Kid's Uniform Cardigan

Buttons down the front are what separate a cardigan from every other school layer. A child takes one off without dragging it over glasses, a hairstyle or a wet face. That single fact explains why so many codes name a cardigan instead of a sweatshirt.

Fiber choice is the real decision. Acrylic keeps its color and its shape through repeated hot washing and costs the least, then pills at the underarm and forearm within a term. Cotton breathes and feels better on a warm day, then grows at the hem and cuffs as the weight of the knit drags it down. Wool is warmest per ounce and felts in a hot wash, so it belongs only where hand washing is realistic. Gauge, meaning the number of stitches per inch, runs from about 12 on a fine school knit to 7 on a chunky one. Finer knits sit under a blazer without bunching at the armhole.

A School Blazer is structured and saved for assemblies and photographs. The Fleece in our Kid's Outerwear guide is warmer and almost never allowed indoors under a code. Between those two, the cardigan is the layer that lives on the back of a chair all day and goes on when the room drops.

Rooms that swing 15 degrees between a cold morning and a sunny afternoon are exactly the problem this solves. Children who overheat do better in it than in a pullover for the same reason. Outdoor cold is where it fails, since an open knit stops no wind at all and belongs under a coat rather than in place of one.

Study the button band, the strip of knit that carries the buttons: a good one is backed with woven tape. This is what stops the front stretching into a wave after one season. Shanked buttons, sewn with a small stem of thread under the button, take strain that flat sewn buttons pass straight into the knit. Sew a name label into every cardigan, because no garment turns up in lost property more often. Cool washing, flat drying and a fabric shaver rather than scissors keep it presentable.