Do you always work exactly according to the pattern?

Dear community,
do you always stick exactly to the details in the pattern, or do you sometimes make changes?

Not always—I do change some things. For smaller creatures or, right now, with the Mystery Cal, I stick closely to the pattern because the proportions have to be just right. But for example, with a blanket or a scarf, I’ll sometimes adjust the measurements a bit, or with amigurumi—which I’ve made before—I’ll sometimes change the size.

I usually ignore patterns and only take a quick look if something looks a bit tricky based on the diagram. Since I design a lot of my own projects, I know how things are usually done, so patterns aren’t really important to me.
With knitting patterns, I usually just check how many stitches I need for the size I want to knit; the rest is up to me.

Love, Inge

When I used to follow patterns, I often had to make adjustments—especially with sweaters—because otherwise they wouldn’t have fit.
The sleeves would have been too long according to the pattern, and a V-neck would have ended right at my belly button.
So I’d have to count, measure, and do the math to make sure the proportions were right.

When I try something for the first time while sewing, I stick to the patterns and guidelines.

When knitting and crocheting, I usually stray from the patterns—I use them for inspiration and incorporate my own ideas. 

I actually always start by crocheting (amigurumi) exactly according to the pattern. But when it comes to the details—especially for the face—I often end up making adjustments. If only because I don’t like using safety eyes or felt; I’d much rather embroider or crochet the eyes and sew them on 😅

Recently, I ran into a problem with one of my figures because I used thinner yarn than specified, and since the pattern shaped the body with specific increases and decreases, certain parts of the body ended up in completely the wrong places 🙈 So I had to make adjustments by eye. Since I have enough crocheting experience, though, that wasn’t a big problem, and the result was more than worth it 😊

I don’t always follow the pattern exactly either. Especially when it comes to the details (like the faces of amigurumi), I like to incorporate my own ideas. For example, I’ve often replaced safety eyes with crocheted eyes. Or I’ve simply used different yarn (with different yardage) for the amigurumi to achieve different sizes.

I do it like Wollwunderpetra. When I follow a sewing pattern, I stick strictly to the pattern. At least for the first version, which I usually don’t make with my favorite fabric. If I notice after finishing the first version that I don’t like this or that (too long, too wide, etc.), then I get more confident and sew a second version with my own adjustments.

If I want to learn a new technique and have bought a pattern specifically for that purpose, I always follow it exactly. That’s why it’s helpful when the pattern describes and illustrates everything very precisely, step by step. Unfortunately, that’s not the case with all patterns.

Only when you have enough experience with a particular craft can you afford to make changes to the pattern—after all, you want a beautiful result.

Best regards, Ina

As other members have already written: Patterns are a great source of inspiration. But I often adapt them.
The easiest thing is to change colors so that the finished piece better matches your existing wardrobe. Neon green or muddy brown doesn’t suit everyone; when in doubt, you simply replace them.
I really dislike wearing synthetic fibers. If something like that is specified in the pattern, I swap it for suitable natural fibers, which are also better for the environment, by the way. 
I find the extra-long sleeves that are (apparently still) fashionable impractical, so I shorten them so they fit me better. Anyone who always has cold hands can do the opposite and perhaps add a thumbhole to the sleeve, creating a sweater with built-in gloves—why not?
With particularly complicated knitting or crochet patterns, you can show how well you’ve mastered the various techniques. But often, a piece like that looks overloaded on the person wearing it. Less is often more; so you should know what suits the future wearer and what would be too much.
And last but not least: these days, practically everything is knitted seamlessly and from the top down. This often leads to insanely complicated constructions and almost incomprehensible descriptions for the neckline and shoulder area. If that seems too silly to me, I make short work of it and change the knitting direction. 

This is how I learned to knit: I’d see a great pattern and use it to knit myself a sweater, cardigan, or scarf with my preferred details (neckline, length, collar, etc.). Patterns were just sources of inspiration for me.
If I were to knit strictly by the patterns, I’d end up with unintended lace patterns in most cases, because I usually have to use thinner needles and therefore more stitches to achieve the stitch pattern I want. So I always have to adjust things anyway.

When crocheting, I usually have to follow the pattern because I simply lack the practice.

When sewing, I follow the instructions when it comes to clothing or when I’m trying something new; once I’ve understood the concept, I can also freely implement my own ideas—except with clothing, as I haven’t tried adjusting those sewing patterns yet. Creating patterns from a finished piece works for very simple things, like tops. The shopper in my avatar is completely my own design.

 When embroidering, especially cross-stitch, I usually work from a chart.

For me, it depends. Right now, I’m crocheting a sweater, and for that one, I’m following the pattern. But I’ve also combined different patterns before because I liked the variety of designs. Once, I crocheted a sweater from the top first and then knitted it downward from the armhole. It looks great!

I always crochet mandalas according to the pattern.

With amigurumi, I also like to follow the pattern, but I adapt it based on my experience. I design the face and the accompanying accessories to suit my taste. I like to borrow new techniques this way for future projects.

I crochet sweaters for myself as top-down raglans. After having to more or less unravel three projects because I didn’t like the fit, I now only work according to the measurements I’ve set for myself. I like to get inspiration here or on Pinterest.

It depends—with scarves, I like to tweak things a bit to suit my taste.
With sweaters, I at least stick to the basic instructions.