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Bird graphic print · 80% cotton / 20% polyester fleece · seven garment-dyed colors · Comfort Colors 1566 · printed graphic, nothing stitched on
Garment-Dyed Sweatshirt · Seven Colors
Everybody else raised a family in May. He waits for the seed.
Garment-dyed 9.5 oz heavyweight fleece, soft from the first wear.
A male American goldfinch in full breeding yellow, perched square on a short branch at the centre of the arrangement. Deep burgundy dahlias open behind and below him and cream-white dahlias sit to either side, with dark green foliage and small berries filling the gaps. He is not tucked into a corner of the bouquet — he is on top of it, facing out, and the flowers are banked up behind him like a wall.
The Design
Large front-centered chest print — not a back print
Style: vintage botanical illustration — fine feather, petal and leaf detail with layered, softly shaded colour rather than a flat modern graphic
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
A male American goldfinch at the centre — brilliant lemon-yellow body, a black cap set forward on the forehead, black wings with pale wingbars and a short conical seed-eater's bill
He is perched and facing out, body square to the viewer, not in flight
Dahlias in two colours — deep burgundy, almost wine-dark, and cream-white — shown as full double heads with the petals rolled at the tips
The flowers are massed behind and below him, banked up as a backdrop rather than arranged around him as a wreath
Dark green foliage and small red berries filling between the blooms
Printed straight onto the garment color, with no panel, badge or frame behind the artwork
No words or lettering anywhere in the design
The same illustration carried across seven garment-dyed grounds.
The American goldfinch is the latest-nesting songbird on the continent. While the robins and the wrens are finishing in May, he is still only eating — he is a strict seed bird, and he will not raise young until the thistles and the garden composites have gone over and set. So he starts in late June, sometimes August, and the nest he builds is lined with the down off those same seed heads, woven so tightly that it will hold rainwater. The other half of it: that lemon yellow is a coat, not a colour. He moults out of it completely in the autumn and spends the winter a drab olive-brown that most people do not recognise as the same bird.
The Story Behind It
✦ ✦ ✦
She grows the dahlias for August, because August is when the garden usually gives up and she decided years ago that it would not.
The tubers come up out of the garage in May, go in once the ground is warm, and do nothing worth looking at for three months. Then all at once there are forty heads on nine plants and she is cutting them twice a week to keep them coming.
The goldfinches arrive at the same time, and not for the flowers. They are after whatever she has let go to seed at the back — and they stay on into September, working the dead heads she deliberately does not cut.
Her neighbour calls the back of that bed untidy. She calls it the reason there are goldfinches.
✦ ✦ ✦
Wear it for the ones who leave the seed heads standing.
The print runs large and centered on the chest, straight onto the garment color — no panel, no frame, not a back print.
A thoughtful gift for dahlia growers, birdwatchers, anyone who keeps a feeder through the winter, and the person who leaves the back of the bed standing on purpose.
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
Butter, Chalky Mint, Chambray, Grey, Orchid, Watermelon and White · adult sizes S to 3XL, every color in every size
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
Comfort Colors 1566 garment-dyed crewneck sweatshirt
80% ring-spun US cotton, 20% polyester, 9.5 oz — heavyweight and substantial
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
A printed graphic, printed flat into the face of the fleece — no heavy vinyl patch, no rubbery texture, no stitching
Choosing a Color
Butter. Soft warm yellow — the one ground that agrees with the bird instead of contrasting him. The burgundy dahlias do all the separating.
Chalky Mint. Pale green-grey. The foliage settles into it and the yellow comes forward hardest of the seven.
Chambray. Light blue, and the cleanest cool ground here. Yellow against blue is the loudest pairing in the run.
Grey. Neutral heather grey. The most everyday of the seven, and the one that reads closest to a field guide plate.
Orchid. Soft lilac-pink. It picks up the cream dahlias and leaves the burgundy ones looking almost wine-dark.
Watermelon. Warm coral pink, and the boldest ground. The deep burgundy sits closest to it, so the cream dahlias and the bird carry the picture.
White. Clean and bright, the way a botanical plate is printed. Every yellow, burgundy and cream is at full strength and nothing is tinted.
One honest note. There is no dark ground in this run — Grey is the deepest of the seven and the rest are light or mid-toned. A bright yellow bird is at his most striking against a dark shirt, and on this design that option is not offered; everything here is a pale-ground reading of the picture. The upside is that all seven run the full size range with nothing missing.
Actual garment color may vary a little from the images. Every monitor and phone screen renders color differently, and no two people see it quite the same way.
Sizing
A relaxed unisex cut that most people wear true to size. Size down one for a closer fit.
Adult sizes only, S to 3XL. Between sizes? We’ll make it right, free.
Care
Machine wash cold, inside out. Tumble dry low. Avoid bleach, high heat, and ironing directly over the artwork.
The untidy end of the garden is the useful end.
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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