Babies Hooded Cardigan in Bergere de France Sport - 60508-471 - Downloadable PDF

Babies Hooded Cardigan in Bergere de France Sport – Pattern 60508-471

This beginner-level knitting pattern from Bergere de France produces an adorable babies' hooded cardigan worked in two contrasting shades of Bergere de France Sport yarn. The design features a front zipper opening, integrated sleeves, a cosy hood, and a decorative giraffe patch, making it a charming and practical garment for little ones. The pattern is available as a downloadable PDF and covers four sizes: 6 months, 12 months, 18 months, and 24 months.

What Is Being Made

The finished project is a hooded baby cardigan with set-in sleeves, a separating zipper at the centre front, and a hood. The cardigan is cleverly constructed in one piece, beginning at the right front and working across through the sleeves and back, which minimises seaming and makes the knit particularly suitable for beginners who want a satisfying, structured result. A giraffe patch (ref. 50052) is applied as a decorative embellishment, giving the finished garment a playful, nursery-friendly character.

Construction Method

One of the most interesting features of this pattern is its one-piece construction. Rather than knitting separate front, back, and sleeve panels and seaming them together, the cardigan is worked as a single continuous piece starting with the right front. Stitches are cast on for the sleeves at specific points along the rows, and the back neck stitches are added in a similar fashion, allowing the knitter to build the full body and sleeves without complex assembly. This technique is particularly beginner-friendly because it reduces the number of seams to sew at the end and helps knitters understand how garment shaping flows naturally from one section to the next.

• Right Front: Cast on and worked first, establishing the body width for the front panel.
• Right Sleeve: Extra stitches are cast on at the end of a row to extend the fabric into the sleeve, integrating it seamlessly with the front.
• Back: Additional stitches are cast on for the back neck, and the back section is worked across the full width including both sleeves.
• Left Sleeve and Left Front: Mirror the right side, with stitches cast on and then decreased to return to the front panel width.
• Hood: Worked separately and attached to complete the garment.

Stitches Used

The pattern uses two fundamental knitting stitches, making it highly accessible for those new to garment knitting:

• Garter Stitch (G. st): Formed by knitting every row. In this pattern, garter stitch is used for the lower borders, cuffs, and the main body sections worked in colour Pink (A). Garter stitch creates a firm, slightly ridged fabric that lies flat without curling, making it ideal for edges and borders on baby garments. The gauge for garter stitch in this pattern is 19 stitches and 34 rows to 10 cm using 4.0 mm needles.
• Stocking Stitch (St st): The classic knit-one-row, purl-one-row combination that produces a smooth, V-stitch fabric on the right side. In this cardigan, stocking stitch is used for the sections worked in colour Muscat (B), creating a neat contrast panel. The gauge for stocking stitch is 20 stitches and 26 rows to 10 cm using 4.0 mm needles.
• Embroidery Stitches: The pattern references embroidery stitches for decorative detail, with guidance provided in the accompanying book's embroidery section.

Because the two stitch types have different row gauges — garter stitch producing more rows per centimetre than stocking stitch — it is especially important to work a tension square in both stitches before beginning. The pattern explicitly emphasises this, and matching gauge is essential to achieving the correct sizing across all four measurements.

Techniques Used

• Casting on mid-row to create sleeve extensions — a key technique in one-piece garment construction.
• Holding stitches