I Read Every Comment On My Size Inclusive Video.

Comments · 193

• CA

  @CairoThePhoenix · 2 months ago (edited)

  I am one of the commenters on your last video that expressed the sentiment that individual knitters need to learn how to knit for their bodies. &nbsp;This is genuinely how I feel, I am a plus size knitter and I am learning how to do this for myself. <br><br>It is taking time and I&apos;ve had a lot of garments that don&apos;t fit particularly well but I spend a lot of time learning how to do bust darts and short rows and every garment I make for myself gets better and better. Learning these skills take time for everyone. Even &quot;straight&quot; sized knitter&apos;s will likely need these skills. My goal has never been to make perfect garments. My goal is good enough... For now. The next one will be better. Learn more. Gain more skills. More knowledge. <br><br>That&apos;s what I&apos;m saying. The expectation to have the perfect garment for your body off the pattern is unreasonable and unrealistic. <br><br>Also, the easiest way to find pattern designers that definitely will design patterns for plus size bodies is to look for designers that are plus sized themselves. They will understand more about plus size pattern making then any &quot;petite&quot; or &quot;straight&quot; sized &nbsp;designer. I also hunger for patterns that I don&apos;t need to trial and error until it fits. But I don&apos;t expect people who don&apos;t have and have never lived in a body similar to mine to make that happen.<br><br>Edit: I would suggest to designers to let your pattern testers do what they need to, to make the pattern fit their bodies, take those notes, add them to your patterns. Your pattern testers are there to help... Let them.

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• MA

  @Madjek100 · 2 months ago

  A number of years ago there was a series of books called ‘Big Girl Knits’. I have one of them. The patterns are obviously written for larger bodies, but also had tips on what part of patterns would work best if used by people with larger stomachs, vs larger bust, or larger butts. It helped so much and gave great ideas as to what was the way best way to increase for that particular body size.

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• SA

  @sashapurrs1728 · 2 months ago

  I think transparency is key. I commented on your last video that we don&apos;t demand every cookbook or recipe accommodate every dietary restriction, but the key with recipes is that when you&apos;re trying to suit particular dietary restrictions, you can easily look at the ingredients up front and tell whether or not it&apos;s something that you can make exactly as instructed, something you&apos;ll have to make some substitutions in, or something you just don&apos;t want to bother with at all. So how do we make it easier to look at the specs for a knitting pattern and make similar determinations? <br><br>- Make a schematic available before purchase. Give knitters the chance to see what <b>all</b> the measurements are so they can make a really informed choice about whether it&apos;s a good fit for their body, and whether they have the skill set to make the modifications they would want.<br>- Test knit every size, and make photos available - again, prior to purchase of the pattern! - of different sizes on different body types. Include details about how much ease the garment is shown with, especially if that differs from the amount of ease called for in the pattern.<br>- Be transparent about whether or not the pattern includes guidance for making modifications. <br>- I&apos;m sure there&apos;s more, but I haven&apos;t had caffeine or breakfast yet, so my brain isn&apos;t firing on all cylinders yet. <br><br>That&apos;s what needs to happen on the designer side of things. On the consumer side, I think we need to be a lot more circumspect about cancelling designers for a lack of size inclusivity, or for making a good faith effort and nevertheless fucking it up. I&apos;d love for us to build a culture where: <br><br>- We give designers an honest chance to implement constructive feedback, particularly if they&apos;re newer designers (or even experienced designers who are trying new things). <br>- We call folks &quot;in&quot; instead of calling them out. That is, warmly invite them to consider a perspective they seem not to be considering rather than attacking them for a perceived failing. <br>- We give some extra grace to knitters who offer patterns for free or on a pay-what-you-can scale. I&apos;m on board with getting upset over a $10 pattern that doesn&apos;t deliver what it promises, but no one should face the wrath of the internet for a lack of inclusivity when they&apos;re giving their design work away for free.

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• AL

  @aleahromer4526 · 2 months ago

  One of the things my neurodivergent mind struggles to grasp sometimes is nuance. I think this video advocates for nuance very effectively, and I&apos;m really glad I watched it because you (and the comment community) brought up some really good points. As a plus size knitter I have often felt hurt when the pretty patterns I fall in love with aren&apos;t offered in my size. I do think that transparency is needed. I did want to share that when I&apos;m considering a pattern I immediately go to the projects page of that pattern to look for folks my size and I devour their notes. If you&apos;re ever wondering if your notes are helpful on Ravelry- they are my favorite part of browsing and I encourage everyone to add them!

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• MA

  @margotchurchill5593 · 2 months ago

  There is an excellent video series on YouTube from Tanya at Nerdy Knitting that I’ve just started watching. She talks about knitting for your body, and is very specific about what to measure on your body and how to pick a pattern size as a starting point.

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• ME

  @MelsGunn · 2 months ago

  At <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fcFeXzFpeg&amp;t=1922">32:02</a> the reason the gap t-shirt doesn’t cost more in larger sizes is usually because the increased cost is minimal. I sew my clothes too &amp; the labour time is nearly identical in most garments, and increased material cost is really minimal, especially when you account for how industrial set up cuts fabric. Like the additional manufacturing costs would be pennies. At worst I might personally pay an additional 5-10$ for material, and I really only have an increase in time if the item involves a lot of hand-sewn finishes. Like my hem will be a bit wider so if I’m doing it by hand that might be an additional 10 minutes, but by machine we’re talking additional seconds. It’s very very different from me occasionally needing twice the yardage a petite person needs &amp; twice the time investment

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• BE

  @beccaf262 · 2 months ago

  The biggest point from this video for me is that you can’t expect plus size knitters to be able to learn to modify for their body if they can’t use GOOD patterns to learn how. If there is no way to learn the problem can’t be fixed. You can’t expect plus size people to be able to miraculously know if they have no good examples! Spotlighting well constructed plus patterns seems like the best way to drive the trend towards better plus patterns in general.

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• GE

  @georgeharwood_ · 2 months ago

  On ravelry you CAN filter by whether a pattern has charts: pattern search&gt; attributes&gt; pattern instructions&gt; chart/has schematic. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fcFeXzFpeg&amp;t=643">10:43</a>

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• CR

  @crystalcline9036 · 2 months ago

  I&apos;m confused how they could think that you don&apos;t have the lived experience considering you talked about it literally inside the video. Did they only read the freaking title and not watch the video at all? I mean they&apos;re clearly not an avid listener of yours cuz you&apos;ve mentioned it more than once in your videos....<br><br>Anyway, I&apos;m plus size, and I understand your point I about not wanting all patterns to be plus size/ size inclusive. I also feel like it is important for widespread guidance on how to make patterns more plus size for your body, and making it more accessible to adjust the patterns for your own body

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• FR

  @FredEatsYarn · 2 months ago

  Accurate sizing is an advanced skill that not all knitters, or designers, posses. There has been so much pressure to include all sizes, that in my opinion designers without the skill or ability to hire someone have just thrown something out there that seems to make the design size inclusive, but in reality is just their best guess. A folder or something on Ravelry such as you suggested with actual endorsements would certainly help.

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• LO

  @lolarogers2313 · 2 months ago

  It&apos;s great to customize the fit of a garment, but I think that if someone pays money for one of my patterns then it should have all the instructions they&apos;ll need to make something that fits. That means grading for every standard measurement I&apos;ve included--which I do using charts like Ysolde&apos;s (thanks Ysolde!)--and including instructions for when to try it on to see if you need more or less length or width, plus instructions for how to make those modifications if you need to. It&apos;s like the difference between diy building versus following assembly instructions. One is more free-form and flexible, but if you&apos;ve paid for ready-made instructions to build a thing, those instructions should actually work without you having to second-guess them.

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• DD

  @ddamascenaa · 2 months ago

  I really appreciate the nuance you bring to this. It can be so easy for folks to take a black &amp; white stance on what looks like a single issue but is in fact a discussion that weaves together so many contributing issues.<br><br>Beyond the parasocial relationship with designers and the desire to feel “part of” a trending pattern, i think there’s a deeper thing that gets expressed in the language itself: “inclusive patterns” carries the assumed opposite of “exclusive patterns,” and all the burdens of feeling left out that comes with it. WHY someone knits — the deeper reasons, not the easy to say ones — becomes relevant here. If someone knits with a strong motivation of accessing some amount of community they may lack otherwise, then inclusive sizing becomes part of an overall sheen of being part of an inclusive community. If someone knits primarily to create garments for themselves, but don’t have much or any need for knitting to also provide a sense of community, then inclusive sizing for the sake of inclusive sizing becomes irrelevant, and sizing &amp; drafting that leads to good garments takes precedence instead. And obviously there’s a range of other motivations between, around, beyond, and among these two examples.<br><br>Another thought: in the sewing pattern world, it is somewhat common for different size ranges to be sold separately. One thing this debate has surfaced is how consumers want designers to do more work, but are those same consumers willing to pay more for that labor? If a single pattern has a 27-72” bust range, well-graded, would people willing pay double or triple the standard pattern price? What if designers felt empowered and encouraged to have, say, two or even three separate patterns for the different size ranges, allowing each size range to remain a “normal” pattern price while functionally allowing the designer to be compensated for the effort and expertise of creating such a range of sizes?<br><br>AND: thank you for the socks comment!! I have large feet too — EU43 — and am knitting a pair of slippers for my EU48 grandfather; i had to go through three different slipper patterns to find one that would fit him 😵‍💫

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