The Swish of Vintage Silk

A most wonderful swap box arrived at my house this week:



(well, two wonderful swap boxes arrived, but I'm going tell you about this one in particular).

See that long flat package? I happened to open that last and do you know what it was? This!



Three 1929 fashion sewing booklets full of gorgeous pen-and-ink dress drawings ...... with the PATTERNS!!



My friend who sent the box - a most amazing designer and yarnie from NYC - was online while I opened it, and she told me that friends of hers brought these booklets back several years ago from a trip to Spain.  They are of course in Spanish, but the language of vintage fashion is universal isn't it? I love them immoderately and think she was so, so generous to pass them on to me! Here are a few gorgeous pictures for you to enjoy:





















I do plan to make some of these and the one I'm going to make first is this (I'm thinking grey mauve silk satin and/or midnight blue):



My last adventure into 1930's fashion sewing was HERE...

The Nile - a bit of a review

I've been knitting for some time on one of the patterns from this year's Jane Austin Knits from Interweave... you can see how I love these editions by how well-thumbed my magazine is. There are usually several patterns I want to make and I find them very satisfying for my vintage-loving heart. My well-worn mag:


 
One of my local yarn shops has been holding a Jane Austin Knit Night throughout the summer and each person is knitting a pattern from either the first or second Jane Austin magazine, or the newer Jane Austin crochet book, Austentatious Crochet.


The pattern I chose is Margaret Dashwood's Shawl by Joanna Johnson. As you can see from the pictures, it is a repetitive and soothing knit - just what I was longing for! This shawl is a brilliant wisp of simple garter stitch and lace knitting with true vintage construction, style, and appearance. I love it beyond reason and want to make more, experimenting with different yarn weights and needle sizes.



This first one I'm making, which I've named The Nile for various reasons, is out of Frog Tree's Alpaca Sport Melange - a heathery green that looks not only like weeds along the river but like a real hand spun vintage yarn. My shawl will look like it came from Margaret Dashwood's shoulders just yesterday!



If you plan to knit this, please keep in mind that the pattern was designed for a pre-teen or young girl. If you are making it for an adult, you'll want to add yarn and pattern repeats - keeping track of your mid-point, so your decrease side will be symmetrical. I added one ball, or 215 yards, to mine.

Margaret has always been one of my favourite characters in Jane Austin's Sense and Sensibility. I like her complete innocence and abandon - the way she relates to her two older sisters: who at times seem as close as twins. It obvious that she is much loved - and I love her keen interest in the world around around her. One of the most delightful scenes in the movie that stars Emilie Francois as Margaret, is when she is hiding under the library table and her sister Eleanor and visitor Edward begin to sprout outrageous facts about the source of the Nile River - causing her to pop out from under the table to correct them!



My day is long today, full of tasks left undone from my last two weeks of surgery and recovery, so there's no movie-watching planned - tasks like laundry, lawn mowing, and groceries that really eat up the weekend hours. But soon. Soon in one of these days coming up I'll rewatch Sense and Sensibility as I knit my Nile-coloured Margaret Dashwood shawl.

Miss Marple and Me

I've always thought that if I ever become an old woman, I'll be just like Miss Marple. Maybe that's wishful thinking, but I'm preparing for that by knitting things that Miss Marple might knit. In one of her mysteries, she is described as knitting on a shawl (this is what baby blankets were called in her era), pink and fluffy. Well, my shawl isn't pink or fluffy and its not a baby blanket, but it is Miss Marple's Shawl from the great historical knitting edition of Piecework Magazine of last year.



It has only taken me a year to complete this project! I began on July 23, 2011 and finished on June 23 of 2012.It is 65 inches square.



I used Blue Moon Fiber Arts Marine Silk lightweight in the Lodestone colourway, a delicate pale green like spring leaves. In some of my photos it looks olive green, but that is - I think - because I have those old style lightbulbs that give everything a yellowish cast. This yarn is beautiful to work with and I think I'm going to make a delicate vintage blouse with my leftover skein. Miss Marple's Shawl took a little over 3 skeins on size 5 needles.

This picture is more accurate for colour:





I had to write out the pattern line by line in a multi-page table to keep track of the hundreds of rows. It was good though - no mistakes and no back-tracking! I just checked off the repeat sections as I completed them and carried on.

I love that I can use it on the bed as a lightweight blanket, or fold it in half and throw it around my shoulders for a triangle shawl when I'm reading in bed. I may never do another full size blanket in lightweight-almost-laceweight yarn again, but I'll treasure my Miss Marple's Shawl until I become Miss Marple myself.

Bunny Ears, Oysters and Spring Hats

Yesterday, we went for a long drive to visit the boyfriend's relatives. Yes, that is one of his relatives wearing bunny ears. Everyone thought it was very cute but I was deathly and silently afraid she was going wear them out the restaurant for lunch! I'm such a wimp sometimes... now, if she'd been wearing a quirky vintage hat or cloche, like these in my 1923 April Needlework Magazine, I wouldn't have batted an eye!



We went to a wonderful restaurant called The Wicked Oyster.



The walls were lined with the most beautiful paintings by local artists - all very expensive but mostly of the ocean...





The menu was all oysters. Others ordered spinach salad, but my boyfriend and I ordered buttermilk fried oysters with homemade cocktail sauce. They were incredible.



I looked through my stack of old Needlework Magazines for the April versions, but only found two, one from 1923 without a cover and the other from 1934:



The New Spring Styles were loose and flowing


and the patterns were focused on filet crochet



There was a beautiful Anemone Tea Cloth illustrated, by the wonderful Mary Card of Australia, but as usual the pattern wasn't included.



I've always wondered if they expected the readers to copy the pattern by just looking at the over-sized photograph of her gorgeous filet designs.

There were no recipes for oysters in these April magazines, but they recommended lots of eggs - deviled eggs being the finger food of choice for a spring holiday luncheon:



and their argument for a Spring diet of eggs:

It's Spring, and Easter, and Nature is "recovering" from winter according to her own ancient laws, while poor old human nature is muddling along, trying to correct the mistakes they have made in selfishness, and greed, in war, and in peace. Learning the laws of being, and being true to them, is all that brings a good crop, be it in the cabbage patch, in the university, or in the college of Life. So much for our brief Easter sermon, and nobody can corner the joy to be had in the spring - it's there for the looking and the sniffing; the earth itself smells good in the spring as the frost leaves it... Use your senses in the spring- meet it with an alertness and an awakening to the simple joys that are free to all. If you can 'sit on a log and pat a dog, do it; it's fun in the springtime.

The 1934 recipe for spring eggs:

Eggs Florentine

Place two cups of minced buttered spinach in a baking dish. Break four eggs over this, season and pour over all half a cup of medium white sauce to which a quarter cup of grated cheese is added. Sprinkle with two tablespoons of melted butter and slip under the broiler to set the eggs and brown lightly.

Happy Spring! May you have a new (vintage) bonnet on your needles!

Spring and All That...

Spring
by Pablo Neruda

The bird has come
to bring light to birth.
From every trill of his,
water is born.

And in between the water and light
which unwind in the air,
the spring is now beginning,

now the seed is aware of its own growing;
the root takes shape in the corolla,
at last the eyelids of the pollen open.

All this accomplished by a simple bird
from his perch on a green branch.



My same friend who send me the vintage booklets in my last post, sent me this beautiful page of spring sweaters from an unknown vintage magazine. It looks very much like the Needlework Magazine, printed in Augusta Maine and spanning the globe in distribution. And I appear to be correct in that assumption, because I just went to look at this page again and it says clearly: The New Sweaters, selected by the Needlework Editors!

The drawings - quite beautiful! - were made by M.E. Musselman and all reflect a lighter brighter sensibility for Spring. I love the greens especially, but the coral oranges are spot on for this year's trend of tangerine!



In the description, silk is extolled as the perfect fiber for this time of year. They go on to say that silk sweaters are "chiefly ready-made garments" and "It is a matter of personal choice between the silk and the worsted, as both are good. The worsted sweater, however, can be made more easily by hand than a silk one." Ah, don't I know it!



I am very drawn to scarves that incorporate hoods, and it appears that this is a fashion trend over 100 years old.

Scarfs in silks and in worsteds, too, offer most pleasing substitutes for fur neck-pieces for every-day wear, especially for the school girl and the business girl, and for outings in kinds of weather they are just the thing.
Illustrated in the upper left-hand corner is a very new cap and scarf with crocheted flowers. This design can be carried out in many charming colours - in blue with red roses, in orange with blank bands and deep yellow roses, in pale blue with pink roses, in grey with white roses, etc.
For motoring or driving a scarf hood in worsted, as illustrated above, is a real luxury. It is all in one piece.

And finally, a little note at the bottom says that a pamphlet containing the working directions for the items shown will be supplied for 15 cents. Oh how I wish that someone had sent away for this pamphlet and that it had made its way into my hands! I would love to make the motoring hood-scarf, the white center-top sweater-jacket, the coral Spencer with its gathered neckline on the right, and the green cut-away sweater with its white collar and cuffs on the left - just for wearing in the Spring!

Front Page News in Knitting

A final wonderful birthday package arrived on my doorstep, from my friend in Australia! I love the pattern books and ephemera that he sends me so, so much! These booklets are from the late 1930's through the very early 1940's.

This Stitchcraft No. 60 from 1937 is a great example of how knitting styles were becoming more sporty and suitable for everyday wear.



A belt and a hat made a knitted blouse or sweater "office wear" while a pair of trousers or shorts made that knitted sweater just right for the weekend...



I love the little neck bow on this one, and it's always the details that charm me:



Stitchcraft features several crafts, as well as lots of knitting patterns and this magazine still has it's embroidery transfer inside. There are recipes (ham loaf served with beans and sliced boiled potato - a regular starch feast!), sewing tips, and other crafts. This style page is called "Knitted by the Sea" by Anne Talbot and the designs are all knitted, even the suits and coat:



It's only meant to show the reader what's in style though; the patterns aren't included, sadly. The top blouse in the picture is described this way: "A soft boucle yarn in dusty pink is used for the plain little model above, with its pointed collar and puff sleeves"

and the cute striped one says: "An attractive sports jumper uses horizontal stripes, with a navy scarf slipped under a buttoned-over strap of the striped pattern"

But Ms. Talbot's description of hte fashions of the that summer of 1937 are particularly charming, so I'll quote just a small portion of here for your review:

Deauville, Le Touquet, and other Channel resorts are now crowded with smartly-clad Parisiennes and fashionable cosmopolitaines. In the fifteen years that I have been going to Deauville and Le Touquet I have noticed a very gradual, but markedly definite, change in the type of informal costumes work by the "smart set." These daytime clothes have become more practical and more "sporting" in every way. But what is of most interest to readers of Stitchcraft is that the importance of knitwear can scarcely be exaggerated. Knitteds have become so essential to the holiday wardrobe that no fashionable Parisienne would dream of being without a variety of models.

For very hot weather there are lovely, fine linen and cotton threads, delightful for both crocheting and knitting. Synthetic threads, such as artificial silk and kindred substances, are likewise very cool and when mixed with wool, as they so frequently are, make most practical and beautiful yarns...

The next booklet is Style, by Patons & Baldwins, Volume 7. The corner where the date was is torn a bit, but it definitely appears to be from the same late 30's time period. Note the charming Robin Hood hat!



In some ways, the fashions of that time were like costumes - the cosplay of the 1930's! And here's a jaunty Sailor style from this booklet:



This blouse is cute with its ruffled collar, big puffed sleeves, and little cables... it's called The Charmer"



The next booklet I'll review is called "The Economy Knit Book - 18 Stunning New Styles." from Woolworth's.



I have a couple of very old Woolworth's knitting books and they are so wonderful! This one is no exception, and appears to be from the early 40's when this style of slightly military-looking cardigan jacket was popular:



This booklet is unique in that throughout the booklet the knit patterns are modeled by contemporary Hollywood stars! It's so adorable, with pattern titles like:

You'll Look Ultra-Smart in this Jaunty Viennese Model
Imagine This Unusual Puff-Sleeved Style in Three Colours
Stylish for Weekends - Smart for Business Too!
When You Get That Cruising Feeling!
This Will Look Very Sweet on You
Look Lovely on Your Next Holiday - Here's How!
Knit This for Lots of Use in the Snow Country!

Here is the Woolworth version of the Sailor Suit, with the title, "Announcing the Roly-Poly Neck - Present American Craze!" The placement of that little sailboat applique certainly ensures that it will bob up and down on the the...erm...waves, doesn't it?



Some of the movie stars are Frank Forest (Paramount Studios), modeling "The Favorite Sweater of Men About Hollywood"... Binnie Barnes (Universal Studios), "Introducing a Smart Twin Set"... Nola Warren ("Australian Film Star")... Eleanore Whitney (Paramount Star) "Shows How to Hike in Chic" (though it's hard to believe that she's going to hike in that outfit!):



The final booklet for review is the Lux Knitting Book for 1937. This is a fabulous booklet, one of series put out by the Lux Soap Company.



The booklet is 61 pages and along with the black and white photos there are funny and delicate pen and ink drawings of the knit-wear in use, drawings such as you find in the more expensive knitting magazines of that era!



There's something for everyone in this book - men (that chapter is called "Manly Comforts"), women, children, babies and teens...even tea cosies for the tea table!

The undies are always cute, called Warm Beginnings, but I always wonder how someone could wear Shetland wool next to their skin?



There is fashion commentary here, too, titled Front Page News in Knitting:

"The editor of this book has been in consultation with the Knitting Editor of Vogue regarding the very latest ideas in knitting and crochet"

So interesting, that little note at the bottom of the fashion page. How do you suppose it happened and what does "in consultation" mean? Do you suppose they 'took a meeting'? How about a phone call? I would have liked to have been a bird on wire overlooking that conversation! In any case, here is what came of it:

A classic winter this, simple straight lines, subtle tailoring to your cardigans... and jumpers with concentrated interest on intriguing stitches. Tailoreds, too, and so much the better if you go utterly masculine and sport a trim and spanking "weskit" with your tweeds - or tuck a man's paisley hankie in the neck of your jumper. For the Rest, keep your neckline up and inflate your sleeves a little at the top.

And yet, the styles in the book are distinctly feminine - more so than in the other three magazines!

This gathered, dolmen-sleeved blouse, for instance, dramatic and soft:



My favorite, though, is this bed jacket and I'm determined to knit it for myself:



It's called Snug Simplicity because it is such a simple pattern. The shape comes from the way the knitting is put together. I can't quote the pattern here, because it is not old enough to be in the public domain, but I can give you some hints!

This is knit in a silk and wool blend (British 2-ply) on 7 mm needles for a size 34 bust. The two pieces are garter-stitch knit in two separate rectangles (with a 15 stitch slit at the central point of one long edge on each rectangle to form the collar) and then half of each short end is sewn to the other in a clever way to form the back, the turned-back collar, and then the sleeves are folded over and sewn.

My final treat in this wonderful package was tucked into one of the books - a Lili Knitting Card for another bed jacket!



This is described as "a modernized card system for convenience. A big improvement on the 'page torn from a book' method" The pattern itself would make a great cardigan for summer!

What a super birthday box, wasn't it!?!

Crazy Stitch Crazy Love

In many of my oldest needlework manuals, there are several pages of stitch patterns. Over the years, I've noticed an interesting phenomenon. In the earliest booklets - say 1800's through 1905 or so, is crochet stitch called Crazy Stitch but in later years it dies out, never mentioned again.



I find this particularly true of crochet. The stitches wan and wax in popularity and go in and out of fashion. As I've collected books and booklets that span the decades from 1800 through today, I've seen this happen and beautiful stitch patterns that were common 100 years ago are practically non-existent now. I did find one example of the crazy stitch being used about 10 years ago. A blanket posted on the internet as "diagonal crochet" used this stitch, but didn't identify it. Recently, a friend showed me a baby blanket she had made, and I recognized this stitch so it must be around.

As you've gathered by now, I've used this stitch a lot - I've made blankets, scarves, and triangular shawls with it - and each item has an elegant and complex look.



I use the directions from the 1904 Utopia Yarn Book



Make a chain of the desired length.
Row 1 - Make 3 dc in 3 chain; skip 2 chain and fasten with 1 sc. *chain 3; make 3 dc in the same st with the sc; skip 2 ch and fasten with 1 sc. Repeat from * to end of row.
Row 2 - Chain 3, make 3 dc in the last sc made in the first row; fasten with 1 sc in the loop formed by the chain of 3 in the preceding row; ch 3, make 3 dc in the same loop where the sc was just made and fasten as before with 1 sc. Repeat across row.

I used this stitch in my soft merino scarf, pictured:



This scarf is 9 pattern repeats across and 48 2-row repeats long. I used Perle Cotton in two colours for the fringe, knotting it for the lacy look. The yarn is 100% merino sport weight, in a discontinued brand, but any soft yarn of any weight would work well.

I love this scarf because it looks like a vintage artifact, even though it's new. And it looks perfect with my camel-hair winter coat! And that's why stitch patterns should never be forgotten - they are timeless, really.

It National Crochet Month (or International Crochet Month, perhaps?) so I've been featuring crochet, but I've discovered some gorgeous Spring sweaters in my Columbia books from the 1930's and I don't think I can wait until April to show them to you!