Sweater design

Sweater design is a specialization of fashion design in which knitted sweaters are designed to fulfill certain aesthetic, functional and commercial criteria. The designer typically considers factors such as the insulating power of the sweater (and its resulting warmth for the wearer); the fashion of its colors, patterns, silhouette and style lines, particularly the neckline and waistline; the convenience and practicality of its cut; and in commercial design, the cost of its production and the profitability of its price point. Sweater designs are often published in books and knitting magazines. Sweater design is an old art, but continues to attract new designers such as Nicky Epstein and Meg Swansen.

Sweaters are worn in various circumstances. For example, while some sweaters are worn at fancy dress occasions, others are worn to work, to religious services, in sporting or outdoors events such as hiking and camping. Similarly, the choice of a sweater can vary with different climates and different seasons, even with different times of the day. The sweater designer will generally target a particular occasion and temperature, e. g., a bulky, cabled, long sleeved woolen seater for camping versus a refined, elegantly simple, short sleeved cashmere sweater for white collar work.

Comfort is paramount; the sweater should make the wearer feel at ease, in the most general sense. The temperature should be right, the fabric should "breathe" and should not irritate the skin. The sweater should hang right and not need constant adjustment; It should fit well and allow for customary motion without binding (e. g., at the armholes). Finally, a sweater should not make the wearer feel uncomfortable because of its "cut" (e. g. showing bra straps or too much cleavage) or general style (e. g., colors/patterns that the wearer feels are inappropriate).

The human body has curvature, but woven fabric is flat and has little elasticity. To produce curvature in a smooth (unruffled) woven fabric, it is necessary to subtract or add wedges of fabric. Positive curvature (cupping, such as is needed at the bust point or over the rear) is produced by subtracting a wedge (a dart) with the point of the dart almost at the point of desired maximum curvature. The greater the angle of the wedge, the greater the local curvature. (The orientation of the dart is unimportant for the curvature, so it can be chosen to accentuate a style line of the garment.) Similarly, negative curvature (ruffling/saddle shaping, as at a skirt hem, lower back or under the bust) is produced by adding a wedge (a flare). Although the base of individual wedges usually lies on a seam, sometimes wedges occur in pairs (diamonds) that are independent of the seams. Subtracting a diamond shaped dart produces positive curvature at the outer points of the diamond, and negative curvature at the middle points that are brought together (good for the bust or back). Conversely, adding a diamond shaped gusset produces negative curvature at its tips and positive curvature at its middle (useful in designing stuffed animals). Sometimes, the sharp, angular edges of the wedges are softened to form continuous princess seams. Since knitted fabric is generally elastic, it conforms readily to the wearer's body without shaping. However, some shaping may be necessary when the knitted fabrics are unusually stiff (e. g., thick cable designs or heavily overstitched designs) or in regions of high curvature (e. g. sock heels). Ironically, shaping is much easier and less obvious with knitted fabrics than with woven cloth. Instead of cutting out wedges and sewing the edges together, knitters can add or subtract stitches; work short rows; or, most subtly of all, change the needle size to produce smaller/larger stitches in the desired "wedge" region.

The choice of colors is critical to the design of a sweater. The simplest choice is to use multiple shades of a single color (e. g.,
various shades of blue), perhaps accented with a contrasting color (e. g. flecks of yellow). The arrangement of shades on the sweater can have
a significant visual effect, due to the principle of chiaroscuro; dark shades tend to recede and be smaller, whereas light shades advance and seem larger. For example, vertical stripes with a light color in the middle and dark colors on the sides have a slimming effect. Psychologically, bright colors tend to be associated with straightforward, innocent or extroverted personalities, whereas darker shades are associated with more thoughtful, experienced and introverted personalities. The "temperature" of a color also affects its perceived depth. Warm colors have red or yellow tones (including orange and yellow green) and are associated psychologically with warmth and energy. Cool colors have more bluish undertones (including purples, aquas and greens) and are associated psychologically with serene, calm personalities. Warm colors tend to advance relative to cool colors, when both are presented simultaneously. Contrasting colors may be chosen in various ways. A common choice is to take a complementary colors from one of the several color wheels (e. g., blue and orange, green and red), or to choose a pairing that occurs in nature, e. g., yellow and red.

The designer has many choices for how to shape the sleeve length and cap, waistline/hemline and neckline/collar; these various choices and their visual effects are described in their individual entries. The overall shape (silhouette) of the garment is defined by the ease introduced at various points, as described above under "Fitting". In addition, a sweater may have ornamental lines/curves, even images. In general, these lines are chosen to achieve a balanced look; for example, well chosen style lines can help compensate for body lines considered too long or too angular or too short or too rounded. However, visual effects may be idiosyncratic, and the knitter is encouraged to experiment.

The scale of the overall pattern relative to the size of the whole sweater is a key variable in the "look" of the sweater. Large overall patterns eliminate the need for accent patterns (see next section) but may be too bold for some wearers. A small, fine pattern makes an excellent background for accent patterns, but may not be visible with a particular yarn, or may be too retiring for some wearers.

A sweater done uniformly in the same pattern overall is relatively simple and understated, which may be the desired effect. However, it is more usual to decorate the sleeve cuffs and either the neckline or the lower hemline with an accent pattern. The accent band can be rather wide (often ~1/3 of the total length) and its boundary can be straight or wavy/serrated. Smaller boundaries (such as collars, tops of pockets, central seam in cardigan) may receive special ornamentation as well, e. g., cabling along its edges.