How to Design a Crochet Sweater: Intro

By Nicki Byrnes

February 14, 2024

Have a crochet sweater design in your head you’d love to make? Unsure how to get started? I get it – I was also unsure how to take a simple sketch for a crochet sweater and turn it into a reality. It is nearly impossible to find clear instructions on how a crochet top is constructed, what size it should be, and how many stitches and rows you need to make it in that size.

Through research and experimentation, I figured out the key steps to design a crochet sweater. In fact, one of my favorite sweaters I designed was in I Like Crochet. Now, I’m thrilled to share my process with you so you can feel inspired and confident to create your own crochet masterpieces.

For more on my sweater design journey, check out my post below. If you’d like to go straight to my step-by-step guide for designing your own crochet sweater, read it here.

If you’ve ever tried to design your own crochet clothes, you know how hard it is to find clear, step-by-step guidance on the entire process. You might have a brilliant idea for a top but feel lost when it comes to figuring out construction, measurements, or stitch and row counts. There are many amazing sweater patterns for free on blogs and Etsy. But a succinct article on how to make your own? Good luck.

When I wanted to learn how tops are made, I thought I would learn by using already-published patterns and creating a few to see how it’s done. I crocheted several tops from free and purchased patterns and loved how they turned out. It was helpful to see different ways tops are constructed; but in the end, it takes a long time to crochet a sweater and I still didn’t understand how to construct or write a pattern for one of my ideas.

Sold on an Instagram ad, I took a Domestika class on crochet garment design. I did not follow the class exactly as it is intended – the instructor wants her students to create a top along with her. Instead, I watched all the videos and took notes. Even though I only followed the course via subtitles, as Laura is Spanish-speaking, I learned so much!

There is one drawback to the class – the supplemental documents the instructor provides and references are not available in English. This is a shame because they sound useful and it seems Laura put a lot of work into them to set students up for success.

Fortunately, the class did share what I had been searching for, and that is the overall process and basic formulas for garment design. Turns out there ARE magical equations for how to take your crochet design and turn it into a pattern. Read my post here for how to design, plan out, and crochet your own sweater design.