Jacket in Schachenmayr Violena - 2025 - Downloadable PDF

Free Downloadable Knitting Pattern: Women's Jacket in Schachenmayr Violena (2025 Design)

This free downloadable PDF knitting pattern from Schachenmayr provides full instructions for a classic women's jacket, released as part of the 2025 design collection. Knitted in pieces and seamed, this garment is a rewarding project for knitters with intermediate experience, offering a structured silhouette with textured stitch patterning throughout the body and neat ribbed cuffs and borders.

What Is Being Made

The pattern produces a women's fitted jacket worked in four sizes, accommodating a range of body measurements. The jacket is constructed in separate pieces — a back panel, front panels, and sleeves — which are then seamed together in the traditional flat-knitting method. The design features shaped armhole openings, shoulder shaping with bind-offs worked on a diagonal for a clean slope, and a neckline opening finished to a neat edge. The structured silhouette and textured main fabric give this jacket a polished, wearable finish suitable for everyday wear or smarter occasions.

Construction and Techniques

• Flat knitting in rows: All pieces are worked back and forth in rows rather than in the round, making this an approachable construction method for knitters familiar with working flat.
• Ribbed welts and cuffs: The lower edges are begun with approximately 14 cm of ribbing worked on smaller needles (size 3–3.5 mm), creating an elasticated, tidy border that draws in gently at the hem.
• Armhole shaping: Armhole openings are formed through a sequence of bind-offs — beginning with a larger initial cast-off on each side, followed by decreases worked every other row — creating a smooth, curved armhole that accommodates the sleeve cap neatly.
• Shoulder shaping: Shoulders are shaped using stepped bind-offs worked over several right-side rows, producing a diagonal slope that aligns cleanly when seamed to the sleeve top.
• Neckline shaping: The neckline is worked simultaneously with the shoulder shaping, with stitches bound off at the centre and then reduced further on each side to form a neat, rounded or shaped neck opening.
• Gauge swatch: A tension swatch is essential for this pattern. The stated gauge is 20 stitches and 32 rows to 10 cm × 10 cm in the main pattern stitch, using needles sized 3.5–4 mm.

Stitches Used

• Main pattern (Grundmuster): The body of the jacket is worked in a textured main stitch pattern based on an 8-stitch repeat, with the pattern repeat worked multiple times across the row depending on the size being knitted (9 to 15 full repeats across the back). This creates a consistent, all-over texture that gives the fabric visual interest without being overly complex.
• Ribbing (Bündchenmuster): The welts and cuffs are worked in a rib stitch pattern, beginning with a set-up wrong-side row that establishes the knit-and-purl alternation. Ribbing is worked on smaller needles to ensure the border lies flat and has good elasticity.
• Stocking stitch selvedge stitches: Single smooth knit stitches (glatt rechts) are placed at each edge alongside the selvedge (Randm), providing a neat, stable edge for seaming.
• Selvedge stitches (Randmaschen): Dedicated edge stitches are maintained throughout all pieces to facilitate clean, even seaming when the jacket is assembled.

Sizing

The pattern is written for four sizes, with stitch counts given throughout as a sequence of four figures (for example, 83–99–115–131 stitches cast on for the back). Knitters select the appropriate figure for their size at every instruction. The back piece reaches 42–40–39–38 cm before armhole shaping begins (varying slightly by size), and shoulder shaping commences at a total height of 62 cm. This sizing approach is standard in European knitting patterns and requires the knitter to identify their size at the outset and follow that figure consistently throughout.

Materials: