Oh, I am in a generous mood this evening. I’ve decided to post a freeeeeee pattern every Friday starting TO-NITE! Vintage Knitting affecionados, rejoice, everyone else, there’ll be other stuff on here.
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Tags: blouse, bows, Free!, Friday!, fun, Knitting, Sharing is caring!, stripes, sweater, tee, vintage
Alright, I’ve seen a lot of people knitting up the so-called ’3 Hour Sweater’, complaining about how NO, it does NOT take 3 hours to knit, it takes a day or two, blah blah blah. I say these people are modern whiners. Perhaps in ye olden days it really did only take 3 hours to work up this sweater; perhaps women sitting near their radios were so scandalized by a saucy soap opera they gained knitting uber-prowess and by the time that and an episode of Fibber McGee and Molly’d passed by they had a sweater in their lap. In any event it’s true that modern knitters lack this ability; we’ve been so over-scandalized it would take…actually I can’t even make anything up for us to be scandalized by, if I type it up here it’ll appear on VH1′s schedule to fill in for the shows they pulled after their reality star suspected of murdering his wife went on the lam.
In any event, I hereby throw down the gauntlet. I present to you….
It also makes nice use of the superchunky yarn most knitters have on hand- I myself couldn’t resist buying some (so large…so textural!) but had no idea what to apply it to. Most of the Vogue Knitting stuff that utilizes large yarns is so patently ridiculous it’s just DARING you to spend time and energy making it, forget wearing it out in public. So, here’s a quaint lil’ charmer with some nice neck detail. I hope to see myriad examples of it in the near future.
Yes, I’ve traveled extensively, taken lots of interesting photos, and what am I posting on here? More dusty patterns from the New York Public Library. It’s late notice, but this evening they’re having a research/resource class on vintage patterns at the Schwarzman Library (aka the Ghostbusters library, the one with the big lions out front). I’m headed back to dig up more stuff, but in the meantime I scanned this guy in from microfilm. It’s very strange- at the same time microfilm’s very dated and archaic, it’s still very convenient and fun to press a button and have exactly what you’re seeing in front of you print out. Of course, one of the printouts for reasons inexplicable came out too light (I filled it in as best I could), showing that the tactile pleasures of whipping through pages of something are mitigated by technological annoyances.
The pattern’s from Workbasket Magazine, from some point in the mid-40s to early 50′s. I’d say late 40′s judging by where I was on the reel. I should’ve payed closer attention but whipping past pages and pages of ads for bras and bust support was making me nauseous. There’s also a matching sock pattern at the end, should you want a matching set.
In recently organizing the vast piles of vintage patterns I acquired (a taste of the scale- I purchased one of those 100-packs of plastic sleeves to hold the books and already ran out with a stack left unorganized), I came across some more photocopies from the depths of the New York Public Library. Unfortunately I did not copy the book cover or any sort of identifying information, but I recall it was one of the books bound together with many others from the 1930′s, some sort of Home Knitting book with general advice and basic patterns to modify. Based on the mention of Knit-Cro-Sheen I’m suspecting it may be a J&P Coats publication.
The patterns below all encourage modification- the basic lace patterns are given first, followed by references to ‘charts’ for resizing the patterns to different sizes. Please read through carefully as these aren’t the clearest of patterns I’ve come across; on the plus side the needles are given in millimeters, making it much easier to decipher the scale and whatnot.
I enjoy perusing vintage patterns, but it became quickly apparent I’m fortunate enough to fit the tinier sizes of yesteryear with minimal, if any, alterations. Many people I’ve met with a similar interest in recreating vintage duds are often frustrated by the lack of larger sizes, giving them the choice of attempting to reshape a garment, potentially losing its vintage appeal, or doing the math and resizing, itself a time-consuming effort.
Ladies and gents in past years were generally shorter and trimmer overall, with bodies shaped by a variety of different undergarments to fit the popular forms of the time. Even during the free and easy ‘flapper’ era of the 20′s, garments were intended for the idealized ‘boy’ body- small chest, narrow hips, and slender overall. In my digging at the NYPL, I came across several volumes dedicated to larger sizes, sizes which translate to a modern size 8-14.
I must apologize in advance for the grainy photos and occasional thumb appearance- scans would have been far too costly for the volume of works I was rustling through, so I opted to take photos with my digital camera. This had its pros and cons, but at least all the text is legible. I hope. Also, does anyone know how to PDF this stuff? As much as I’m sure people enjoy clicking and waiting for a million photos to load, the ease of a PDF would be preferable.
In the words of Mo’Nique, skinny bitches to the back before we start this.
Tags: 1930s, 30s, blouse, dress, Knitting, large, larger, scarf, shirt, skirt, suit, top, vintage
