Knitting for your beautiful self

How many times have you admired a pattern or a garment in a store and told yourself I can't wear that. I hear it all the time in the shop, "I love that look, but I can't wear it because I'm too tall/short/heavy/skinny/busty/flat/old/young." Whatever.

It is true that some garment styles are more flattering on some body shapes, but regardless of your body shape and size, there's a way to make nearly everything work for you. One of the big issues for a lot of people is horizontal stripes. Somewhere along the line, some fashion guru said that horizontal stripes make you look wider, and millions of stripe-loving women decided they could never enjoy the look. Here's the thing though: there are all manner of stripes. Even within the category of horizontal stripes, there are all kinds of ways to wear them that are flattering whatever your size and shape.

Stripes come wide, narrow, and in between. They can be even, uneven, bold or subtle. As a knitter, you get to control all this. You can add a few stripes wherever you like - however it suits you.

Same with cropped. For some reason when we hear cropped, we think immediately of young girls in belly shirts showing a wide expanse of skin. But cropped just means shorter than normal – cut off straight, and it’s a look that can be super flattering at any age and any size.

Here’s the deal: maybe you don’t like stripes, or cropped things. That’s fine. We all have our own taste and personal style. But if you do like stripes, but you don’t wear them because you think you can’t, that’s a larger topic.

Women are all so hard on themselves.  We’re especially critical of our bodies. We tend to focus on what we consider our problem areas and completely overlook what is positive and beautiful about ourselves. When Ginni and I take a set of Custom Fit measurements we ask the client to show us where on her body she would like an average sweater to fall. Almost every woman will touch whatever spot she’s most self-conscious about, and say, “I want it long enough to cover this.” .

What if, instead of choosing sweaters that best hid what we dislike about our body, we chose sweaters that accentuated what we like? It’s like the positive focus exercise I talked about last week. We have to force ourselves to celebrate on what’s good rather than giving in to negative self-talk and what we don’t like about our bodies.

The next time you go to knit a sweater, think not about what you want to hide, but about what you want to showcase. Knit what you love. Make garments that bring you joy, and remember that you are beautiful and talented and special. You are the most knit-worthy person of all.

Warmly,
Ellen

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