#vintage knitting

I think mum knitted one and half jumpers on one of these….

Piecework, Summer 2022

This issue has a lot of history about needlework and a few projects as well. You see on the cover a knitted, beaded shawl that is a reworking of a 19th Century shawl. Called Leaves and More Leaves Beaded Shawl by Carolyn Wyborny, it forms a large triangle with the beads added using the crochet hook method. This means drawing a knit stitch through the hook and then continuing to knit versus the stringing method in which you have to string ALL the beads onto your yarn and include them as you go. The lace patterns are charted.

The 2nd project you see pictured here takes one of the humblest of modern trims: rick-rack. It was dubbed wavy braid in the 19th Century and used for trim or even entire children’s dresses. Katrina King shows you how you can use crochet thread to do this.

Then you see a close-up of a leaf created via Italian shading, a very old technique for couching, i.e. sewing down, metallic threads, which is still used for very ornate embellishment today as Natalie Dupuis explains.  The last picture uses a material very few of us will ever see: porcupine quills. The Mi’kmaw people of North America dyed them and used them as embellishments according to Annamarie Hatcher. There are also articles on bodkins, a tool for pulling through threads or ribbons, on organic embroidery, on lappet weaving, and more.

Find it at your local bookstore, or online here: https://pieceworkmagazine.com/

Silk Ribbon Bolero: Summer Fancy in 1948

This “Sunback Dress” and bolero from Modern Knitting reflect the popular look of the late 1940s. Post-war American women embraced the New Look offered by Christian Dior in 1947 with fitted bodices and long, full skirts. The skirt on this dress is both gathered and pleated at the waist for fullness and then was knitted until it was 30 inches in length. This sundress also reflects the new prosperity and leisure that marked much of America in the era. Both garments were knitted of ¼ inch rayon or silk ribbon. Pretty fancy for a summertime dress, but pretty amazing to wear too, I would think. It would be cool to the touch and have the subtle glow which both kinds of ribbons can have. But it came at a cost.

They estimated that the price would be $50 in rayon ribbon which works out to over $580 today, or $60 in silk ribbon which is $799. This was unusually high for this magazine as the next page has a simple dress from a boucle wool fingering yarn which costs only $14.50 to make. The ribbon was wider and the knitting would have gone faster, so there was a time savings. But you can imagine that anyone embarking on this project would have had to think long and hard about how much wear they would get out of it to justify the cost.

Ribbon yarns are far more common now and made out of all kinds of fibers, but I suspect the silk ribbon version would remain the most luxurious and perhaps the most beautiful choice.

knitting lace from an very old book, Vienna - 1896

from a 80s knitting book - lovely weather sweater

Women’s Sweaters, Book No. 225, Chadwicks’ Red Heart Wools, The Spool Cotton Company, 1945.

Women’s Sweaters, Book No. 225, Chadwicks’ Red Heart Wools, The Spool Cotton Company, 1945.

Women’s Sweaters, Book No. 225, Chadwicks’ Red Heart Wools, The Spool Cotton Company, 1945.