Jacket and Waistcoat in Stylecraft Special for Babies DK - 9680 - Downloadable PDF

Stylecraft Special for Babies DK Jacket and Waistcoat – Pattern 9680

Pattern 9680 from Stylecraft is a charming duo of baby and toddler knitwear designs: a classic cabled Jacket and a coordinating Waistcoat. Both garments are worked in Stylecraft Special for Babies DK and are sized to fit babies and young children from birth through to 5 years, covering chest sizes of 41 cm to 61 cm (16–24 inches). The pattern is rated easy / advanced beginner, making it an accessible project for knitters who are comfortable with basic techniques and ready to try simple cable work.

About the Designs

The Jacket

The Jacket is a neat, structured baby cardigan featuring a garter stitch border and body combined with decorative cable panels. It is knitted to the following finished measurements:

• Actual chest: 45–65 cm (17¾–25½ inches) across the five sizes
• Full length: 24–42 cm (9½–16½ inches)
• Sleeve length: 15–29 cm (6–11½ inches)

The body of the Jacket is constructed cleverly by working the Back and both Fronts in one piece to the armholes, which reduces seaming and keeps the project manageable for less experienced knitters. Stitches are divided at the armhole markers to separate the Back from the two Front sections. The one-piece lower body construction is a practical technique that creates a smooth, uninterrupted fabric across the back and eliminates side seams below the armhole.

The front bands are integrated into the knitting rather than picked up separately, with buttonholes worked directly into the right front band using a simple yarn forward, k2tog method. Buttonholes are spaced evenly throughout the front band rows, with the number of buttonhole repeats varying by size. This neat approach means the button band grows as the garment is knitted, saving finishing time.

Cable panels are introduced after the initial garter stitch section via foundation rows that set up the cable stitches with increases (M1) to accommodate the cable's draw. The cables run vertically on the fronts and back, adding a classic, heirloom-quality texture to what is otherwise a straightforward knit.

The Waistcoat

The Waistcoat is a sleeveless companion piece, worked in a coordinating colourway. It is slightly larger in actual chest measurement than the Jacket, with finished sizes ranging from 51–71 cm (20–28 inches) across the five sizes, and a full length of 28–46 cm (11–18 inches). Like the Jacket, it features the same easy-knit aesthetic and is suitable for an advanced beginner looking to build confidence with garment shaping.

Techniques Used

• Garter stitch (g-st): The foundation of both garments. Garter stitch is produced by knitting every row, creating a ridged, reversible fabric with good stretch and a tidy edge — ideal for baby garments as it lies flat without curling.
• Cable knitting: Six-stitch cable panels are worked into the Jacket body. Cables are created by crossing groups of stitches over one another using a cable needle, producing a rope-like twisted column of fabric. Foundation rows with M1 (make one) increases are used to set up the cable stitches without distorting the overall stitch count.
• Integrated buttonholes: Worked using yfwd, k2tog (yarn forward, knit two together) directly within the front band rows, creating a small, neat eyelet-style buttonhole.
• One-piece body construction: The Jacket back and both fronts are cast on together and worked as a single piece to the armholes, with stitch markers used to define the sections. This reduces finishing and is a beginner-friendly construction method.
• Stitch markers: Used throughout to separate body sections and to identify the right side of the work during garter stitch construction.
• Shaping increases (M1): Make-one increases are worked at the cable set-up rows to compensate for the stitch compression created by the cable panels.