Free Vintage Pattern: 1940s Mommy and Me Cardigan

Mother’s Day is right around the corner, so I thought I'd share a fun mother/daughter pattern set. The Mother's or Daughter’s Ski Jacket is as the name implies, designed to be knit for either a mother or her teenage daughter. The pattern was originally published in 1946 by Royal Society. I do wish their was a pattern for the younger girl too, but unfortunately it's only for teens and adults.

The cardigan has a simple knit and purl stitch pattern, so, if you did want to knit this in a smaller size, it would be simple enough to size down. You could either do the math yourself, I would suggest using Tasha’s How to Fit and Knit a 40s Pullover at By Gum By Golly, as a reference. Or you could use your favorite toddler or kid sweater pattern and substitute the stitch pattern.

This is a really cute cardigan with a set in sleeve and has a high round neckline. It's finished off with a single crochet chain around the front and neck band. The picture shows embroidery on the front but the only instructions in the pattern is to “embroider as desired”. Don't you just love those oh-so-specific finishing instructions?

As for most, if not all, vintage knitting patterns, this cardigan is knit flat, in pieces. I know there are a lot of people out there who hate seaming and would prefer to knit a cardigan in one piece. To do this, all you have to do is add all the cast on numbers for each piece (the two fronts and the back) together, and subtract 1 at each seam. That number is your cast on. When you cast on make sure to place markers to indicate where each piece starts and ends. That way, if there's any shaping, you know where to work it. Depending on my next vintage knit project, I might do a full tutorial. Stay tuned for that.

If you do opt to go the seamless route, you'll still need to split for the front and back to work armhole shaping, then seam the shoulders. Then you could either knit the sleeves flat and set them in, or you could follow another one of Tasha's tutorials for working set in sleeves from the top down.

The pattern calls for a discontinued yarn, I did a little bit of research and couldn't find anything on the specific yarn. But, judging by the gauge in the pattern, it’s close to an Aran weight. Given the date of this pattern, my best guess would be that it is a wool.

Although it doesn't go as small as I would have liked, it still has a pretty decent size range. It goes from a bust size of 33” to 39”. My favorite part of this entire pattern is that it has all the blocking measurements all laid out for you. When dealing with vintage patterns, it can be really hit or miss whether these details are included or not.

I've always thought these Mother/Daughter matching patterns were cute, but I don’t think I'd ever want to go around wearing the same sweater as my mom. What do you guys think, would you ever knit you and your daughter matching sweaters? Or if you're a daughter that knits, would you knit a matching sweater for you and your mom?

Over the next few months I'll be sharing more vintage patterns from my collection, follow me on Instagram and Pinterest to make sure you don't miss a pattern.

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