Tips From The Moule Hole
Hey everyone! I have been getting messages from many of you asking questions about pattern design and writing. I thought it was time to write down some of my tips, ideas and advice. I guess the best place to start is from the beginning….
How and Where Will You Write Your Pattern?
This is a big one and actually took me a couple of months to figure out. I am a Mac user so I write my patterns in Pages. Sounds easy right? It wasn’t for me. When I started to type up the patterns I had some serious problems with the program. For example, I was typing out the instructions and then when I imported a picture everything would move around to the wrong place. After a ton of research and lots of “googling” I found out that if I wanted to format my patterns in the way that I had envisioned, I would need to change the document to a page layout format and use text boxes. This way I can move each item individually without affecting any of the surrounding text or pictures.
If you have made one of my older patterns along with the new ones, you will see that my style and formatting has changed. As I learned more about pattern writing and what works and doesn’t work for me, my patterns have evolved. Now I use tables to write all of my instructions because I can add the equations directly into each cell (essentially I am adding spread sheets directly into the pattern). If I need to change the sizing I can easily switch one number and the rest of the pattern will change too! This saves me so much time.
When you write you first pattern, you must also discover the style you want to write in. Are you going to make elaborate patterns with pictures, videos and colour coordinated sizing or are you going to do a very basic pattern? The best part is, you can write your patterns exactly how you want! You are in charge and as long as someone else will be able to understand your instructions, you can do it how you want.
Pattern Design Checklist
- Choose the design.
- Choose your yarn.
- Decide on the sizing.
- Gauge Swatch.
- Use your gauge swatch to determine the stitch counts.
What Will You Design?
I am sure this is not a difficult one for you. If you are reading this, you have ideas about what you want to design and you need answers about where to start. For me, I have the idea for a pattern in my head for months before I actually make it. This gives me time to think through the pattern and figure out how I will construct the garment, how I will write out the pattern and how I will size it. When you are designing, you must always think about the sizing you are going to use because this may affect your ability to write out the pattern. I have come up with countless idea’s that I have not completed because as I thought through how I would write it and size it, I realized the pattern was going to be extremely complex. If you have the patience and time, I say go for it but just be aware that if you are finding it really hard to write out, I can almost guarantee that it will be difficult for makers to follow the pattern.
The Yarn of Your Choice
Here is my advice to you. For your first design, use your absolute favorite yarn. You already know that you love it and have used it before. I truly believe this will make the process easier because you are working with something you are already familiar with. When you are making patterns, you are always told what to use. Now it is your turn! You get to choose. In my experience, choosing a yarn that is not too hard to find and readily available is beneficial because it is easy for any potential makers to get their hands on it. If you do use something that is unusual or not mainstream, I would suggest that you offer alternative yarns in the pattern so that it is easy for people to substitute.
Sizing
Ok friends…. this is a big one. How many sizes are you going to have in your pattern? Just one? Maybe! If this is your very first pattern and you want to start somewhere why not do it for just one size? This might be a great idea! You can practice your writing skills and you can even get it tested. It will help with your confidence. Obviously if you are making a blanket or a scarf, there may only be one size option but in the rest of this article I am going to deal with garment pattern writing.
Let’s say we are going to design a cardigan. How many sizes do you want to include? Are you going to deal with baby sizes? Children’s sizes? Adult sizes? You may have made a pattern from the Velvet Acorn before and I am in awe of her patterns as she has so many sizes included in them. Her style is one that works for multiple age groups. Many of my designs, work better for children. I have just completed an adult version of my Peace River Pullover and there are some significant difference between the adult version and the children’s version. I like to design differently when I am dealing with different ages. If this is your first time writing and designing a crochet pattern, my advice once again is to start small and see how making a few sizes goes. You can always add more later!
The sizing bible for pattern writing can be found on the Craft Yarn Council’s website. These are the standard measurements that pattern designers everywhere use. You can get a the free, downloadable Standards & Guidelines here. Unfortunately, I am not one for staring at numbers on a piece of paper and calculating sizing. I truly wish my brain worked like this! I am going to tell you what I did when I decided to start writing patterns. I went online and ordered the same cardigan in all the sizes that I needed. This has been invaluable to me for reference. It is so great to have a physical piece of clothing to look at right in front of me. I have also been known to go into a shop with my tape measure and take measurements of all the sizes of a garment that is similar to what I want to design. As you write more and more patterns, you won’t need to do this because you can start to reference your own patterns.
Gauge Swatch
If you are reading this, I am sure you know how to gauge swatch so I will be brief. Make a gauge swatch before you start so that you are able to determine the stitch counts when it comes to the measurements of your garments.
If you need to refresh your memory on gauge swatch, the amazing Christina wrote a guest blog post about it here.
Now What??? Gauge Swatch Determines Stitch Counts
So you are ready to write/make your pattern. The simple instruction is that you need to use your gauge swatch to determine stitch counts at certain parts of your garment. I am going to tell you a secret. When I design, I make the the sample for my daughter, son or myself and then size from there. Often, the instructions and stitch counts in the pattern are not the same as the sample garment. Once the piece is complete, I make the adjustments I need so that the sizing works with the Craft Yarn Council Measurements. Don’t be like me! Designing this way results in many mistakes and loss of precious time! Let’s go through the process I am going to try and start doing too. Let’s do this together to save ourselves a lot of heartache!
Open up a spreadsheet. Spread sheets are our friends. You can determine so many things by simply typing in a few numbers. The first thing you need to do when you are making something is decide what kind of ease you would like to include in the finished item. Ease is how much bigger or smaller you need to make the clothing than the actual measurement of the body that will be wearing it. If you have positive ease, the garment will be bigger than the body measurement. If you have negative ease, the garment will be smaller than the measurement of the body. For example, you are designing an oversized sweater. You must make the chest measurement of the sweater larger than the chest size of the person wearing it. If you are designing a skirt with a ribbed waistline, you need to make the waistline smaller than the waist of the person wearing it because you don’t want the skirt to fall off. Ribbing is very stretchy!
Let’s pretend that we are going to design a raglan cardigan in size 6-12 months. The very first thing we need to determine is the measurement of the chest plus the two armholes just before the sleeve separation. This number will include a positive ease for the chest and for the upper arms. We don’t want this baby cardigan to fit too tightly. I should clarify how I choose to size my garments. If the sizing is 6-12 months, I use the measurements on Craft Yarn Council for a 12 month old. If I am making 0-6 months, I use the measurements for a 6 month old. If you wanted to just design baby clothes, these sizing’s can be broken down even more to newborn, 0-3 months, 3-6 months, 6-9 months, 9-12 months and 12- 18 months. I am sure you could have a successful designing career just making baby sized patterns! Ok back to work:
Here is the math for you. Let’s say our gauge is 18sts & 15 rows – 4inches square (10cm). We want to add 1 inch (2.5cm) of ease to our measurements so it is not too tight.
| Size 6-12 months | Upper Arm | Chest | Upper Arm | Total |
| Actual measurement | 6.5in (16.5cm) | 18in (48cm) | 6.5in (16.5cm) | 31in (81cm) |
| Measurement plus ease | 7.5in (19cm) | 19in (48cm) | 7.5in (19cm) | 34in (86cm) |
So our total measurement for the row before the sleeve separation needs to be 34 inches (86cm). So how many stitches do we need when we separate the sleeves? (34inches x 18 sts) / 4inches= 153 stitches. We need 153 stitches in this row. Let’s break it down. The armholes will be (7.5inches x 18sts)/ 4 inches= 34 stitches. The chest of the cardigan will (19inches x 18 sts)//4 inches = 85.5 sts which we will round up to 86 sts. You cannot have a half a stitch! So the front of the cardigan will have 43 sts, the back with have 43 sts, the sleeves will each have 34 sts. Wait… do we want the front of this cardigan to have buttons? Yes? Then we have to divide the front of the cardigan into to parts so there is an opening to the cardigan. 43 is an odd number so lets change it to 42. That way the front parts of the cardigan can each have 21 stitches. Have I lost you? I am almost lost. I think a diagram will help.
So ideally, with our gauge, we need to have the above stitch counts when we separate the sleeves to get the measurements for size 6-12 months. If we are working a raglan style you can now work backwards and subtract 8 stitches from each each row, to determine what your chain number at the beginning will be. You also have to remember that the yoke needs to be a certain measurement for each size. You can use the armhole depth measurement on the Craft Yarn Council measurements. I have also heard that using half of the Cross Back Measurement can work too. The depth of the yoke really depends on how much space you want at the neckline. For example, if I am making a cardigan I want the top of the cardigan to come quite close to the neck, if I am making a dress, I want less material around the neck and the skin on the shoulders to show. This is something you will get better at with experience.
There are a million more things I could cover in this article! Unfortunately, many of the things that you need to learn come from trying things out and from experience. If you have any specific questions you would like to ask me, please feel free to drop me an email or send me a message on Instagram. I would love to share a few resources that you may find useful as you start your designing process.
Resources That Have Helped Me Design!
The beautiful Emily from Fiat Fiber Arts has written an amazing EBook dealing writing and grading your first pattern. I have bought this book and it is an excellent resource. (I am not being paid or receiving any compensation for saying this!)
I came across this amazing diagram that was all in Spanish but it is the most useful thing I have stumbled upon to date when I was trying to make my first raglan pattern. Scroll to the bottom of the article to see the diagram.
Another incredible source of information is the Dora Does blog by Michelle. She really has some great information about crochet design.
Final Thoughts
My friend, I wish you the very best of luck with your pattern design and writing! You’ve got this! When you are finished writing your first pattern, there is a vital thing you should do and that is get your pattern tested. Make sure each size is tested. How do you do this? You could ask friends, ask your Mom like I did, ask your Instagram followers if anyone wants to test. This last one can be a bit tricky because you never know who is going to be testing for you.
I discovered that there are a couple of Facebook groups dedicated to pattern testing. I have used them a couple times and found it very successful. If you do join these groups, make sure that you read the rules they have set out. The first group is called Pattern Testers, and the other is called Crochet Pattern Testers. I know there are also groups on Ravelry for pattern testing but I have just not explored this option. When I was researching, I felt quite intimidated by the groups! Check it out for yourself though, it might be just your thing.
When releasing a pattern testing call, I would be very honest with everyone and say that it is your first pattern and that you are just learning so that they know where you are coming from. When they have sent in their notes about the pattern, just remember that you have the final say! I have had many suggestions on how to write and even how to design over the last couple years from pattern testers but in the end, I must be happy with the way it is written. Have an open mind to people’s suggestions and criticism because it may just make your pattern better in the end.
The last thing you could do is approach a tech editor to edit your pattern when it is complete. You will have to pay for this but it may be worth it for your peace of mind. I would recommend the amazing Christina from One Loop Crochet. She is amazing and edits my patterns.
Thank so much for reading and if you have any questions feel free to contact me at nadia@themoulehole.com. Best of luck with your first pattern!
