Designing your first knitting pattern can sometimes feel impossible. Where do you even start? As intimidating as it can initially seem, designing your first knitting pattern doesn’t have to be a struggle. Our knitwear designers at Knit Lab can help you. Continue reading!
Steps to design your first knitting pattern
Choose a pattern category
The first thing you will need to consider is what type of pattern you want to design. Select a pattern category that you have knitted many times from other people’s patterns so that you feel totally confident with the construction of your design. Designing something that doesn’t need to be graded will allow you to focus on learning the knitting pattern design process, which is so valuable as a new knitting pattern designer.
Set your vision
Setting a crystal-clear vision for your design will help to keep you on track. Create a moodboard so you can select images that inspire the silhouette, stitch, colourway, yarn and even “vibe” of your design so that you aren’t trying to come up with ideas from scratch. Once you have a moodboard for your design, you can start sketching out ideas on paper.
Choose a yarn
Once you have finalized your design, and know what stitch or motif it will feature, you are ready to choose your yarn. Choose a yarn that will bring out all of the best features in your design.
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Swatch thoroughly
Swatching thoroughly is one of the best ways to ensure that your design comes out just as you imagined, particularly if you are a beginner knitting pattern designer. The more swatches you make, the more you will learn about your design and the better results you will have.
Write a construction summary
When you’re designing your first knitting pattern, it can be difficult to figure out which stitch/row counts and shaping you will need to calculate for your pattern in advance. By writing a simple, step-by-step summary of how you will construct your design, it helps you to identify the numbers you need to calculate in your spreadsheet.
Create a simple pattern spreadsheet
Whilst you could totally work out a simple, beginner’s pattern without a spreadsheet, they are essential to more complex patterns, especially those that are graded. Your pattern spreadsheet should include the intended finished measurements of your design, whether it’s a single size or you are doing some simple grading for a small number of sizes. You should also include your gauge.
Write a first draft
At this stage in the design process, you will have all of the information you need to write your first draft. As a guide, take a look at knitting patterns you own and enjoy working from for an idea of the structure and types of information you need to include in your pattern, as well as the language that other designers typically use to communicate their pattern instructions.
Knit the sample
Before you start knitting your sample, weigh your yarn. If you are using different colourways or yarns in the same design, weigh each of them separately. This information will help you to work out the pattern’s yarn requirements later on. Make sure you update and edit the pattern as you go so that you don’t forget any adjustments you want to make. Once you have knitted your sample, weigh your yarn again and you will know exactly how much yarn was used in your sample.
Get your pattern tech edited
Tech editing is the best way to check your pattern for mathematical errors, missing pattern instructions or any areas of confusion. Tech Editors will point out any parts of the pattern that need correcting, updating or improving. You will then send the pattern back to them once you have updated it and usually, they will do one final check.
Get your pattern test knitted
The main purpose of test knitting is not to find mistakes in the pattern but to get feedback on what it’s like to knit. This process helps you to ensure that your knitting pattern is as user-friendly as possible. You will also get feedback on the fit, which is very helpful.
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Take photos
Choose a simple, uncluttered and attractive background and take front, back and side shots of your design. Take extra photos of any details that you’d like to highlight.
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