What a tailored look has to do with knitting patterns for men!

There are so many different fits when talking about fashion and style, and within hand knitting, I see a lot of straight lines and Over Size look.

I still remember how, as a youngster, I also occasionally would wrap myself in some over size sweater to ’snuggle up’. Honestly speaking, it doesn’t suit me. For my part it was merely a matter of hiding that body of mine that I felt ashamed of – those wide hips and the slim waist, which never really came to its best in those standard sizes in the shops. Nowadays I wear a more tailored look for the parts of my body where I find it suitable and a more regular fit to obtain a loose fitting for those slightly more ‘loose’ parts of my body.

I do prefer, however, and always have preferred, a tailored fit for three main reasons:

1) It shows what my doctor once called ’the beautiful biological diversity’ when I came to see high – pregnant and twice my normal size. It’s about the fact that we as human beings share some common features, which make us recognizing each other as human beings, but at the same time each individual has unique characteristics that we should value. I quite like this perception and it surely has made me a lot more relaxed when I’m in the changing room after doing sports.

2) In general it provides a nicer look and the clothes feel more comfortable. I used to have a boyfriend who would always wear very loose jeans. Not loose in a fashionable way – just about two sizes too big and baggy like sweatpants. I asked him, if it wasn’t a little annoying with those extra layers of jeans textile. He never considered the possibility that pants would be more comfortable in the right size. Upon my recommendation, he changed his style and never returned to buying pants that were too large again.

3) It’s quite intriguing to work with a tailored fit from a designs and technical perspective. Let’s say I’m working on those pink trunks, that I keep mentioning. I will have to figure out how to handle the fly in relation to proportions of other body measurements – something I would be too occupied with if I were working on, say, loose-fitting drawstring shorts! Or when designing that classic men’s vest that will soon make it from the inside of my head to paper! I will then have to figure out how to work with different shapes of the male body and in 10 sizes instead of 6 sizes in a looser fit.

I love working this way, and hopefully in the end it will result in beautiful hand knitted garments with a perfect fit for the man they were meant for.