Butter Rung · Handmade 1970s-80s Wool Cardigan
Wool · handmade raglan knit · plastic buttons · 1970s-80s · 35cm length flat · approx. 3-5 years, kids · excellent condition
A soft butter yellow, plainer than its purple cousin but built the same considered way: raglan shoulders, seven cream buttons marching up the front, and a run of garter ridges banding the body like rungs on a ladder.
No label survives to date this one precisely, so the estimate leans on construction. The plain stockinette body, raglan shaping, and horizontal garter ridge bands are typical of home knitting patterns worked through the 1970s and into the 80s, before printed and novelty knits took over the children's market.
The body eases from the bust into a stretchy ribbed band at the hem that gives with wear rather than fighting it, matched by a stretchy ribbed cuff at each wrist. Crew neckline, long raglan sleeves, sew-through buttons up the front doing plain, steady work.
Material
Wool, plastic buttons.
Care
Hand wash in cool water with a wool-safe detergent, do not wring, and dry flat away from direct heat or sun. Store folded rather than hung to protect the shoulders.
More on looking after vintage pieces in our care guide.
Size
Measured flat: 35cm length, 31cm across the bust laid flat easing into a 25cm ribbed waistband that stretches with wear. Sleeves run 39cm from collar to cuff with a stretchy 8cm cuff, and the neckline sits 6cm deep. Reads as roughly a 3-5 year size given the room in the body and the give in the ribbing.
Our size guide explains how vintage sizing is read here.
Condition
Excellent. The cream holds even with no yellowing or dinginess, no pilling, no holes, and all buttons are present and secure.
Our condition lexicon explains the grades we use.
Before it reaches you
Someone loved this before you did, and I try to honour that properly. Each piece is hand washed, or cleaned in the way that the fabric permits, then steamed until it softens and straightens and feels newly attended to. Wherever a button was missing, it has been replaced with a vintage one from my long-kept collection. Wherever a hem had given way, I fix it by hand. By the time it leaves this room it is genuinely clean, pressed, whole, and looked over one final time before I let myself believe it is ready. Not restored. Not made new. Just returned to a state where it can be loved again, by someone who was not there the first time.
A plainer piece than some, and better for it. Nobody needed colourwork or embroidery to make this one worth keeping, just even hands, a steady rhythm of ridge rows, and buttons sewn on straight. It is the kind of cardigan that got worn and washed carefully, which is exactly why it has lasted.