I recently finished knitting the Tolsta Tank by Rebecca Clow, and it fits great except for one thing: it’s longer in the back than in the front. The usual fix suggested for this issue would be to add horizontal bust darts to lengthen the front, but I chose a different solution.
The error is was admittedly my own. I chose to knit the tank in pieces rather than in the round*, and I didn’t read the instructions carefully before casting on. The pattern is written to include more stitches in the front than the back for the D-cup sizes, but I divided them equally, so I have less fabric at the front than intended, and more fabric at the back.
Happily, though, the tank still fits well in the front; the pattern includes vertical bust darts, and these give me plenty of room even with the error. And the front length is actually where I want it to be. As you can see in the second photo below, the real issue is the extra fabric at the back that bunches and creates the extra length when I tug it down. To fix this, I decided to create vertical back darts after the fact, by sewing them in. (See my post on vertical darts for how to do this while knitting a garment.)
To do this, I marked the spot where I wanted the darts to be widest (where I am the narrowest), and also marked where I wanted the top and bottom of the darts to be. I then measured in 1/4 of the way in from either side seam. For the maximum dart width, I counted the number of extra back stitches I had and divided by 2 – I had 6 extra stitches, so each dart was 3 stitches wide. I used a mattress stitch to sew in the darts, going from narrower (about 1/2 stitch) at the top and bottom, to the widest point (3 stitches) at the center.
And voilà! Problem fixed. Now my hemline sits almost evenly at the front and back, and I’m happy with the fit. The darts would have been a bit tidier if I had added them while knitting, but they’re not that noticeable when I wear it.
*I did this for several reasons: 1) I want a seam to help reduce the biasing that often happens with plant-based fabrics; 2) when working this type of stripe pattern, I find it easier to line up the stripes by seaming rather than trying to use on of the methods for knitting jogless stripes; 3) working in pieces makes the knitting more portable.
Leave a Reply