Crochet Garment Making Demystified – 6 common ways to construct a crochet sweater
Continuing my mission to simplify crochet garment design, today I want to share some common approaaches to constructing crochet sweaters.
Understanding the differences in these styles was a big lightbulb moment for me as a designer and a maker and I hope it gives you that “ahhhhhh… I get it now” moment too!
Whether you are working from a pattern or designing your own, my aim is to give you an overview of 6 types of construction, what they have to offer, what challenges they pose and when you might use them.
I’ve included some examples of my own designs for each category for illustration purposes.
Also, get ready for more of my special doodles! (I’m still working on my ipencil skills!)
Note that each of these styles focuses on the way the sleeve and body work together. Other than the top down yoke, they can be worked top down, bottom up or side to side. The focus here is on the shapes you need to make to create a garment.
This is far from a comprehensive list of all the approaches to construction, but outlines the most common ones I have encountered in crochet.
Many modifications can be made to each version, including to the necklines, body and sleeve shaping. The styles also all work for cardigans.
So lets get stuck in!
1. The Drop Shoulder
The drop shoulder sweater is probably the simplest construction method. Effectively, you just make a panel for the front, one for the back then two identical pieces for the sleeves and seam the lot together.
Of course there are many modifications which can be made to add shape. Neck shaping for example as used in The Upsidedown Sweater.
Benifits of the Drop Shoulder construction
- Simple shapes make this an achievable project for newer crocheters
- Easy to adjust to fit (just change the width or length of any of the panels to suit)
- Works well with any yarn but is a good style if you are looking to use chunkier yarns
- Can be worked top down, bottom up, side to side, even corner to corner if you’re feeling adventurous!
- Sleeves can be worked flat or – and this is my favourite bit – in the round directly from the armhole! (No sewing!)
- This post will teach you how to join the panels in a drop shoulder sweater
Issues to consider with drop shoulder construction
- Can be bulky around the arms so better suited to loose fitting sweaters
- The standard drop shoulder is quite shapeless – there is no tailoring around the shoulders or body. Of course you can add this in relatively easily but that adds complexity to the design
If you want to start with this kind of garment, you may want to check out the ‘So What’ Sweater, which is a free, oversized drop shoulder sweater pattern. It was designed with those new to crochet garment making in mind!
2. Modified Drop
The Modified Drop involves adding some square shaping to the body panel to set the sleeves in a little.
This helps to address the issues with the bulk at the under arm you get with the traditional drop shoulder by setting the sleeves in and creating an underarm space
Benifits of the Modified Drop Sweater design
- The sleeve adjustment helps reduce extra bulk around the under arms as compared to the Drop Shoulder
- The shaping is still relatively simple and easy to make to measure
- The body panels can be worked top down bottom up or side to side
Issues to consider with the Modified Drop construction
- Shaping around the shoulders is still relatively basic
3. Set In Sleeves
In this type of construction, you add more shaping to the body panel and create a curved end to the sleeve cap. The length of the curve should fit into the underarm hole created in the body panel.
There are a huge number of ways to approach this type of design from a very shallow set in with a shallow sleeve cap (almost overlapping with the modified drop) to a much longer sleeve cap which brings the shoulder seam much closer to the neck.
Benifits of using the Set-in Sleeve method
- Great for tailored garments – you can attain beautiful close fit with set in sleeves
- This design will remove any unsightly bulk at the under arms
- It is a great way to place the sleeve seams on the shoulders and achieve structure to the garment
- Most commonly worked bottom up but can be worked top down or side to side
Issues to consider when using Set-in sleeves
- This is my opinion only, but this type of shaping is probably one of the more complex ones to make (and to get those sleeve caps right if you’re designing it!!).
- You’ll need to be happy with seaming around corners with this type of design as neat seaming is critical to the look of the finished garment
The Underdog Cardigan is loose fitting but uses a shallow set in sleeve design.
4. Dolman
The Dolman sweater uses a single piece for the front and back, building the sleeves into the body piece. It can be worked on the diagonal (batwing) or in a T shape.
Benifits of the Dolman design
- The Dolman is a super simple construction
- Can be worked top down, bottom up or side to side
- No seams at the arm holes
- Perfect for batwing sweaters
Issues to consider with Dolman sweaters
- Tailoring around the arms is limited (which is part of the design for Batwing sweater so no issue there!)
- You will, typically (though not always) have seams along the tops of the shoulders
- This is not a design style I would recommend if you’re looking for something close fitting
The Stash to Treasure sweater is a batwing shape dolman design. The Free Flow Sweater uses the T-Shaped Dolman design, as does the Leaning Tower of slouch. The last was the first garment I designed and is a great way to start if you’re looking to design garments (as is the drop shoulder construction).
5. Top-Down Raglan Sleeve
A raglan sleeve or raglan style is where the seam reaches from the under arm up to the neckline on the diagonal.
The Raglan sleeve can be made top down using a yoke, bottom up, or in pieces and seamed. You can read more about top down sweater design (and yokes!) here.
There is a whole other world of raglan styles available, but here I focus on the top down method.
Raglan seams give a distinct shaping, commonly seen in sporty garments.
Benifits of Raglan shaping
- When worked top down they are seamless (no sewing) and incredibly simple to make.
- Top down raglan designs can be adjusted to fit as you work
- There is a huge variety to how raglan sleeves can be applied (shallow/ steep / saddle etc.)
Issues to consider with Raglan
- Creates distinct style which changes the shape of the garment from the more traditional squared shoulder look.
- This shaping can make shoulders look narrower.
The Light Fandango v-neck sweater and the Comfort and Joy Cardigan patterns are farily typical top down raglan designs.
The Rainbow Smiles Sweater uses a less traditional hexagonal top down raglan construction with added v neck and back shaping on the neckline.
6. Top down Circular Yoke
Once again, you can read more about this style in my top down sweater post, but in short, this type of sweater is constructed in the round, folded and split off into seams and body at the underarm.
Benifits of top down Circular Yoke
- It is totally seamless (you’ll have gathered by now that I’m not really a fan of sewing pieces together!)
- You can adjust to fit as you work
- There is no extra fabric at the under arm if fitted well
- Allows you to create stunning fair isle style uninterrupted colour work and expanding pattern repeats
Issues to consider with the top down Circular Yoke
- This shaping is quite distinctive and no shoulder seams can sometimes make shoulders look rounded
My most popular round yoke design is the Any Yarn Will do sweater. It’s a simple round yoke pullover, but the pattern is written for any of 5 different yarn weights. You can learn more about what went into this design here.
This is a great place to start if you are new to making garments.
The Abundance Cardigan also uses a round yoke construction, to create a double breasted front.
So there you have it!
Below is a little summary of the 6 styles. Which one are you going to try next?
If you’re interested in crochet design, please do pin this for later!
If you want to learn more about crocheting garments using any pattern, why not check out my ebook ‘how to crochet clothes that fit (and you actually want to wear)’? You can learn more here, or get your copy now!
You may also find the following posts useful:
How to seam crochet pieces (this is perfect if you’re not a sewer like me!)
Top Down Crochet Sweaters Explained
There are lots more
Happy Hooking
Dx
I am currently working with a sweater pattern – did a Search to research how to attach sleeves – found your article in Sweatermaking and SO glad I did – this article really gives me to confidence to go ahead and make one on my own! Thank you!
Thanks so much for sharing. I’m so glad you found the article useful! I have lots of articles on crocheting clothes so I hope you’ll explore them as your experience grows 🙂 (Head to the sub menu under ‘blog’ called ‘my crochet wardrobe’ for all the crochet garment related bits!)
Hello there. I’m making my first wearable out of a design that was originally supposed to be for a blanket. I’m thinking I’ll have to use a drop shoulder because I currently have two panels for the front and back, but I have no idea what I’m doing to be able to make it look right with the panels I have. It’s definitely going to be an oversized sweater which I’m fine with because I want it to be comfy but I don’t want the arms to look totally weird. If I were to share what I have with you, would you be willing to share your input?
Hi there, great work with the experimenting! There are lots of articles on the site that should help you with this. Just pick design tips from the menu and have a little scroll. If it’s sleeves you’re concerned about, this post talks all about sleeve shaping and might give you some ideas on how to start: https://doradoes.co.uk/2022/03/31/how-to-work-out-sleeve-shaping-for-crochet-garments/
I also have a separate post on how to construct drop shoulder sweaters which may help you along too: https://doradoes.co.uk/2020/04/11/how-to-construct-a-simple-drop-shoulder-crochet-sweater/
Best of luck, and certainly let me know how you get on 🙂
Dora
Another peerless Dora Does article !
You take my breath away, you Pommy genius. [grin]
Thank you. Grinning right back!
Hi Dora,
I am crocheting my first top down raglan cardigan, I’m only using a v-stitch pattern as a reference. My problem is that I am struggling with the sleeves. I like the idea of making them in the round; however I am struggling to get it right. Could you please give me some information on how to do it.
Thank you,
Louise
Hi there, I have never worked with v-st in the round so don’t have an immediate answer for this. The key would be to look at the stitch multiple and work out how to join rounds maintaining this multiple. Sometimes I find it helpful to sketch it out or practice on a small swatch to work out how to start and finish a round when using a stitch pattern like this. This post on stitch multiples may be helpful: https://doradoes.co.uk/2020/02/29/crochet-explained-what-is-a-stitch-multiple/
Best of luck 🙂
Dora thank you for another helpful article. Can you, (or maybe you have and I haven’t seen it) write an article about the best way to shape sleeves for different sweater styles – or at least for round yoke top down? I find that many of the patterns I’ve made in this style has a sleeve opening that’s too big for me and I have to decrease for a better fit. I never know how often to decrease, how many even rounds should be between decrease rounds, or if I’d have better success with changing to smaller hooks instead of decreasing. I’d love to know the correct technique for decreasing the width without causing it to ripple. Thank you
Hi Colleen, thanks for your comment. I’m glad you found this post useful. The answer to your question is really ‘it depends’. It depends on what shape sleeve you want to achieve really. As a general rule of thumb, you can work out how many stitches you want at the cuff, subtract that from the number of sleeves you have at the top of the arm, so you know how many stitches you need to decrease in total, and then distribute that over the number of rows you will work for the whole sleeve. This will achieve an even decrease down the sleeve. You’ll need to use your gauge measurement to do these calculations. I don’t have a blog post on this topic yet, but will certainly put it on my list as I think it’s a subject a few people get stuck on (as there is no ‘right’ answer). I do have a post on adjusting top-down yoke garments which may help you with the project you mentioned: https://doradoes.co.uk/2019/12/04/how-to-adjust-top-down-yoke-crochet-sweaters-to-fit/
Thanks again for the feedback.
Dora
Thank you so much fir sharing this information. I am a beginner and I will tackle each of these sweater styles to familiarize myself more with crocheting garments
You’re welcome! I’m glad you found it useful!
Omg SO interesting! I should have read this before all my failures lol thank you so much
I’m glad you found it helpful!
Hi Dora, I’ve recently started designing some kids’ clothing for a charity (4-6year old sweaters and sleeveless vests are desperately needed). I’ve read your suggestions on working out the no of stitches required, but can you suggest how would I work out the shoulder to waist measurement for a 4 year old? I don’t know how long to make the V shaped top part. I found most of the other measurements online.
Hi, when you say the v shapes top part, do you mean for a v-neck? If so then I am guided by the armhole depth measurement.
For the other measurement you mentioned, I think the craft yarn council standards have a back neck to waist measurement which should work. I’m fairly limited on my sizing resources for kids clothes as I mainly do adult garments bu I hope that helps!
Thank you for your wealth of knowledge! I’m an amigurumi designer who dreams of designing clothes one day and you’re giving me the confidence that I can!!!
You’re welcome!! You definitely can!! ?
This is extremely useful helpful and kindly shared formation. The crochet community really needs good quality helpful advice and information like this and your other crochet design posts. Crochet garments are really beautiful and more people need to know this so crochet can continue to develop and grow like knitting does. That is done by sharing information so we can all benefit. The more we know the better we grow!
This information is so useful and you are very kind to be so generous (it is exceptionally generous for you to share like this). Thank you for demystifying the processes of crochet design. It was something I found very hard to process for myself and I frequently wondered how people create phenomenal things when my brain was just stuck at first base. We actually all benefit from pooled resources as it helps us all to grow when we exchange information. That is a real service to everyone.
I so appreciate these posts (saw the post in crochetzine). I want to make a jumper but first off I have a little bag project in mind. I feel much more confident of success now. Many thanks x
Wow. Thank you for the lovely comment. When I was learning to design, I really struggled to work all this stuff out so hoped others would find it useful to have an overview!! It’s nice to know I am on the right track!!!
Dx
Thank you so much for sharing all this info! I have made quite a few chunky jumpers for my husband Phil, all using the easy first drop shoulder method. He loves them and I find them quite quick to do.
But getting to grips with the other methods is quite new and I think you have inspired me to find the confidence to give them a go!! Thanks again.
Roslyn Hill
Thank you so much for your comment – this was precisely my intention with this post so it means a lot! You can totally do it! Make sure you come back and let me know how you got ?on!!