Signing up for CustomFit
CustomFit accounts are free to sign up for. You can store up to 10 sets of body measurements and as many gauges as you like. Registration for CustomFit Knits accounts is still managed on the Amy Herzog Designs site.
You can either pay for each pattern à la carte/as you go or subscribe. If you prefer to buy patterns individually, each pattern costs between $10 USD and $12.50 USD, depending on the complexity of the design.
There are two subscription levels for knitters who like to change their minds, make a lot of sweaters, or want to support CustomFit’s continued existence. Maker-level subscriptions cost $5 USD monthly, and you get two patterns per calendar month. Maker Plus costs $8 USD monthly, and you get unlimited pattern creation.
Swatching
We swatch as a first date with our yarn – to get to know how the yarn feels in our hands, how it feels on our needles, and how the knit fabric will feel before we invest all significant time knitting a sweater.
With CustomFit, rather than swatching to match a specific gauge for a pattern, you’re swatching to get a fabric that you think will make a great sweater, which gives you a lot more flexibility.
We have tips to help you swatch predictively and how to decide if your fabric is sweater-ready.
Measuring
To write your custom pattern, CustomFit needs to know the measurements the pattern should fit. You’ve got 3 main choices for how to save measurements:
- Use actual measurements
- Just the essentials You can make lot of sweaters with some basic circumferences and lengths that you can easily measure yourself.
- The full deal If you only want to measure once and knit any sweater with any customization, you can take every measurement for every possible sweater. You can watch our exhaustive set of YouTube measurement tutorials. You will get more accurate measurements if you can find a partner to help measure you for the complete measurements.
- Use standard measurements While this option is unlikely to give you as perfectly fitted a sweater as taking measurements, it’s a good option if you’re knitting for someone you can’t measure. CustomFit defaults to the CYC standard measurements, but there are other options, like the ones published by Kim McBrien Evans.
Picking Your Pattern
For any design that’s built directly into CustomFit, a few selections in a drop-down menu are all that stands between you and a great sweater.
Tip #1: Be honest with yourself about your style.
If you want to knit a sweater for the fun of it, by all means dive in! But if you’re going to judge your finished sweater as clothing, think about the design as clothing too. What will you wear with it? Do you have anything else like it in your closet? What would you think of it if you came across this sweater in a shop?
Tip #2: Be honest with yourself about what you like to knit.
Knitting is something you do as a hobby, for enjoyment. A sweater is a large commitment, and if you hate knitting lace, a lacy fronted sweater might not be a ideal match up.
Tip #3: Consider how the sweater will look in your fabric.
While CustomFit will allow you to use any yarn for any design, the yarn choice can change the width of elements like cables and how the fabric drapes.
Tip #4: When in doubt, start with something basic.
If you want to start with something simple, check out our collections of great, basic sweaters.
Customizing Your Pattern
There are a number of different ways that you can customize your sweater while generating it.
- Construction: Many designs are available in either set-in sleeve or drop shoulder constructions.
- Fit: From close to the body or hugely oversized, select a fit that you like to wear.
- Silhouette: From boxy styles without shaping to fitted (men’s and women’s) to slightly A-line to full-on trapeze.
- Lengths: Every design is available in 4 sweater lengths and 4 sleeve lengths.