River is inspired by the typical brightly colored 1980s training jackets, super cool for both boys and girls. The pattern's main features are the diagonal seams which allow for goofing around with color blocking. But it is just as fun to make it in a solid color and topstitch the diagonal seams to still show off the beautiful lines.  

These are the possible variations in a nutchell: 

• A sweater, with or without sleeves.
• Add a zipper in front and you have a training vest, or a jacket depending on the fabric you choose. 
• Pattern and instructions to make a lined version are included!
• Without the sleeves, the jacket turns into a boxy body warmer.
• Choose your neckline finishing: facing, standing collar, bomber collar, jersey neck trim or turtle neck.
• All variations can be made with or without the diagonal front pockets.
• You can see all 28 variations in the tab below.
  
  

Variations

This pattern gives you the opportunity to make not 1, but several garments. Here is an overview of all the variants you can make with this set of pattern parts.

Sweater with pockets 

Sweater without pockets

Sleeveless sweater with pockets 

Sleeveless sweater without pockets

Jacket with pockets 

Jacket without pockets 

Sleeveless jacket with pockets (body warmer)

Sleeveless jacket without pockets (body warmer)

Included files

Please note that when you buy this product you are purchasing a set of digital files. Nothing will be physically sent to your doorstep. If you are new to PDF sewing patterns, check out this guide.

After your purchase has been completed, you will find a download link on the confirmation page. You will also receive a download link via the email you used at checkout. And your files will be immediately available in your online account if you have registered. By clicking any of the download buttons you can save the files to your computer for future use. Be sure to do so before printing them. 

Save on paper and ink with our printer-friendly files. All the files listed below are included with your purchase. 

• Extensive illustrated step-by-step tutorial. 
  This instruction booklet is an interactive PDF made easy for screen with large lettering, clickable navigation and links to video tutorials if available. If you do rather print the tutorial, there’s a ‘save ink’ layer available. 
• Cheat sheet.
  You can print this one page containing some key information and your notes to store with your paper pattern parts. 
• A4/letter pattern to print at home.
  This file contains all the pattern parts you need to make every single variant. When you print this, you will need to tape or glue the pages together before you can cut out the entire pattern pieces. Learn here how you can tape the pieces together in a fast and easy way.
  
• A0 pattern to print at a copy shop.
  Would you rather not tape pieces together? We got you covered with this large pattern format. If you don't own a plotter you can print out this file in a copy shop or at a fabric store that provides a print on demand service.
• Both A4/letter and A0 pattern files come in a file where the seam allowance is included AND a seperate file where the seam allowance is not included (which is easier to work with if you want to do a lot of adjustments). All files have a layer per size so that you don’t have to trace your size onto a different sheet of paper and add seam allowance yourself. You can easily uncheck all the layers you don’t need and print only your size with seam allowance included. That way you can directly cut out what you have printed. Don’t forget to tell your copy shop to select the right layers!
  Read more on print instructions here and/or in the instruction booklet.
• Projector file. Want to skip printing all together? You can! With this file you can project the pattern pieces straight onto your fabric using a projector/beamer. 

Level

Easy to intermediate (depending on the variation). 

Beginners can certainly get started with the sweater version of River, although there are a lot of steps to go through due to the color blocking. The jacket variants with front zipper are for sewists who like a bit more of a challenge. 

Fit

River has a loose, oversized fit. The sleeves narrow toward the wrists and are finished with an elastic tunnel. It also sits a bit narrower at the hem due to the elastic tunnel. 

The sleeveless version has a boxy cut with oversized armholes.

The collars are not too tight around the neck. In fact, when finished with facing, the neckline is fairly roomy. The high collar is finished with an overlapped zipper splash so that the top of the zipper cannot irritate the chin.

Fabric choice

Many things are possible. For the jackets, we can't think of any fabric that wouldn't be suitable ... For the zipperless sweaters, you just have to keep in mind that your head should be able to pass through the neck opening. So the collar should definitely be made of sufficiently stretchy fabric. But you can also make the rest of the sweater in a non-stretchable woven fabric.

Nice results are guaranteed with anything from the jersey category: jogging, french terry, punta ... and thin nylon fabrics will also emphasize that cool eighties vibe. 

Or why not go for a wool collarless jacket? Sporty chic! 

WE STRONGLY RECOMMEND TO WASH YOUR FABRIC BEFORE CUTTING.

Think about the environment and choose deadstock fabrics if you can. That way you give these leftover fabrics from fashion brands a second life and they don’t end up in landfills. We source our quality deadstock designer fabrics at The Fabric Sales.

Notions

• Thread (color of your choice)
• Sewing machine needle (suitable for your fabric choice)
• Fusible interfacing for variants with facing, pockets or collar, without zipper: max. 20 cm / max. 7 ⅞ in
• Fusible interfacing for variants with facing, pockets or collar, with zipper: max. 55 cm / max. 21 5/8 in
• Zipper (for jacket only): see chart below

• Ribbing for bomber collar or jersey neck trim: max. 10 cm - 4"

• Elastic for cuffs (for long sleeves only), width 30 mm - 1.2": see chart below
  

• Elastic for the waistband, width 50 mm - 2": see chart below 

Zipper length

Elastic length

Fabric requirements 

The fabric lengths charts show how much fabric you will need for all variations, calculated on a standard fabric width of 140 cm - 1.55 yd. If your fabric is narrower, you will need more fabric length. For broader or narrower fabrics you can calculate how much fabric you will need by laying out the pattern pieces on the table according to your fabric width and measuring how much fabric length you will need accordingly.

Fabric requirements LONG SLEEVE SWEATER

Fabric requirements SLEEVELESS JACKET

 Fabric requirements LINING JACKET

Finished measurements

River has an excess width of 44 cm (17 3/8") at the waist and 20 cm (7 7/8 ") at the hip compared to the size chart. Add this number to the waist circumference and hip circumference respectively to determine the circumference of the finished garment. 

BACK LENGTH of the finished garment: