A Cardigan That Does Not Button Properly Is Half a Garment. The Tamsyn Was Me Refusing to Sell Another One.

Six things I insisted on, why the stripes are knitted in rather than printed on, and why it is going out at £39.95.

My name is Emma. My sister Alison and I have had the shop just off the green in Richmond for eleven years, and most of the cardigans I have sold in that time have only ever been worn one way.

Open. Always open. Because the buttons on a cardigan are usually decoration and everybody knows it: the front edges are floppy, there is no structure in the placket, and the moment you do it up the whole thing pulls sideways and sits wrong. So women wear them hanging, over everything, forever.

Which is a shame, because a knit that genuinely works both ways is two garments in a drawer that holds one. That was the brief for the Tamsyn, and six things came out of it.

1It has to do up and still look right.

A proper placket with enough body in it to hold a straight line when it is fastened, and buttonholes worked into the trim rather than cut into a floppy edge. Done up it should read as a jumper with a neat round neck, and nobody looking at you should think cardigan. That is more construction than a cardigan usually gets and it is the reason this one exists.

2Stripes knitted in, not printed on.

A printed stripe sits on the surface, goes chalky at the shoulders where the light gets it, and looks tired by the second winter. Ours is knitted into the yarn, so the colour runs right through and the stripe is part of the cloth rather than a coat of paint on it. It is slower to make and it is why this still looks like itself after a year.

3A contrast trim, so the open version is a decision.

A narrow solid line running round the neck, down both front edges and around the cuffs. This is the piece that stops an open cardigan looking like something you flung on. It frames the front, so hanging loose it reads as deliberate. It is a small amount of extra yarn and a great deal of extra finishing.

4Room across the back, and a shoulder that drops.

Cut with a dropped shoulder and some ease through the body, so it goes over a shirt without straining across the shoulder blades every time you reach forward. This is where fitted cardigans fail on real women and it is the first thing a factory takes out, because ease costs yarn.

5Ribbing that survives.

Deep rib at the cuffs and the hem, worked tightly enough to pull back into shape as it dries. A cuff that has gone wavy makes an otherwise good knit look finished, and it happens by about the fourth wash on anything cheaply trimmed.

6Five colourways, each built round one accent.

Pale blue with orange, white with orange, beige with orange, burgundy with white, and brown with pale blue. Each is one soft ground and one clear accent, rather than a stripe of everything, so it sits over the plain things you already own instead of competing with them.

Set against the cardigan you wear open

	The usual cardigan	The Tamsyn
Done up	Pulls sideways, sits wrong	Reads as a jumper
Worn open	Looks flung on	Framed by the trim
The stripes	Printed, chalky by year two	Knitted in, colour right through
Over a shirt	Strains across the back	Dropped shoulder, room to move
After washing	Cuffs go wavy	Deep rib, pulls back

If the buttons are only there to be looked at, you have sold somebody half a garment. That is the whole reason the Tamsyn was made.

Why it is £39.95

We buy in small quantities and this year the yarn and the shipping both went up on us, and neither went onto the ticket. The Tamsyn came in at £125 and it is going out at £39.95. More than one and it drops again: 15% on two, 20% on three, 25% on four or more.

I will be straight about something before you order. This run came in from a UK 8/10 to a UK 14/16 and no further. That is narrower than we normally accept and it is a good part of why it is going out at this price rather than sitting on the rail into the new year. If you are above a 14/16 I would rather you knew it here.

Eleven years behind this counter has taught me that the knits women keep are the ones that turned out to do two jobs. That is the bet Alison and I are making at £39.95.

This is the first cardigan we have made that I have seen women wear done up. Eleven years, and that is new.

What comes back to us is always the buttons. If everything in your drawer only works hanging open, this is where I would start, while the sizes are still there.

Emma, for Emma & Alison Winslow · Richmond

See the Tamsyn at £39.95 →

This is a letter from one of the two sisters who run The Winslow Sisters. Prices and sizes shown are correct at the time of writing and change as the run sells through. This page is a paid advertisement for The Winslow Sisters. The Winslow Sisters · Richmond · Free UK delivery · 30-day returns. Your statutory rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 are not affected.