How to lengthen and shorten raglans: raglan knitting mods

So you've found the perfect raglan knitting pattern and you're dying to make it with your friends.

What if the raglan was not designed with the arm hole depth you want? Or if you are taller/shorter than average? If either of these describe you, then this mod might be for you.

What's in an armhole measurement?

Raglan knitting means that calculating armholes can be a little bit weird. If the designer doesn't tell you explicitly what it is, it's not intuitive to find out. 

To calculate the armhole, you will add together:

• half of your top of sleeve cast on (in inches)
• the raglan depth (in inches)
• include any short rows worked in the neck shaping, because we're looking for the back raglan depth

In a raglan construction, armhole depths account for these body measurements: 

• the armhole (top of shoulder to armpit, straight down and measured with a ruler)
• the shoulder drop—roughly 1.6” / 4 cm on the size chart, which is the vertical distance from the side of neck to the shoulder. 
• any wearing ease desired in this area 

A well considered pattern should have this last point--the wearing ease, pretty close to the same across the entire size range. Sometimes, you may notice that some patterns have a super droopy and long armhole in the upper sizes only. That happens when the pattern has not been graded to have consistent armhole ease across the range. 

Additionally, not every body fits neatly into a size chart. If you are extra tall, or have a long upper torso, you may need to lengthen. If you are petite, you may need to shorten. 

By comparing your body measurements to the measurements given in the pattern, you can understand how much ease, or extra fabric, there will be in this measurement and make a decision on whether you need to lengthen or shorten it. 

Once you have this measurement handy, and you know what your preferred armhole depth is, you're in good shape to start modifying. 

Raglan knitting depth adjustment 

To shorten or lengthen raglan patterns, you’ll want to make sure you’re adding or removing length in the most optimal places. You’ll likely be creating a little bit of compound shaping, so you’ll want the extra length to fall in the places where they make sense on the body. 

Shortening Raglan Depth

To shorten raglan length, remove “work even” rows or rounds near the bottom of the raglan.

For example, many raglan patterns tell you to work shaping every other row or round. Right near the sleeve split, work the shaping rows every row instead to remove the “work even” rows that are adding too much depth.

Exception: if you’re already working a compound raglan pattern, and it’s telling you to work shaping every 3 or 4 rounds or rows, you can safely remove the extra rows in those sections, preferably nearer the bottom of this section.

Lengthening raglan depth in raglan knitting

To lengthen your raglan depth, add “work even” rows or rounds in the center of the entire raglan section.

This is because our bodies get wider rapidly from the neck to the shoulder. You'll find the next rapid change at the upper torso (upper bust area) to the full bust, near the bottom of a raglan shaping section.

Between these two areas, you'll have a length of raglan shaping where you don’t need to add too many stitches quickly. This is the best place to add “work even” rows or rounds.

So, for example, if a pattern is telling you to work every other row, you can try working shaping every 4th row 3 times to add 6 additional rows.

Or, if it’s worked in the round, you can be even more conservative. Try working shaping every 3 rounds instead of every 2 rounds for a while. Visually you won’t be able to tell the difference at all. This is a great way to sneaky-add some rounds in there.

Shortening and lengthening in practice 

In practice, when you shorten or lengthen, the end of your raglan might look something like this graphic below: 

An example of lengthening 

One of my frequent testers and sample knitter Gillian (@somewhendesigns on Instagram) is 6 feet tall (or 183 cm), and this is an incredibly common mod for her. She added just 2 rounds of extra length. This gave her just a quarter inch more in the armhole so it fits similarly as it does in the sample. 

Because Gillian is really tall, she doesn't need to shorten the body or sleeves to compensate for the increased rounds in the yoke. 

Finally...

Finally, don't forget to account for yardage if you are adding any kind of length, and double check that you have the right number of increases throughout the raglan so that you still end up with the intended ease in the body. 

I hope that this post was helpful to you in understanding how raglan length modifications work! Happy knitting! 

Are you feeling inspired to take on these mods? Try our raglan patterns today.