s full chest is 52”.

Logan has a rounded belly that measures 55” around, so at the belly Logan will only have 1.25” of positive ease. Logan knows that with sitting, the belly area will be wider. To be able to wear this sweater as a layering piece, Logan wants at least 3” of ease at the belly.

To add 2” of ease in the belly area, Logan checks the gauge. That rounds up to 12 (go for an even number here!).

At this point, Logan looks at the schematic to see what the next size up looks like. Since most patterns are sized every 4”, that means that most sweaters add 2” more in the front and back with every size. Sure enough, the size 6 front and back are 28.5”, and the size 7 front and back are 30.75” Logan will cast on using the size 7 instructions.

2. Make a plan for the extra stitches

It’s smart to plan all changes before beginning to knit, and to write out your plan. After knitting the ribbing and transitioning to the main pattern, Logan will need to eliminate the extra stitches. The size 6 front has 157 stitches, the size 7 has 169 — that’s 12 stitches to get rid of, six on each side.

Logan considers working short rows, but knows that short rows worked in pattern must be increments of the stitch repeat. The Waffle Stitch repeat for Who Could Stay is 16 rows, which is about 2”. Logan decides that adding 2” is probably too much length. If Logan’s belly were more forward-projecting or the contrast between Logan’s upper body and belly were greater, it would be worth pursuing. If this sweater were stockinette instead, Logan would probably decide to add about 3/4”.

Eliminate some through the body

Logan plans to eliminate two stitches on each side of the body. To figure out where those decreases should be, Logan measures down from the inner neck point and uses the pattern’s schematic. To ensure that decreases are worked after the apex of the belly, Logan decides to work the first one about 5” before the underarm, and the other 3” before the underarm. The schematic shows that Logan will work 12.75” between the hem and the underarm, so Logan plans to work 7.75” and work the first decrease, then work 2” more and work the second decrease.

Thinking about where to get rid of the remaining four stitches, Logan decides to go with option 3, eliminating most of the stitches through the armhole. It should be pretty easy to sneak out three extra stitches in the armhole and one in the neckline.

Eliminate some in the underarm

The armhole shaping for size 6 goes as follows: bind off eight sts, bind off six sts, work four rows decreasing on both the right and wrong side, then work 16 rows decreasing on the right side only.

Logan compares the instructions for size 6 to size 7 to get a sense of how the shaping works for the next size up: bind off nine, bind off six, work six rows decreasing both on the right and wrong side, then work 16 rows decreasing on the right side only.

Based on this, Logan decides to BO one extra in the first bind-off, then to work additional sets of rows decreasing on both the right and wrong sides.

New plan: bind off nine, bind off six, work eight rows decreasing on both the right and wrong side, then 12 rows decreasing every right side row.

That means that Logan only needs to get rid of one more stitch at the neckline.

Eliminate the last stitch in the neck

Looking at the front neckline on the schematic and in the pictures, Logan doesn’t want to make it any more square, so that rules out increasing the initial bind off. After that, there’s a bind off of 4 sts, then six rows with a decrease every row, then 2 more decreases worked every other row, then 4 rows worked with no shaping before the shoulder.

Logan hops into excel to create a custom grid. To do this yourself, divide 1 by your row gauge, and divide 1 by your stitch gauge. Multiply each one by 100 — this gives you the number of pixels. Set your column width to the stitch gauge pixels and your row height to the row gauge pixels. Boom, instant custom grid paper.

After mapping out the pattern instructions for the right side of the neck, Logan decides to keep it simple, and just work one more decrease every other row.Here's how that works:

With that, Logan has a finished plan for the Front, and there are no changes for the Back.

Sleeves and Collar

The body is sorted out, so Logan thinks considers the sleeve and collar pick-ups. With just one stitch different in the neck, Logan isn’t worried about the collar — if there’s an extra stitch picked up it can just be decreased out in the first round. But what about the sleeve?

Adjusting the shaping rate in the armhole will change the number of stitches Logan needs to pick up for the sleeve. At the very least, we need to pick up one extra stitch in the underarm to match the extra bound-off stitch. It might also be necessary to pick up an extra stitch along the decrease section. Logan won’t know for sure until it’s time to do the pickups; if the stitch pickup for the front looks more spread out than the back once it’s on the needle, Logan plans to pick up an extra stitch. In total, there will be one or two extra stitches in the armhole.

Logan could just leave the extra stitches alone, which would make the whole sleeve 1/3” wider. Or, Logan can decrease them out by working two extra decreases in the front cap (for a walkthrough of this process, visit this post: https://tinyurl.com/mw3nmsc3).

Summary

Overall, Logan’s going to add 2” in the belly area by:

1. Casting on one size up for the front, and otherwise following the pattern as written for the hem and the first 7.75”.
2. Decrease one stitch at each side, then work for 2” more.
3. Decrease another stitch at each side, then work to the underarm exactly as written in the pattern.
4. Bind off nine stitches instead of eight for the underarm.
5. Work two more repeats of “decrease every right side and wrong side”, and two fewer repeats of “decrease every right side only”.
6. Follow the pattern to the neckline.
7. Work one more decrease after the other decreases are finished, and work two fewer straight rows.

Thank you, and thank you to our Kofi supporters!

We hope you found this article helpful!  Articles like this are supported by Kofi subscribers and readers who share our belief that the world benefits when everyone has access to making their own excellent-fitting clothes.

To learn more about us and our values, visit our webpage https://tinyurl.com/yvmmbcz5: To learn more about the benefits of supporting us on Kofi, visit https://ko-fi.com/onewilddesigns. Thanks for reading!

Try it out!

If you’ve made it this far, we know you’re interested in trying this customization for yourself! To make that easier for you, take 15% off of Who Could Stay using the code GOODBELLIES, or use this link to have the code automatically applied at checkout: https://tinyurl.com/3hpmeztr. Happy knitting!