3 Sweater Styles to Design from the Top Down
If you were to ask a group of knitters how they prefer to make their sweaters, the majority would likely answer emphatically, “Top-down!”
As I much as I love designing sweaters with seams, I came to the conclusion a little while ago that, if I want to design popular sweater patterns, I should probably make the effort to design them top-down. They are simply more marketable that way!
If you, too, would like to start designing top-down sweaters, I’m sharing the construction method of three of my favourite top-down sweaters in this blog post. Whilst each could be attempted by a novice sweater designer, I have categorised them by difficulty level to help you identify which one you’d prefer to start with.
My Hay sweater for Laine magazine is actually designed from the bottom-up, however, it would be simple to design this from the top-down instead.
Easiest: Drop-Shoulder Sweater
A drop-shoulder sweater is traditionally a T-shape garment with no shaping at the armholes, shoulders or sleeves. This means that the shoulder width of the garment tends to be the same as the bust width (unless you’re designing a modified drop-shoulder sweater).
A drop-shoulder sweater looks great when it is oversized with lots of positive ease. For that reason, it doesn’t require lots of fitting finesse, making it a fantastic choice for a beginner sweater designer.
How to Construct a Drop-Shoulder Sweater from the Top-Down
Cast on the full width of the garment’s shoulders - which is also the bust width (see notes above.)
Knit straight for the depth of the armhole and put the stitches on hold.
Pick up stitches for the front shoulders, leaving a gap for the back neck, and shape each side of the front neck
Cast on for the bottom of the front neck and join to knit the chest straight until the armhole depth is reached.
Join the front and back body and knit in the round until your desired sweater length is reached.
Pick up the sleeve stitches around each armhole and knit the sleeves for the required length, incorporating any shaping.
Pick up and knit the neckband.
My Shorthand sweater design was designed top-down in a raglan construction.
Medium: Raglan Sweater
A raglan sweater is one of the most classic top-down shapes - perhaps it is the first type of top-down sweater you ever knitted?
It is a more flexible shape than the drop-shoulder sweater because it can work with all kinds of ease, from oversized to fitted. Raglan sweaters have distinctive lines of shaping that go from the neckline to the underarms which help to shape the shoulders, chest and the top of the sleeves.
This kind of shaping can make it tricky to get the fit right, which is why I categorise it as medium difficulty. Beginner sweater knitters might need to play around with the shaping to get the fit just right across all of the sizes.
How to Construct a Raglan Sweater from the Top-Down
Cast on the width of the back neck, the top of each sleeve and a little of the front neck.
Work flat, shaping the raglans and the edges of the front neck at the same time, until you reach the required front neck depth.
Cast on for the bottom of the front neck and join to work in the round.
Continue to work raglan shaping in the round until you reach the required circumference and armhole depth.
Split for the body and sleeves, casting on additional stitches at the underarm.
Work each in the round, incorporating any shaping, until they reach the required length.
Pick up and knit the neckband.
Trust Me, my design from Making Stories & Friends, was designed top-down with a set-in sleeve.
Challenging: Set-In Sleeve Sweater
A set-in sleeve is one of the most tailored sleeves shapes and best suited to a more fitted sweater silhouette.
The shoulder line of a set-in sleeve sweater should meet the tip of each shoulder. The armholes and sleeve caps are shaped so that they work together perfectly and conform to the shape of the body.
As you might imagine, getting the armholes and sleeve caps to fit correctly requires careful fitting and lots more math. That’s why I would call the set-in sleeve sweater the most challenging of these sweater styles.
How to Construct a Set-In Sleeve Sweater from the Top-Down
There are several ways of constructing a set-in sleeve sweater, but my favourite is the method I learned from a fantastic book by Julie Weisenberger called Cocoknits Sweater Workshop.
I teach the design process in detail (along with the previous two constructions and LOTS more!) in my upcoming course, Sweater Design School.
Start Here
With the right mindset and help along the way, all of these sweater styles could be attempted by the beginner sweater knitter. However, if you’re feeling nervous, start by designing a simple Drop-Shoulder Sweater and go from there.
Discussion
What’s your favourite method of constructing sweaters? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!