One other issue that I ran across in my re-reading of Maggie Righetti’s Sweater Design in Plain English is that the lack of resiliency in plant fibers (along with certain animal fibers, like silk) means that garments must have zero or even negative ease (top of page 62).

I don’t generally like skin-tight garments, so the idea of making a sweater with no ease, or even negative ease, doesn’t really sit well with me. But hers is the voice of experience, so I remeasured myself rather than depending on the finished dimensions of my wool sweaters.

For the circumferences at chest, hip, and upper arm, I decided to use my actual measurements, so those areas will have zero ease. I’m planning short sleeves, ending right above the elbows, since these sweaters will be for summer wearing. I’m figuring about 7 inches from the underarm to the cuff edge.

For body length, rectangular figures look best in hip-length garments (figure 11.33 on page 124), which for me is about 22 inches from the top of the shoulder. Given the expected armhole depth, I should have about 12.5 inches from the underarm to the bottom edge.