Kinderweste in Schachenmayr Trachetenwolle - 5406

Kinderweste in Schachenmayr Trachtenwolle – Children's Knitted Waistcoat Pattern (Free PDF Download)

This free downloadable knitting pattern from Schachenmayr provides instructions for a charming children's waistcoat (Kinderweste) worked in the brand's Trachtenwolle yarn. The design has a distinctly traditional, folkloric character, making it ideal for festive or everyday wear. The pattern is written in German and covers multiple sizes, with stitch counts and row counts given for three size variations throughout.

What Is Being Made

The finished project is a children's sleeveless waistcoat — a classic garment in the Central European Tracht (traditional folk dress) tradition. It features a structured back panel and a left front panel (with the right front panel implied by the multi-part construction), shaped armhole openings, and a neat neckline. The waistcoat is designed to be worn over a blouse or shirt as part of a traditional outfit, though it works equally well as a cosy everyday layering piece for children.

Techniques Used

• Flat knitting – all pieces are worked back and forth in rows, not in the round
• Garter stitch panels – the outer sections of the back and the front panels are worked in garter stitch (kraus rechts), creating a firm, textured fabric with good body
• Reverse stocking stitch centre panel – the central stitch of the back is worked in smooth reverse stocking stitch (purl on right-side rows, knit on wrong-side rows), providing a subtle contrast line
• Jacquard / stranded colourwork – the left front panel features a 25-stitch Jacquard motif worked from a charted pattern (Zählmuster), beginning a few centimetres up from the cast-on edge; yarns are crossed on the wrong side of the work to prevent holes and loose floats
• Armhole shaping – stitches are cast off in stages on both sides (an initial bind-off followed by decreases every right-side row) to create a smooth, fitted armhole curve
• Neckline shaping – centre back stitches are bound off and further decreases are worked on each side in alternate rows to shape a neat back neck
• Shoulder cast-off – remaining shoulder stitches are bound off straight at the final row height

Stitches Used

• Garter stitch (kraus rechts) – knit every row on both right-side and wrong-side rows across the main body sections
• Reverse stocking stitch (glatt links) – purl on right-side rows, knit on wrong-side rows, used for the central decorative column on the back
• Jacquard colourwork stitches – stocking stitch base carrying two colours across the 25-stitch motif panel on the front, following a written chart
• Selvedge/edge stitches (Randmaschen) – worked consistently at each end of every row to keep edges tidy for seaming

Tension / Gauge

The pattern specifies a tension of 17.5 stitches and 31 rows = 10 × 10 cm, measured over the stitch pattern using the recommended needle size. Checking tension before beginning is particularly important here because the waistcoat combines different stitch textures — garter stitch and colourwork — across the same piece.

Materials – Yarn and Needles

The pattern is designed specifically for Schachenmayr Trachtenwolle, a worsted-weight yarn well suited to traditional folk-style knitwear. The colourway referenced in the instructions is Jeans Tweed, which forms the main background colour of both the body and the Jacquard border sections. A contrast colour is required for the 25-stitch Jacquard motif on the front panel. Needles in size 4 to 5 mm are recommended to