5 tips for better baby knits

It’s been nearly eight years since my oldest was born, and I’ve knit a lot of baby things in that time. I’ve accumulated some wisdom from my years of knitting for babies and dressing babies in those knits. I’ll share some of my tips with you now so you can benefit from my experience!

 1)     Mind the button placement.

Putting buttons on the back of a baby knit is pretty popular, but I think you should avoid it. That teensy little button feels huge to a tiny baby and can be extremely uncomfortable for a little one that spends most of their time laying on their backs. The gorgeous Clara dress that I knit for my girls has a button on the back, and my girls would always end up with an angry red mark after laying on it all day. Plus, it is really hard to open and close a button on the back of a floppy little baby. I decided no more buttons on the back after that!
 
Buttons on the top of the shoulder can also be problematic. When in a car seat, those buttons will be pressed down into the top of the baby’s shoulder. They already hate riding in the car. There’s no need to make it worse.
 
Choose patterns that have the closures on the front or that have nice and stretchy necklines.

The Wildflower Tunic was designed with button placement in mind! Having the buttons moved around to the front shoulder makes for a much more comfortable garment for a little one and it is a lot easier to dress the baby with the buttons on the front.

2)     Stretchy necks and cuffs.

Babies have enormous heads so make sure your necklines are nice and stretchy. Always cast on or bind off loosely and try using a cast on or bind off that is designed to be stretchy. For cast ons, try the German Twisted Cast On, and for bind offs, try the Elastic Bind Off. You will find these two techniques used frequently in my baby patterns.

Stretchy cuffs are also really important! It’s nice if the cuff has plenty of give for chubby wrists, but more importantly, it will be much easier to dress the baby in the sweater if the cuff is nice and stretchy. I designed Sapling to have a wonderfully stretchy neckline with no closures along with nice stretchy cuffs. It will be easy to dress the baby and be very comfortable for the baby to wear.

3)     Properly fitting neckline.

 A neckline can make or break a sweater, and that counts for baby sweaters too! I see many designs where the neckline is just too loose. A sweater that falls off the shoulders won’t keep the baby cozy, and a loose neckline can easily ride up over the baby’s face. For a newborn, that could be a serious issue! Look closely at the fit of a neckline when shopping for a pattern, and check out some pictures in the projects section of Ravelry to see how it has turned out for other knitters.

Bonus tip: I like a thinner neckline for babies from newborn to just a few months old. At that age, they don’t have much of a neck and a thinner neckline fits them nicer. See Snowfall’s simple rolled neckline or Teasel’s small neckline ribbing.

4)     Go seamless.

 Baby sweaters are so tiny! Knitting them in pieces and seaming them together can end up being really fiddly. Plus, those seams can be uncomfortable for a little person to lay on all day. Knitting a seamless baby sweater gives you ease of knitting and the baby a comfortable knit to wear.

Every one of my baby patterns is seamless. I’m a big fan of knitting everything as seamlessly as possible!

5)     Knit a size too big.

Babies grow fast and sometimes we knit slow. Knitting a size too big eliminates the risk of having the baby outgrow the sweater before you can get it finished. Plus, then they can wear the sweater for longer. Just roll up the cuffs and go.

I happily made Cedar for Aiden knowing it would be a size too big. This way it is sure to fit him all through next winter. And who can resist the sight of a tiny tot in an oversized sweater?

Cedar will be released in October 2021 as part of my Woodland Ramble Collection. Sign up for my newsletter if you don’t want to miss it. Click on the picture below to be taken right to my newsletter signup form!

Baby sweaters are my favorite thing to knit, and I absolutely love dressing my children in handknit sweaters. Hopefully these tips help you have a successful experience knitting for the little ones in your life. If you are looking for some lovely baby patterns to knit, head on over to my pattern section to find some gorgeous baby patterns!  

Happy knitting!