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Botanical graphic print · 80% cotton / 20% polyester fleece · five garment-dyed colors · Comfort Colors 1566 · printed graphic, nothing stitched on
Garment-Dyed Sweatshirt · Five Colors · Designed in Colorado
Six winter evergreens laid out like specimens on a naturalist's plate — pine, spruce, fir, Douglas fir, hemlock and juniper, each with its cone and a dusting of snow — painted in watercolor with no text.
Garment-dyed 9.5 oz heavyweight brushed fleece, soft from the first wear.
Six sprigs in two rows, each one a different tree and each with its cone, the way a naturalist would press and label them — except there are no labels. Top row: white pine, the long soft needles in bundles of five with the slender cone lying alongside; blue spruce, stiff silver-blue needles and a papery tan cone; balsam fir, flat dark needles with the purple-brown cone standing upright on the twig, the way fir cones do. Bottom row: Douglas fir, with the little three-pointed bracts poking out of the cone like mouse tails; eastern hemlock, tiny flat needles and cones the size of a fingertip; and juniper, scaly blue-green foliage hung with the frosted blue berries that are not berries at all but cones. A little snow sits on each one. No frame, no ribbon, no painted background — the shirt color is the paper. Watercolor on soft paper grain. No text, no slogan.
The Design
Large front-centered chest print — not a back print
Subject: six winter conifers — white pine, blue spruce, balsam fir, Douglas fir, eastern hemlock and juniper — each with its cone, in a naturalist's study
Style: fine-line watercolor in the manner of a vintage botanical plate — the needles, the cones and the greens are right for each tree
No text. There is no lettering, slogan, Latin name or wordmark anywhere in this design
Technique: a printed graphic — the ink sits in the fleece, straight onto the garment color with no background panel, and nothing is stitched or sewn on
Shown in Butter. The print runs large and centered on the chest, straight onto the garment color — no panel, no frame, not a back print.
A needle is a leaf that has decided not to quit. It is narrow so snow slides off it, coated in wax so it does not dry out in frozen air, and in autumn the tree pumps it full of sugars that work like antifreeze, so it can keep photosynthesizing on a sunny day in January while every maple on the hill stands bare. The cones tell you who is who. Fir cones stand upright on the branch and fall apart up there, scale by scale, so you almost never find a whole one on the ground; pine and spruce cones hang down and drop whole. Spruce needles are square and roll between your fingers; fir needles are flat and will not. White pine needles come in packets of five, one for each letter of its name. The Douglas fir is not a fir at all — the cone with the mouse-tail bracts gives it away. And the juniper's blue berries are cones too, just ones that never learned to open. Six trees, six different answers to the same winter.
The Story Behind It
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Her father could not walk past a conifer without testing her. Winter walks were the worst, because with the leaves gone the evergreens were all there was. He would snap off a twig and hold it out. "Spruce is sharp, fir is flat, pine comes in packets." She was nine and wanted to go home. He would roll the needle between his fingers and wait.
By twelve she could do it blindfolded, and said so, and he blindfolded her with his scarf to check. By sixteen she had stopped answering out of principle. Somewhere in there she had also started doing it alone — a hand out to a branch on the way past, a needle rolled between finger and thumb, the answer arriving before she had decided to ask.
She has a daughter now, who is nine and wants to go home. Last weekend, on the hill above the house, she heard herself say it — spruce is sharp, fir is flat — and stopped, and laughed, and held the twig out anyway.
✦ ✦ ✦
Wear it for whoever taught you to tell them apart, and for the one you are teaching now.
A gift for the gardener in the off-season, the forester, the biology teacher, the one who can name every tree on the trail, or anyone who likes winter for the quiet green of it. It has no wreath, no ribbon, no ornaments and no lettering — it is a botanical, not a Christmas design — so it goes on in November and is still right in March. Pair it with the Snowflake Study Sweatshirt, the other plate from the same winter notebook.
Details
Large front print, centered on the chest — not a back print
Relaxed unisex fit, side-seamed body, roomy through the chest
A pullover crewneck — no hood, no zip and no front pocket
1x1 ribbed collar, cuffs and waistband; rolled forward shoulder
Twill-taped back neck with woven label and back neck patch
Five colors — Butter, Pepper, Chambray, Chalky Mint and Orchid — every one in every size, S to 3XL
Ready-made design — choose a color and size, nothing to upload or customize
Made to order in the USA, printed and shipped in 2–5 business days
Fabric
Printed on a Comfort Colors 1566 garment-dyed crewneck sweatshirt blank
80% ring-spun US cotton, 20% polyester, 9.5 oz heavyweight — substantial, and warm enough to be the layer rather than something under one
Three-end fleece with a 100% cotton face and a brushed fleece interior, warmer than a lighter French terry
Dyed after the garment is sewn, using salt-free pigment dyes; OEKO-TEX certified
Holds its shape through the wash, with almost no shrinkage at home
The graphic will not crack or peel. It is printed flat into the face of the fleece — no heavy vinyl patch, no rubbery texture, nothing to pull loose
Choosing a Color
The design is six greens, tan and brown cones, a little blue and a little snow — and no painted background, so the shirt color is the page of the notebook.
Butter. A soft warm cream — old paper. The most botanical-plate reading of the five, with every green and every cone at full strength; the one on the hero photo and the one to start with.
Pepper. A soft washed black, closer to charcoal. The specimens glow on it like a chalkboard drawing — the most dramatic of the five, and the one for the person who wears dark.
Chambray. A pale winter-sky blue. Cool and clean; the blue spruce and the juniper berries run with it and the warm cones come forward.
Chalky Mint. A frosty pale green. The quietest pairing — the sprigs look like they grew out of it, with the snow doing the contrast.
Orchid. A pale washed lilac. Unexpected against the greens, and the one that reads least like a holiday sweater of the five.
Garment-dyed colors look softer and more muted in person than on a screen, and each piece varies slightly. That lived-in tone is part of the charm.
Sizing
Fit at a glance: relaxed fit, roomy through the chest · length hits at the hip · full-length sleeve with ribbed cuff · 9.5 oz heavyweight fleece · runs true to size
A relaxed unisex cut that most people wear true to size. Size down one for a closer fit; size up for an oversized, layer-under-a-coat fit.
Adult sizes only, S to 3XL. Between sizes? We will make it right, free.
Care
Machine wash cold, inside out. Tumble dry low. Avoid bleach, high heat, and ironing directly over the artwork.
Pairs Well With
The other plates from the winter notebook, and everything else for the cold months.
Snowflake Study SweatshirtWinter Chickadees SweatshirtButterfly & BotanicalWinter CollectionSpruce is sharp, fir is flat, pine comes in packets.
The Known Pack Promise
Beautiful things from the natural world, on a sweatshirt you'll reach for all season long.
Butterflies, birds, wildflowers, and the quiet stories behind them. Detailed designs in the spirit of vintage botanical plates, each with a true fact from nature on its page.
Printed on garment-dyed Comfort Colors fleece, 80% ring-spun cotton, broken in from the first wear and softer with every wash. Relaxed, roomy, and made to be your cold-morning favorite.
Why we choose it →Money is set aside from every order to help protect the trails and wild places our designs are drawn from, so the meadows keep blooming for the next generation.
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