Babies Cardigan in Bergere de France Coton Fifty - 67531-09 - Downloadable PDF

Babies Cardigan in Bergere de France Coton Fifty – Pattern 67531-09

This easy-level knitting pattern from Bergere de France produces a sweet, striped baby cardigan worked in Coton Fifty yarn. The design is sized for four stages of early infancy — 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months — making it a versatile project for knitters who want a gift-ready or wardrobe staple garment for a newborn or young baby. The finished cardigan features a classic, neat silhouette with front borders, and is finished with charming pink bow buttons for an adorable decorative touch.

What Is Being Made

The pattern produces a striped baby cardigan knitted flat in separate pieces and assembled. It includes a back, a right front, a left front, and presumably sleeves, all worked using a two-colour stripe sequence. The front opening features neat garter stitch borders that are picked up or worked alongside the main fabric, and small sections of stitches are held on safety pins to create these tidy button and buttonhole bands — a technique well suited to beginner knitters as it avoids complex provisional cast-ons.

Techniques Used

• Flat knitting — all pieces are worked back and forth on straight needles, making this accessible for knitters who are not yet comfortable with working in the round.
• Two-colour striped knitting — the body is worked in a repeating stripe sequence alternating between colour A (Berlingot) and colour B (Ficelle), requiring simple yarn changes at the beginning of rows.
• Holding stitches on safety pins — rather than binding off border stitches, the pattern instructs the knitter to leave groups of 5 stitches on a safety pin, keeping them live for the front borders. This is a beginner-friendly method of managing button bands.
• Increasing — a simple single increase (inc 1) is worked at a specified point on the first row after changing needle size, shaping the fronts correctly from the outset.
• Needle size changes — the pattern transitions from 2.5 mm needles for the ribbed or garter stitch cast-on section to 3.0 mm needles for the main striped stocking stitch body, a standard technique for achieving a neat, firm lower edge that does not flare.

Stitches Used

• Garter Stitch (G.st) — worked by knitting every row on both right side and wrong side. In this pattern, garter stitch is used on 2.5 mm and 3.0 mm needles for the border sections and the initial rows, creating a firm, non-curling fabric edge that is ideal for baby garments.
• Striped Stocking Stitch (St st) — the main body fabric, worked on 3.0 mm needles in alternating stripes of the two yarn colours. Stocking stitch is formed by knitting on right-side rows and purling on wrong-side rows, producing a smooth, classic fabric. The stripe sequence gives the cardigan its decorative character without requiring any complex colourwork techniques such as stranding or intarsia.

Materials Required

Yarn

The pattern is written specifically for Bergere de France Coton Fifty, a 4-ply weight yarn. Two colourways are used:

• Berlingot (shade 23135) — Colour A: the primary colour, requiring 2 balls across all four sizes.
• Ficelle (shade 23906) — Colour B: the contrast stripe colour, requiring 1 ball for the 1-month size and 2 balls for the 3-month, 6-month, and 12-month sizes.

Coton Fifty is a cotton-blend yarn well suited to baby knitting, offering softness against delicate skin, breathability for warmer months, and easy care properties that parents appreciate.

Needles

• 2.5 mm knitting needles