Teddy Bear Sweater – Pattern & Tutorial

I’ve always believed that dealing with baby clothes becomes much simpler when babies are born in spring or summer. During the initial months, they grow so rapidly that, if born in colder seasons, it’s challenging to buy an adequate amount of bodysuits, pajamas, and so on. In my case, it seems like every two weeks I find out they’ve outgrown their outfits or their little feet are snugly squeezed inside the pajamas.

Babies born in the summer likely spend the majority of their time at home either in diapers or wearing onesies that don’t constrict their feet. This translates to considerably lower clothing expenses during the initial months.

However, the upside to this situation is that right from the start, we get to revel in winter essentials like wool booties, handmade sweaters, knitted hoodies , and a variety of other garments. These items can be crafted and prepared in advance during the waiting period or serve as the perfect gift for a newborn.

Certainly, you can use these items for a baby of any age, but it’s worth acknowledging that the smaller the garment, the more adorable it tends to be!

The pattern for the Teddy Bear Sweater that I’m sharing today is designed for  size 1 month . However, at the end of this post, I’ll explain how you can modify it if you need larger sizes.

Materials to make the Teddy Bear Sweater

On this occasion, the materials we will need to make a 1 months size are:

• 1 ball of 50 grams of Drops Alpaca Bouclé, color 0100 off white.
• 5 mm needles (8 US ,6 UK)
• 1 Stitch Holder
• 3 buttons 
• A tapestry needle

Step by step on how to make a Teddy Bear Sweater

1. Knit the front part of the knitted baby sweater

Cast on 34 stitches and knit 4 rows (2 turns) in Garter stitch. These first four rows in Garter stitch will help the baby sweater not to roll up on the bottom.

From here, knit in Stockinette stitch until a total length of 13 cm. approximately counting on the fist area.

We are ready to start making the increases to knit the sleeves!

2. Knit the sleeves

To knit the sleeves of our knitted sweater, increase 5 stitches at the end of the work.

Once these 5 stitches are increased, knit the row as you will normally and at the beginning of the next increase another 5 stitches. In this way, we will form the other sleeve. Remember that you must increase 5 stitches at the beginning of the row 8 times (4 per sleeve), that way, each sleeve will have 20 stitches and you will end up with 74 stitches in total: 20 for each sleeve, 34 for the body and 20 of the other sleeve. You can learn how to add on new stitches at the end of a row watching this video.

When you have these 74 stitches, knit them in Stockinette stitch until you achieve a length of 2 cm. in the area that will be the fist.

If you want the fist to have a more polished look, you can knit the first 4 and last 4 stitches in Garter stitch and the remaining stitches in Stockinette stitch.

2.1. Make up the Neckline

It is time to make the opening for the neckline of our knitted Teddy Bear Sweater.

Knit 35 stitches and cast off 4 stitches, then continue knitting as you normally would until the end of the row.

Turn the work and knit until you reach the 4 stitches we casted off earlier. We will not be able to continue knitting the remaining stitches since we casted off at this point.

Turn the work, cast off the first stitch and knit the row until the end.

Knit this way, casting off 1 stitch of the neck area each turn, until casting off 4 stitches in total. You will see that you now have 31 stitches on your working needle.

As you can see, on the other needle the rest of the stitches for the other sleeve remain, which do not bother us at the time of knitting and that we will pick up later.

Once you have obtained these 31 stitches by decreasing stitches, cast on 10 stitches at the end of the work. In this way, you will have 41 stitches that you will have to knit for 4 cm. or until the total width of the cuff is 8 cm. approximately.

Then, we will cast off 5 stitches at the beginning of each turn or 4 turns until you have casted off 20 stitches in total leaving you with 21 stitches on your needle.

We will place these 21 stitches on hold on a stitch holder, and later we will work with them.

It is time to use the stitches of the other sleeve, which we will knit following the same instructions. Increase 5 stitches each turn until you have 20 stitches in total, knit for 4 cm., open the neckline by casting off 1 stitch each turn, cast on 10 stitches and knit until the cuff measures 8 cm.

3. Knit the back of the handmade baby sweater

We have very little left!

To knit the back of our Teddy Bear baby Sweater, in the first place, place the 21 stitches from stitch holder onto the working needle.

In this way, you must have 21 stitches on one needle and 21 stitches on the other.

Next we will cast off the first 4 stitches and knit the row as you will normally until the end. This way you will see that you have managed to make the placket for the buttons.

Knit the back to obtain the same dimensions as the front. Remember that you must take into account that the last 4 rows must be made in Garter stitch so that the edge is not rolled.

To finish shaping our knitted baby sweater we must fold it in half and seam the sides and sleeves.

4. Finishing touches

We only need the final touches that will make our handmade Teddy Bear Sweater unique.

With a strand of cotton or black yarn, we will embroider the face. Do not worry if you do not know how to embroider, you will not need great skills to do this and it is best to let yourself be guided by your intuition. To make the area of ​​the mouth, you can use this tutorial as a guide on how to embroider names by hand and perform it with the same technique, which is how I did it.

Finally we will sew the buttons in their place. You may have noticed that while we were knitting we did not make the buttonholes for the buttons, and there is an explanation. Being small buttons I have not seen it necessary in this case, as the fabric itself is loose and allows us to pass the buttons without problem and without the need for buttonholes. Remember that if you opt for larger buttons you should keep this point in mind and make the buttonholes while you are knitting.

And this is the final result! If in photos it looks fluffy and cozy, live and direct it is much more beautiful than what the camera captures.

If you need larger sizes, you can refer to these tutorials that will guide you in calculating the stitches for your project.

• ¿Cómo calcular los puntos para tejer una prenda?
• ¿Cómo calcular los puntos para tejer una chaqueta?

Whether you are an expectant mother or want to make a special handmade gift to a newborn, this Knitted Teddy Bear Sweater is a perfect and complete option for the cooler months.

Kisses,