Rainbow Romper – Baby Knitting Pattern & Tutorial

Also available in: Español

Hello Makers! Those of you who follow along my blog know my unconditional love for knitted rompers. So, to start preparing the wardrobe for the warmer days that are coming, there is nothing better than this beautiful Rainbow Romper in pastel colors. This romper is cheerful, colorful and delicate at the same time.

The great news today are that apart from the pattern being shown in one size as usual, you can make this patternin 5 different sizes! Yes, you heard right! This pattern of Rainbow Romper is available in size new born, 1-3 months, 3-6 months, 6-12 months and the one shown in the tutorial is the size 12-24 months.

As usual, you will find the instructions to knit this romper on the text and images, but if you prefer to download the pattern to get row by row instructions and print it to make notes without relying on the cell phone or internet connection, you are in luck because everything is ready for you!

You also have the option to buy all sizes together with a good discount on this other link.

Materials to make the Rainbow Romper

On this occasion, the materials we will need to make a 12-24 months size  are:

• Different colors of cotton yarn for 3 mm needles. (4Ply Yarn) I chose Anchor Style Creativa Fino in colors:
  • 00105 Pale Cream
  • 00403 Lemon
  • 00401 Apricot
  • 00408 Dusky Pink
  • 00399 Lilac grey
  • 00173 Pale blue
  • 00385 Peppermint Green
• 3 mm needles 
• 4 buttons or snaps fasteners.  If you chose to add the buttons, you must keep in mind that you must make the eyelets at the time of knitting the crotch region, if on the contrary, like in this tutorial, you chose to add snaps, you will knit as you will normally since you can add them without the necessity of making eyelets.
• A tapestry needle
• 3 stitch holders

Required Knitting stitches and techniques 

To knit this knitted romper it is only necessary to have basic knowledge of knitting, nothing that cannot be learned by watching YouTube videos. Here I leave you a selection of videos in which you can learn the stitches and techniques used:

• Cast on
• Stockinnete stitch
• Garter stitch
• Cast on stitches at the edge
• Make increases
• Bind off
• Pick up stitches

How to knit the Rainbow Romper

 1. Knit the yoke of the knitted romper

We start by casting on 76 stitches and knit these stitches in Garter stitch for 4 rows.

At this point it is time to change color and make raglan increases of what later will become parts of the back, the sleeves and the front.

• Row 5.  Switch color to yellow  Knit 76 p.
• Row 6. Purl 76 sts.
• Row 7.  k 13 (back), m1, k2, m1,  k10 (sleeve), m1, k2, m1, k 22  (front), m1, k2, m1, k 10 (sleeve), m1, k2, m1, k 13 (back).
• Row 8. Purl 84 sts.
• Row 9. k 14, m1,  k2, m1,  k 12, m1,  k2, m1,  k 24, m1,  k2, m1, k 12, m1,  k2, m1, k 14.
• Row 10. Purl 92 sts.
• Row 11.   Switch color to white  . k 15, m1, k2, m1, k 14, m1, k2, m1, k 26, m1, k2, m1, k 14, m1, k2, m1, k 15.
• Row 12. Knit 100 sts.
• Row 13.  k 16, m1, k2, m1, k 16, m1, k2, m1,  k 28, m1, k2, m1, k 16, m1, k2, m1, k 16.
• Row 14. Knit 108 sts.
• Row 15.   Switch color to apricot   k 17, m1, k2, m1, k 18, m1, k2, m1, k 30, m1, k2, m1, k 18, m1, k2, m1, k 17.
• Row 16. Purl 116 sts.
• Row 17. k 18, m1, k2, m1, k 20, m1, k2, m1, k 32, m1, k2, m1, k 20, m1, k2, m1, k 18.
• Row 18. Purl 124 sts.
• Row 19.  k 19, m1, k2, m1, k 22, m1, k2, m1, k 34, m1, k2, m1, k 22, m1, k2, m1, k 19.
• Row 20. Purl 132 sts.
• Row 21.   Switch color to white  . k 20, m1, k2, m1, k 24, m1, k2, m1, k 36, m1, k2, m1, k 24, m1, k2, m1, k 20.
• Row 22. Knit 140 sts.
• Row 23. k 21, m1, k2, m1, k 26, m1, k2, m1, k 38, m1, k2, m1, k 26, m1, k2, m1, k 21.
• Row 24. Knit 148 sts.
• Row 25.   Switch color to pink  . k 22, m1, k2, m1, k 28, m1, k2, m1, k 40, m1, k2, m1, k 28, m1, k2, m1, k 22.
• Row 26. Purl 156 sts.
• Row 27. k 23, m1, k2, m1, k 30, m1, k2, m1, k 42, m1, k2, m1, k 30, m1, k2, m1, k 23.
• Row 28. Purl 164 sts.
• Row 29. k 24, m1, k2, m1, k 32, m1, k2, m1, k 44, m1, k2, m1, k 32, m1, k2, m1, k 24.
• Row 30. Purl 172 sts.
• Row 31.    Switch color to white  . k 25, m1, k2, m1, k 34, m1, k2, m1, k 46, m1, k2, m1, k 34, 1 m1, k2, m1, k 25.
• Row 32. Knit 180 sts.
• Row 33. k 26, m1, k2, m1, k 36, m1, k2, m1, k 48, m1, k2, m1, k 36, m1, k2, m1, k 26. (188 sts.) 
• Row 34. k29 sts. and place them on a stitch holder, binf off 38 sts. of one of the sleeves, k 54 sts that belong to the front and set them aside, binf off 38 sts. of the other sleeve, knit 29 stitches of the other part of the back and place them aside.

Do not forget to alternate color and white stripes. In this case, the white stripes are made up of 4 rows of Garter stitch and the color ones are wider with 6 rows.

At this point, do not be afraid to cut the yarn. When we have finished knitting our Rainbow Romper, we will weave in those ends leaving us with a stunning garment!

From here, we will knit separately the back and the front, starting with the latter

2. Knit the front of the knitted romper 

We will continue knitting the front of our knitted Rainbow Romper. Do not forget to  continue to alternate stripes of color and white along with the increases at the end of the work. .

In each right-side row, knit two stitches, make an increase, knit the row as usual until there are two stitchesleft, make another increase and knit the last two stitches.

In this way, continue knitting and increasing until you have 64 stitches.

Once you have 64 stitches, at the beginning of the 4^throw of white increase 5 stitches. Knit the row as usual and in the end, increase another 5 stitches.

For the next row, change the color of the yarn to blue and knit 5 stitches we just increased along with 33 stitches leaving us at the center of the front. (37 stitches)

Cast on 22 stitches and knit the remaining 37 stitches. In this way, there should be a total of 96 stitches on the needle.

Knit these 96 stitches until you have made 19 stripes (10 color and 9 white) or a total of 96 rows.

Knit the front of the diaper cover 

Once the stripes have been knitted, on the right-side row, bind off 33 stitches with the salmon color yarn, knit 31 stitches with the white color yarn and bind off the remaining 32 stitches with the white yarn.

To shape the area of the diaper cover continue binding off 1 stitch at the beginning and end of each row until you have a total of 20 stitches.

To finish the front of our knitted Rainbow Romper, knit these 20 stitches for 5 rows using the color white and in the 6th row bind off all the stitches and cut the yarn.

2. Knit the back of the Rainbow Romper 

Now it is time to knit the back stitches we had on hold. Place 25 stitches into the working needle and alternate the 4 remaining with the first 4 stitches from the other back stitches on hold. To do this, take one stitch from the stitch holder and one stitch from the other stitch holder until there are no stitches on the stitch holder that had 4 stitches. Finally, place the remaining 25 stitches on the working needle.

This will give a place to the rear placket where later we will add the snaps.

In the next row, change the color to purple and knit 2 stitches, 1 increase, 23 stitches, 2 stitches together 4 times, 23 stitches, 1 increase and 2 stitches.

Continue making an increase on each side to two stitches of the edge, the same way as the front, to get 64 stitches.

Once you have 64 stitches, at the beginning of the 4^throw of white, increase 5 stitches.  Knit the row as usual and in the end, increase another 5 stitches. (74 stitches)

Continue knitting, not forgetting to alternate stripes of white and color in the same way as the front of the knitted Rainbow Romper.

Knit the back of the diaper cover 

To make the back of the diaper cover, in the right side row, bind off 7 stitches with the salmon color yarn, change the yarn to white and knit the remaining stitches. In the next row, bind off another 7 stitches and knit the rest of the row.

To shape the back of the diaper cover continue binding off 5 stitches at the beginning if each row until 20 stitches remain. Knit these 20 stitches for 5 rows using the white color yarn and in the 6th row bind off all of the stitches and cut the yarn.

3.Finishing touches of our Rainbow Romper 

 Weave in the ends

It’s time to clean up all our work and weave in and cut all of the yarns tails left throughout making our knitted romper. To do this, you should use a tapestry needle to weave in all of the ends. Once you weave them in you can cut the remaining tail with confidence.

Seam the sides

Fold the garment around the shoulders and with white strand of yarn and a tapestry needle, seam the sides to give the knitted romper its final shape.

Finish the legs of the Rainbow Romper

With your knitting needle pick up 74 stitches around the leg opening. Remember that the amount of stitches that you pick up may vary. Do not worry if you pick up more or less stitches, the important thing is that you pick up the same amount of stitches for both leg openings.

 Finish the central pleat

To finish making the pleat, take it as shown in the picture and stitch it to the base so that it does not open later, distribute it equally between the two sides so that it is symmetrical and sew it to the white stripe.

 Attach the snaps

To finish today’s project, we will attach the snaps. I love this type of closures for knitting projects because I do not have to think about where to make the buttonholes when I design a pattern, apart from being very easy to use as a closure for a garment and above all very safe.

As I said earlier, if you need a downloadable and printable PDF to not rely on your cell phone or the computer to knit the rainbow romper (of course easier) and with the row by row instructions, so you don’t miss a stripe! you can get it by following this link:

Rainbow Romper – Size 12-24 months 

If you what you need, is to knit this beautiful romper in another size and you want to get started right away without having to calculate the number of stitches for your measurements, this time I’ve also made it very easy for you!

Rainbow Romper – Size New Born

Rainbow Romper – Size 1-3 months 

Rainbow Romper – Size 3-6 months 

Rainbow Romper – Size 6-12 months 

Rainbow Romper – All 5 baby sizes

As I always say, although my pattern has been based on the rainbow and it is full of color, you can knit this romper with the combination you like, that being seven colors, two colors, plain, with sailor stripes… the sky’s the limit!

If you like this tutorial, do not forget to share and comment, I will love to hear your opinion and I will try to solve any questions you have if you decide to make it.

¡Kisses!