Fraser Tartan Dog Sweater Pattern

This Fraser tartan dog sweater pattern can be made in three sizes.

It is made in two pieces, knit flat on straight knitting needles, and then seamed.

Scroll down to view the free pattern or you can grab your printer-friendly, ad-free PDF here.

A Dog Sweater With A Woven Tartan Knitted Fabric

This turtleneck dog sweater is knit in colored stripes and the tartan effect is created by weaving different colored yarns through the knitted fabric.

You can use strands of the same colors you knit the stripes with or coordinating colors.

I used a mix of both because I wanted to get the colors to match the Fraser Tartan from Outlander as closely as possible.

The yarn I used to make the hand-knitted dog sweater

I made the dog sweater using bulky yarn, this is medium 05 yarn.

I used Cascade 220 yarn knit with two strands together.

Any bulky/chunky/12 ply yarn that can be used with 8mm (US 11) needles will be okay to use for this pattern.

More Dog Sweaters

For more dog sweater knitting patterns you may be interested in this post, which features a roundup of 20 fall dog sweaters. – 20 Beautiful Fall Dog Sweater Knitting Patterns

You may also like these free patterns for dog sweaters:

• Cable Knit Dog Sweater Pattern
• Knitted Dog Sweater Pattern (3 Sizes)
• Dog Sweater Knitting Pattern – Straight Needles
• Dog Jumper Knitting Pattern – Rainbow Stripes
• Dog Sweater Knitting Pattern | Mischief Managed
• Puppy Sweater Knitting Pattern (XS Puppy)
• Dog Sweater Knitting Pattern
• Baby Yoda Pattern – Dog Sweater

Knitted Dog Sweater Pattern

Grab your inexpensive ad-free, PDF printable pattern in my shop here.

Notes

The Fraser Tartan Dog Sweater Knitting Pattern will allow you to create a dog jumper inspired by Jamie Fraser’s large tartan shawl/wrap seen in all seasons of the Outlander series.

You may also enjoy these patterns…

• Fraser Tartan Shawl Knitting Pattern
• Fraser Tartan Scarf Knitting Pattern

• The sweater pieces are worked flat in back-and-forth rows.
• The first stitch of each row is slipped to create a clean selvedge edge.
• Do not carry the unused color up the side of the work.
• Vertical stripes are woven in after the knitted base of the sweater is complete.
• The yarn (Cascade 220) is knit with two strands together – for the main sweater pieces and for weaving the plaid.

Copyright Info

• Please do not copy, sell, redistribute, or republish this pattern. 
• If you wish to share this pattern, link to the pattern page only.
• You may sell items produced using this pattern.
• In all product listings please credit Handy Little Me (Louise Bollanos) as the designer.
• Do NOT use copyrighted photos for your product listing.
• For the copyright T&C please read my Terms of Use.

Skill Level – Easy

Gauge – 10 x 10 cm/4 x 4 inches =  12 sts/20 rows in garter stitch.

Measurement/Sizes

• The sizes given in the pattern are small, medium, and large.
• The numbers in the pattern are given in this format – S (M/L)
• Length excluding collar – Small – 14” / Medium – 16” / Large – 18”
• Belly at the widest part – Small – 8” / Medium – 10” / Large – 12”
• You may want to make the sweater shorter/longer or wider depending on your dog’s back length/width of chest.

Tips On Measuring

For the back length – Measure your dog from the base of the neck to about 2/3 inches from the tail.

For the belly section width – Measure your dog’s widest point of the belly underneath the front legs.

You may need to add a few more stitches if your dog has a wider belly section than given in the pattern.

The supplies you need

Yarn

• Yarn – Cascade 220 /100g/219 yds/200m.
• Yarn A – Beige 2441 x 1 (for the large size 1.5)
• Yarn B – Brown 8013 x 1
• Yarn C – Red 1000 x 1
• Yarn D – Mustard – 4010 x 1
• Yarn E – Grey – 8401 x 1
• Yarn F – Dark Brown – 2431 x 1

Yarn notes

• Please note that the yarn used is 100% wool.
• You can substitute with any worsted/10ply yarn.
• Yarn weight – Medium Weight Yarn 04/Worsted/Aran/10 Ply.
• The yarn is knit with two strands together (this makes it a bulky/chunky/12-ply yarn weight).

Needles

• 8 mm (US 11) knitting needles.
• The sweater is worked flat – back and forth on the needles.
• If you knit the sleeves you will need to use 8 mm (US 11) circular needles with a 16/20″ cable.
• The sleeves are knit in the round.

Notions

• Tape measure
• Darning needle
• Scissors

Abbreviations / Knitting Abbreviations And Terms (US And UK) List

• Alt – Alternative
• Beg – Beginning
• Cont – Continue
• CO – Cast on
• Dec – Decrease (K2tog – Knit the next 2 sts together or you can cast off one stitch)
• Foll – Following
• Inc – Increase (KFB – Knit into the front and back of the stitch)
• K – Knit
• P – Purl
• St – Stitch
• Rem – Remaining
• Rep – Repeat
• RS – Right side
• WS – Wrong side
• 2×2 ribbing – K2, P2 – rep to the end of the row.

Fraser Tartan Dog Sweater Pattern

Back Piece

With Yarn A Cast on 34, (44, 54) sts.

K 2 rows.

Inc 1st at the beg and end of every other row 5 times. 44 (54, 64)sts

Change to Yarn B and knit 2 rows.

Cont to work the following color pattern until the piece measures 14 (16, 18) inches.

• Change to Yarn A – K 12 rows.
• Change to Yarn C – K 2 rows.
• Change to Yarn B – K 12 rows.
• Change to Yarn D – K 2 rows.
• Change to Yarn E – K 24 rows.
• Change to Yarn D – K 2 rows.
• Change to Yarn B – K 12 rows.
• Change to Yarn C – K 2 rows.

On the last row, you work for your size you need to decline 1 st at each end of the last row. 42 (52, 62)sts

Now you will continue and work on the ribbed neck – you should change to Yarn A to continue.

Work 2×2 ribbing for the neck until the neck only measures 8 (10, 12) inches. (You may join in the round to work the neck if you wish)

Cast off in rib.

Belly Section

• With Yarn B Cast on 22 (26, 30) sts.
• K 6 rows.
• Change to Yarn D and K 2 rows.
• Change to Yarn E and K 4 rows.
• Next row inc 2 sts at each end of the row. 24 (28, 32)sts
• K 19 rows.
• Change to Yarn D and dec 1 st at the beg and end of the next row. 22 (26, 30) sts
• K 1 row.
• Change to Yarn B and work 12 rows, dec 1 st at the beg and end of every alt row. 10 (14, 18) sts
• Change to Yarn C and dec 1 st at the beg and end of the next row. 8 (12, 14) sts
• K 1 row.
• For the small size only – Change to Yarn A and work 6 rows, dec 1 st at the beg and end of every alt row.
• There will be 2 sts remaining, cast off.
• For the medium size only – Change to Yarn A and work 8 rows, dec 1 st at the beg and end of every alt row.
• There will be 2 sts remaining, cast off.
• For the large size only – Change to Yarn A and work 10 rows, dec 1 st at the beg and end of every alt row.
• There will be 2 sts remaining, cast off.

Creating The Tartan Look

Once you have finished the length of the dog sweater pieces, you will start to weave yarn through the knitted fabric to create the tartan effect.

I have used a full weaving technique across the entire sweater to create a plaid/tartan effect that completely transforms the fabric.

Weaving

Lie the pieces out flat on a table (desk, dining table, or floor) so that you can weave easily.

Long strands of yarn are now woven vertically to create the plaid effect.

You will need to use three colors:

• Yarn C (red)
• Yarn D (mustard)
• Yarn F (dark brown)

TIP > I didn’t cut the length of yarn I was using, not until I had finished weaving it through the fabric.

• Get two strands together – The best way to do this is to pull the center end out of the ball and hold it together with the outer end so you can use two lengths at a time.
• There is a repeat pattern of the colors that you are weaving.
• You can of course change this if you want to create a different color scheme or pattern of weaving.

The repeat pattern is like this:

• Yarn D (red)
• Yarn F (brown)
• Yarn F (brown)
• Yarn C (mustard)
• Miss 2 rows
• Yarn C (mustard)
• Yarn F (brown)
• Yarn F (brown)
• Yarn D (red)
• Miss 2 rows
• Yarn F (brown)
• Yarn F (brown)
• Miss 2 rows

Making Up

To make up the dog sweater, you need to seam the ribbed neck if you didn’t knit this in the round.

This should be seamed with the mattress stitch so that the neater edge is facing you when you turn the neck over when worn by your dog. You will need to seam half of the neck on the RS and half on the WS.

• Then you need to seam the belly section to the back piece.
• First, you need to weave in all of those loose ends.
• Once that is done, place the belly section onto the sweater with the right sides facing.
• Seam the belly section for 2 inches at either side of the section.
• This is the top seam for the leg opening that needs to be on either side.
• Then leave a gap for the legs to fit through of around – 2 (3,4) inches and seam the rem sections on either side.

Then you can finish off the leg holes by adding some sleeves, this is optional but gives the sweater a more finished look.

You can see in the photo below what this will look like with no sleeves.

The Sleeves

Notes

• Start with one leg hole, at the top left side of the hole.
• The stitches should be picked up from the right side facing you.
• With 8mm (US ) circular needles and a 16/20″ cable and Yarn A pick up and knit, 16, (20,24) sts.
• Join in the round and work 2×2 ribbing for 2 inches. (You can make this shorter or longer on your own preference)
• Cast off in rib.

Ribbed Edge On Back Piece

• You may also want to add a 2×2 ribbed border/edge around the bottom section of the back piece once the sweater has been seamed to finish it off.
• Use 8mm (US 11) circular needles and a 20″ cable or longer and Yarn A pick up and knit stitches starting from the left side underneath the belly section, with the right side facing you.
• Pick up and knit the stitches all the way around the edge until you reach the other side and stop underneath the belly section.
• Work in 2×2 ribbing for 1 inch (knit flat not in the round) and then cast off in rib.
• Weave in all loose ends.

The Matching Tartan Shawl

You might as well make this matching tartan shawl to wear while you walk your dog!

Inspired by Jamie Fraser’s tartan shawl in Outlander this is a really warm piece to wear.

Take a look at the pattern here – Fraser Tartan Shawl Knitting Pattern

l Iove seeing your finished projects on social media.

If you enjoyed making the dog sweater, I’d love to see yours on Instagram, be sure to tag me @handylittleme.

If you are on Facebook, stop over to the handylittleme Facebook group and share a photo!

I’d love to see your work.

Happy Knitting!