Knitting Kids‘ Cardigans Made Easy

In order for your little darling to declare the self-knitted jacket their favorite clothing, it must stand out from the other garments. It should either be particularly cuddly or catch the eye with a bright and colorful outfit. Also, an extravagant pattern or an animal application make cardigans for children an eye-catcher and thus a sought-after outerwear. Of course, the cardigan should also fulfill its purpose and keep the darling warm in any weather and protect against wind. Both in the selection of the material, as well as in the decision for the pattern, you can adapt the overcoat to the season when knitting a children's cardigan.

Beautiful Cardigans for Children

The cardigans from Crazypatterns are of course no substitute for a thick, warm winter jacket, but they make a good base layer and provide a little more warmth. Even indoors, a cardigan like this will keep your kids cozy, whether they' re playing or relaxing and sleeping on the couch at home. In addition to detailed cardigans for girls, you'll also find instructions for so-called learning jackets, for example, with which your kids can learn to button up and match colors themselves from an early age. Since they are also worked with only one seam, they are easy to knit, even for beginners. However, you can also try your hand at one of our beautiful children's sweaters, which come with a cheeky smiley pattern and are made of thick wool, perfect for winter.

Knitting Children’s Jackets, Yourself? No Problem with Our Patterns!

You do not count yourself as a skilled knitter, but you still want to knit your sweetheart a chic children's jacket? Do not despair! On our website, both advanced knitters and beginners can find various knitting patterns for children's jackets. Our knitting patterns will meet the child's needs and at the same time offer the professional and even the inexperienced knitter the opportunity to make a pretty overcoat. Before you start knitting the children's jacket, it's best to look through our various tutorials and then decide according to your skill and taste.

Use Our Patterns for Quick Results

The Crazypatterns manuals will help you create a children's jacket as well as many other garments, accessories, or decorative items. All you have to do is download your desired project, which will then be made available to you as a PDF or e-book. In it you will find not only practical patterns, but also explanatory pictures, so that you can always check your progress and discover mistakes right away.

Knitting Jackets for Children – Tips and Tricks for Your Project

Just as with a cardigan for adults, you must not forget the gauge for the children's cardigan. To do this, cast on between 20 and 30 stitches, depending on the thickness of the yarn, and knit up between ten and 15 rows. Then measure the resulting knitted piece and compare it with the specifications in the knitting instructions. If your gauge is as described, you can start knitting your children's jacket right away. If your sample is smaller, you need to use bigger needles than specified. If it is larger, choose smaller needles. If you are knitting a jacket for a larger child, you will need to cast on a relatively large number of stitches and should therefore use a circular needle. For small children and a small jacket, two single needles are sufficient. By the way, if you work with two different needle sizes, you can create a pattern without counting stitches. To do this, knit the first row with a thin needle size and the back row with a thick one.

Knitting Kids' Jackets with Pockets

Even if the little whirlwind does not yet go for a walk with a cell phone, a pocket in the children's cardigan is never wrong. Paper handkerchiefs, chewing gum or other snacks find a place in it. Put a certain number of stitches on hold where you want the upper edge of the pocket to be. You can use a large safety pin or a colorful cotton thread and tie the ends together. The width of the pocket is determined by the number of crochet stitches. When you have pulled your knitted pocket bag to the inside, make the pocket flap from the stitches that have been set aside. When sewing the pocket on the left side, be sure to create two straight seams, as they will be visible from the outside.

Knitting a Children's Jacket with a Hood

A hood is practical, because it can be quickly pulled over the head in windy weather and is just as quickly pulled back again in calm weather. When you knit a jacket for children, the hood comes at the end. You make a rectangle with a length that is the same as the width of the two front pieces and the back piece. The width of the rectangle depends on the height of the hood. Fold the upper long side of the rectangle in the middle and sew it together. Attach the bottom long side to the top edge of your child's cardigan. If you like, you can finish off the two front pieces and the hood edge with a pretty trim.

Knitting a Kids' Jacket with Zipper

If you want the cardigan for children to close really well, it is advisable to sew in a zipper instead of buttons. You have two options. Either you sew in the zipper so that it remains visible, or you hide it behind two covers. If you want to hide the zipper professionally, knit your two flaps separately. They should always be a little shorter than the front parts of the children's jacket, so that nothing will curl when you sew them in. You will also make your work much easier if you first fix the zipper with pins before you reach for needle and thread.

Cardigan for Babies and Children - What is Important?

Babies are not the only ones with sensitive skin; toddlers often complain about scratchy knitted tops, too. To ensure that your self-knitted children's jacket goes down well with your little one, you should never use pure new wool. The slightly more expensive merino wool is more suitable for sensitive baby skin and is also light and stretchy. Alternatively, you can opt for cotton, a blended fiber of cotton and polyacrylic or 100 percent polyacrylic. Because young children in particular grow out of their clothes very quickly, it's certainly a good idea to make a cardigan that can grow with them. In order to be able to extend the sleeves and the waistband with the same color, if necessary, you should already make an extra wool square when knitting the children's cardigan. If you always put your spare square in the washing machine with the cardigan, you'll have wool yarn in just the right shade when you need it.

Patterns for Knitting Children's Jackets

A colorful cardigan for kids is pretty to look at in stocking or garter stitch. But if you choose a more muted color, you can make the cardigan an eye-catcher in the kindergarten with a fancy pattern. For less experienced knitters, you can use the simple but elegant seed stitch pattern. To do this, you just need to knit right and purl stitches offset. The knitting expert can try the cable or honeycomb pattern with the help of an additional needle. The extravagant herringbone pattern is also suitable for a small winter cardigan.

Sell Your Own Knitting Patterns for Children‘s Cardigans

If you are already a knitting pro yourself, you are welcome to contribute advice and ideas on our Facebook page or in the forum. If you have your own designs for knitting children's jackets, you have the opportunity to write your patterns in an easy-to-understand way, add photos and sell them at a fair price. How to do it best is explained in our guide to selling patterns.

By the way, our portal is not only about knitting: If you like sewing, crocheting, or crafting, you are also a welcome guest here. Just take a look!