Lessons learned in pattern design
In follow-up to my previous post: Resources for pattern designers I’m talking lessons I’ve learned, and the mistakes I’ve made in my first couple of years designing knitting and crochet patterns. Once you’ve read this post, I recommend visiting that one as I have shared all the resources, from people to websites, that I have found really useful since I started designing my own patterns.
This post is perfect for anyone new to pattern design business, or anyone is the very early process of designing there first pattern. I’m sharing all the things that I learnt, through trial and error, so that you can have a better process than me! I talk about all aspects, from gauge swatches to style sheets.
This blog post is also the topic of one of my Youtube episodes, if you prefer video format (also linked below). Don’t forget to give the video a like if you do, and let me know if it was helpful, or if you’re a seasoned designer, please share any lessons you learnt in your early days!
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Just to note, any people of resources I mention, i have not been paid to do, I do not have affiliate marketing or anything like that, these are simply things I have used or bought myself and found useful.
Before I properly get into it, I do feel that I should highlight that, despite all the things I will share in this post, I am always very happy with the quality of the finished pattern. Mistakes always take me to the right place, along with the support of the excellent tech editors and pattern testers that I have worked with.
So let’s get into it.
Gauge swatching
First is gauge! I know there is a hotly debted topic in general, about whether you need to gauge swatch, but I am here to say I am a big advocate…especially when it comes to designing patterns. It’s the one thing that you’re going to keep referring back to over and again, while you’re making your sample, and again when you’re writing and grading (if applicable) your pattern. If you have different stitch patterns across your design, for example a sock pattern may have a different stitch pattern on the cuff, from the main body, you will need to make a swatch for both of those patterns. Even more important for colourwork, lace work and other stitch pattern repeats.
Now, it’s not that I haven’t been making gauge swatches, I have, but I haven’t been using and thinking about them in the way that I should.
For example, for my Nelson top- my initial swatch, and therefore sample, had slightly bigger hearts and different pattern stitch repeats across the panels. When it came to grading the pattern, I realised that the number of stitch pattern repeats didn’t work when grading the pattern to different sizes, and if I continued on, the pattern was going to look inconsistent across the sizes. I had to play around with the design a lot before I landed on the end product that allowed me to easily grade across sizes consistently. It was also in 4 panels so I had to consider lots of things, like the final circumference measurement once panels had been joined together etc. My tech editor supported me a lot in that pattern, but we got there, and now I’m really proud of it.
Another example is from my latest design, the Downtown socks (coming out soon). I started off with a design slightly different to the final pattern. I initially had three stripe repeat (resulting in a six stitch pattern repeat), but against my gauge that only worked out to be 0.75 of an inch, where as, according to the Craft Yarn Council, foot sizes increase by an inch, so i wasn’t going to be able to grade my pattern to have consistent pattern repeats. Now this was fairly easily solved, at first I tried to cheat the system and just ignore the measurement and tell myself that I sock that was a couple of stitches bigger than it needed to be was no big deal. Eventually, I landed on fix- just add one more stripe to the colour pattern (equally two extra stitches,) to make the pattern stitch one inch in length- problem solved!
In summary, gauge swatch is important, not just to figure out needle size and fabric drape, but to allow you to consider the grading of the pattern as early as possible, rather than when you’re half way through making a sample!
I’ve also come to realise that making a swatch bigger than the standard 4 x 4 inch | 10 x 10 centimetres is more informative, as the bigger swatch, the more it helps to give an clear picture of stitch and row counts.
Frogging
Be prepared to frog! More than once I have gotten about 80% into making a design sample before realizing it’s not going to work, and then frogging again. I frogged my Hornby vest, at least three times after being close to finishing. Each time realizing a certain piece wasn’t going to work, or I didn’t like how it was turning out. If you’ve been here a while, you’ll remember this vest started out with an entirely different stitch pattern before I decided that I didn’t love it and changed the stitch choice completely.
Another, more silly experience I have with this is again with my Downtown socks. I had to keep frogging them? Why? Because I kept forgetting to change the needle size on the colourwork portion, which is an essential part of the design in order for the fit to be right. Not a standard design problem, and no fix for it, but whew that was a time!
As frustrating as it can feel, sometimes you don’t know exactly how things are going to look before you make it. Even with swatching and measuring, sometimes you just aren’t going to know until you do it. So just be patient and know that it’s all going to lead to an end product that you are really happy with.
Next, note taking…
Making notes as you go
I cannot stress this one enough. I have far too much faith in my memory and then regret that when it comes to drafting the pattern. So far, my process has been to design the sample and then write the pattern. Depending on the pattern, I then struggle to remember some of the processes e.g. decrease rows, length of sections etc. Overtime I’ve learned to make use of the Notes app on my phone, or pen and paper to jot things down as I do them. Trust me, there have been some agonising moments trying to remember exactly how I did something. It seems an obvious one, but you can get caught up in the making and not make notes.
Maths (!)
Now maths has never, never, NEVER, been a strong point of mine. It’s something my brain just seems to shut down at the idea of.
That been said, I have enjoyed trying to utilise that bit of my brain again through designing knit and crochet patterns. But I am still not good at it, so this is another shout out to tech editors who have helped me along the way!
When it comes to grading patterns, I always get in a bit of a twist about how to do the maths, now that is a me issue, but what I recommend, and only really became a habit for me in my last design - the Downtown socks (out soon!) - is to continuously keep checking your maths against the gauge. When your working out the length of a foot, for example, check you’ve got the number of rows right, remember to think about rows worked for a heel turn, remember different sizes will have a different number of decrease rounds.
There’s lots of pieces to consider, so I recommend creating a checklist of all the maths that needs to be done when writing and grading a pattern. For example, with my Hornby vest, some pieces I need to calculate and consider that I just hadn’t done for the initial draft I sent to my tech editor, including:
how many inches/centimetres someone would need to crochet back and forth for make the front panel
How many rows that acutally equated to
Knowing the above, helped me know if the maker was going to finish on a right side row or a wrong side row
Another example, when making socks, trying to calculate the foot length for each size, you need to consider:
How many rows are knit on the heel turn (if doing a heel flap) for each size
How many rounds are needed to do the toe increase
once the above it worked out, how many inches/centimetres should the just of the foot of the sock be knit for
I know this all sounds obvious, but as I said, I’m learning and making mistakes, then sharing in this post so you don’t have to!
And finally, Style sheets…
Me when I get all confused doing maths!
Style sheets
Having a style sheet for pattern writing is highly recommended, do I know this, yes. Do I have one? No…but I’m working on it. They’re important, as well as useful, because they’ll ensure consistency across all of your patterns. This will build recognizability and trust not just in your patterns, but you as a designer. For example, I seem to interchange the terms “break yarn” and “cut yarn” when drafting patterns. Lucky for me I work with amazing tech editors who refer to my previous patterns and notice this, but if I had a style sheet, it would avoid that work for them.
Now this is a me problem but I feel guilty when first draft comes back from tech edit with loads of corrections for silly things like misplaced commas, inconsistencies etc. Very much a me problem, they’re doing exactly what they are meant to be doing, I just feel guilty and like I’ve wasted my own time, because if I had the style sheet there wouldn’t be a need for so many edits to the pattern. Safe to say, it’s a goal of mine going into 2025.
TO CONCLUDE
In summary, based on the lessons I learnt:
Do gauge swatching, for all stitch patterns in your design, and make them big
Be prepared to frog, it’ll be worth it
Make notes as you go
Make a list of all mathematical considerations when writing and grading the pattern
Create a style sheet for consistency.
If you enjoyed this post, let me know in the comments, and I’ll consider doing more sharing as I continue to design patterns. I’d also love it if you said hello and shared any mistakes and lessons you’ve learnt along the way.
Other blogs that may interest you:
Resources for pattern designers