From chart to PDF: how to prepare a knitting pattern to sell

What a good pattern contains

A knitter who buys your pattern has only the document — you are not there to answer questions. That is why a good pattern is complete. It includes:

• the finished measurements for every size and the recommended ease,
• the yarn, its weight and length per skein, and how much is needed in each size,
• the needles and any notions — stitch markers, a cable needle, buttons,
• the gauge, with the stitch it was measured in,
• a legend of every symbol and abbreviation,
• the charts and a schematic of the pieces with their measurements,
• clear instructions in the order the work is knitted.

One or two good photos of the finished piece show what all the effort leads to.

Write instructions that cannot be misread

Use the same abbreviations from the first page to the last and explain each one in the legend. Give the stitch count at the end of every row where it changes — it is the quickest way for a knitter to check that everything still adds up.

When a pattern has several sizes, write the numbers in the same order every time, for example cast on 96 (104, 112, 120) stitches, and say so at the beginning. Where a chart and the written text describe the same part, make sure they say exactly the same thing.

Check the numbers and test the pattern

Before a pattern goes on sale it is worth knitting it again — or giving it to test knitters, ideally in different sizes and with different yarns. Testers find the places where the stitch counts do not add up, where an instruction can be read two ways or where a chart is missing a row.

Give testers a deadline, a short list of questions and one place to send their notes. Every correction made at this stage saves a dozen e-mails later — and a pattern that has been tested is one you can sell with confidence.

Lay it out so it is easy to read

A pattern is read with the knitting in hand, often on a phone or a tablet. Large, legible charts, generous margins, the same fonts and colours throughout and a clear order of pages make a big difference.

A practical order: cover, materials and gauge, sizes and measurements, abbreviations and legend, instructions, charts, schematic, finishing. Put each chart on a page where it can be printed large, and avoid splitting a chart between two pages. A cover with a good photo and your name or logo tells the knitter that the pattern was made with care.

Your own work, your own name

Sell patterns built from your own designs: your charts, your motifs and your photos. Stitch patterns from books are a starting point for learning, but a pattern you sell should carry your own design decisions.

In KnitLab you draw your own motifs, and any symbol missing from the palette you draw yourself, so what you publish is truly yours.

The PDF in KnitLab Studio

In PDF Studio you put the pattern together from your project: a cover, the charts, notes, photos, your logo and your fonts, page by page. You export a PDF or PNG to print, to send to testers or to sell.

In Premium the export is clean, without the KnitLab logo, and four PDF project templates give you a ready structure to start from. Because the charts come straight from your project, a correction made in the chart is a correction made in the pattern.

See this tool in KnitLab Studio →