Pattern Review: 'Under jacket' jumper from Stitchcraft Magazine's July 1946 edition

-
 
The first vintage knitting pattern I tried to knit was Stitchcraft's short-sleeved lace jumper, pictured above. 

Modern versus Vintage
It took me a while to become accustomed to how vintage knitting patterns are written.  Whereas modern patterns are quite explicit in how they write their instructions, vintage patterns are much more economical in style: what would take half a page to describe in today's patterns is summed up in a few words in a vintage one.

The economy of style leads you think more about the purpose of each instruction and how what you're knitting fits into the garment as a whole but there are times when just a few words more are vital.

'Increase to 128 sts.'
It took me several attempts - and quite a bit of unravelling - to work out how to increase the number of stitches.  The pattern is a 6 row repeat with the final 2 rows creating a lace pattern.  'Increase' can be translated as 'increase in pattern', so keeping the lace holes aligned to form an overall decorative grid of stitches.  But what it really means is 'increase in pattern by adjusting the number of knit stitches at the beginning of the 5th and 6th rows accordingly'.

I have found this impossible to do by sight - experience is only taking me so far - so, in the end, have written row by row instructions, ticklists that I can tick off methodically for both the increases and decreases in the jumper's shapings. 

Summary
It was a tough pattern to choose for a first attempt at a vintage knitting pattern and I needed all my knitting experience (plus a bit more) to understand the pattern and complete the project.  If you would like to knit the jumper, the pattern is available to buy in my LilySteeple Etsy shop (http://www.etsy.com) as a .pdf digital download. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Story So Far

-
Image
My first knitting pattern sale was in July 2019, for a simple lace rib neck warmer.   My path to becoming a pattern writer is probably quite familiar to many designers: I began as a knitter; my grandma taught me to knit and I made toys and cardigans for friends’ children and jumpers for myself and my family.   I started adapting the patterns I was knitting to suit – a different stitch, a slightly different neckline, or a thicker wool than that suggested – adapting them to fit the person I was knitting for.   I found Etsy a few years ago, opened a shop and listed various things to begin with: vintage jewellery I’d collected, a handmade quilt, a handmade necklace.   Then, I made a jumper from an original 1940s pattern and listed this.   Inspired by the Etsy listings I was seeing for knitting patterns, I wrote a couple of simple, beginner, knitting patterns...   'Story so far' Cowl The ‘Story so far’ cowl marks the 4 years – and 1,000 Etsy sales - since I began selling knit
Read more

Football Scarf

-
Image
Football Scarf Knitting Pattern Looking forward to when the season starts anew, this is a knitting pattern for a very simple football scarf with two contrasting stripes and tassels. Materials: 4 100g balls of double-knitting wool (two of each colour) A pair of 4mm knitting needles (uk size) A Tapestry needle Scissors A Crochet hook Techniques: Casting on, Knit stitches, Garter Stitch (knit every row), Casting off, Making Tassels Details of video tutorials showing how to complete these techniques are at the end of the pattern PATTERN Step 1: Casting on In the first colour, cast on 20 stitches using the thumb method Step 2:    Garter Stitch Row 1:    Knit Repeat first row until you have a piece of fabric that is 10cm long (or the length required).  Cut yarn. Step 3:    Changing Colour With the contrasting colour, knit the first row as before and repeat until the second square is the same size as the first. Step 4:    Continue Continue to knit squares
Read more

Alpaca Neckwarmer

-
Image
Although beautiful, sometimes luxury yarns like Adriafil's Sierra Andina Alpaca can be challenging to design for. The following pattern creates a lightweight and super-soft neckwarmer and is simple to knit, once you have got used to the fineness of the yarn.   MATERIALS 1 50g ball of Sierra Andina 100% Alpaca yarn (pictured in red) A pair of 3.75 mm knitting needles A tapestry needle A tape measure TENSION 22 stitches and 38 rows over 10 cm square using 3.75 mm knitting needles and moss stitch MEASUREMENTS Measures 24" in length and 6" wide ABBREVIATIONS cm – centimetres, cont – continue, g – gram, K – knit, Mm – millimetres, P – purl, Rep – repeat, st(s) – stitch(es) TECHNIQUES USED Casting on, casting off, moss stitch, sewing up DIFFICULTY Easy PATTERN Using 3.75mm knitting needles, cast on 32 stitches. MOSS STITCH Row 1:                  *K1, P1.   Rep from * to end Row 2:                  *P1, K1.   Rep from * to end Cont in moss stitch until wor
Read more