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Wednesday April 1, 2009
Stitch in Time
I have been waiting for some months to feature this book, as I wanted to keep it as a secret gift for Alison's birthday. The waiting has been hard - but is now finally over (Happy Birthday Alison). It is such a wonderful book but as usual my skill with words is not sufficient for me to describe how much I like it. It has obvious appeal to me, of course, but who could fail to be entranced by its beautiful production and styling?
The book was first printed in 1972, but in a very different form. I purchased the original in a 1980s reprinted edition. This did contain the basic same material, but with only a few colour prints showing some of the patterns reknitted in contemporary yarns. Subsequently - and lucky for us - the plates for this edition were lost which has led to the entire book being revamped with all the designs not only being reproduced as per the originals, but with the patterns redrafted to include modern instructions and yarn information. All the designs are knitted up and beautifully photographed. I particularly love that the knitters are also individually credited for their work in the book.
From my original book, I always liked this design for a Sun-Ray jumper from Woman and Home 1936.
As all the original patterns were published with black and white photos the imagination was fired by the descriptions in the text. The yarn colour names were intended to be evocative of actual colours ("Lipstick Red"), rather than the current trend for yarns and colours with names that inspire an emotion ("Rustic", "Tickle", "Calm"). This pattern came with the following Helpful Fashion Advice on colour co-ordination:
"If you'd like it in Blue - choose a pottery blue with yellow buttons. Wear a buttercup-yellow woollen skirt. A yellow belt, Blue and yellow bracelets."
"If you'd like it in Pink - choose a coral with white buttons. Wear a two-piece of heavy natural tussore*. A matching coral-pink hat trimmed with white petersham ribbon. White shoes and handbag. Wear coral-pink gloves of fine suede" (* Tussore is a coarse brownish silk produced from a tussore moth Antheraea paphia).
"If you'd like it in White - choose glass buttons for the yoke. Wear a white linen tweed skirt. A matching linen hat trimmed with dark green ribbon. White court shoes with green leather trimming. Dark green gloves. Carry a green and white handbag."(sic)
Here is an example of the pages from the new edition - restyled with modern instructions, and reknitted in contemporary yarn, with great colour photos - all printed alongside the original black and white pattern, quoting the source and the year.
Please feel free to offer your own fashion advice in the comments, starting "If you'd like it in Red...".
If your interests are anything like my own - do buy this book. Even if you feel you will never knit these designs, it is a lovely book to own, crammed with historical design interest from the period.
I note it is called: "Volume 1 - 1920-1949", so I am hoping the book is a success and we can look forward to a Volume 2. If this kind of book does interest you, then you may like to look at Jane Waller's Knitting Fashions of the 1940s: Styles, Patterns and History which, like Stitch in Time is also available from Amazon. (And "no - I don't have any shares in these publications"!).
Posted by Christina at 9:50 AM. Category: Knitting and Crochet
Comments
I can vouch for the fact that this is a lovely book. I also really liked this sun-ray sweater, as well as one from the 1920s which I was keen on until I realized it was mostly crochet. Thank you for my lovely birthday present.
Posted by: Alison on April 2, 2009 7:42 PM
What I really want are those "coral-pink gloves of fine suede" to wear with the pink one! Really, I wouldn't mind seeing more hats and gloves worn again -- more scope for expressing our sartorial creativity. :)
By the way, the Ribbed Cardigan you made from the Rowan men's book looks terrific. Nice job!
Posted by: yarnstruck on April 4, 2009 5:10 AM
Thanks on the ribbed cardigan - more important than how it looks to the objective eye is that he seems to be wearing it all the time - and it has stopped coming back for minor alterations. I think the yarn is a bit stretchy and subject to pilling - but that's because it's a lovely soft wool with some cashmere. Probably the perfect cardigan for George would be a superwash acrylic (my next next project..).
Posted by: Christina on April 4, 2009 9:46 AM
