A Compendium of Historical Knitting: What is a spencer?

Friday, July 11, 2025

What is a spencer?

A spencer, according to the Wikipedia definition, was originally (ca. 1790s) an outer tail coat with the tails omitted --

Day dress with spencer jacket, ca. 1798, Vienna. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Dress and spencer, British, 1820-1825, accession no. 2010.149a (spencer). Source: The Met, New York.

Later in the 19th century, the term "spencer" came more generally to mean any type of short jacket or coat, and when knitted and crocheted garments came into being, around the middle of that century, knitted and crocheted versions of the spencer began to appear, blurring the original definition.

"Knitted Winter Spencer" in Godey's, 1861.

"Spencer in knitting and crochet" from Peterson's Magazine, October 1872. Source: New York Public Library Digital Collections.

Crochet spencer, Columbia Book of Yarns (1915).

1 comment:

BluestockingJuly 13, 2025 at 6:10 PM
Perhaps it is the fluffy bows that frequently close the garments in the "Spencers and Jackets" section of the Columbia book, that look to my eye more like at-home wear than the buttoned "Sweaters", which seem more like outerwear.
ReplyDelete
Replies

Add comment

About this project

This page is a compendium, not the compendium, and makes no claims to be definitive. That said, we will attempt to provide a broad spectrum of examples of knitting patterns, techniques, and stitches across the years.

The label "Pattern links" indicates that a link to an outside webpage is given in the post, directing the reader to the pattern (sometimes for purchase from the designer or adapter, but often free), and the label "Patterns" indicates that the pattern is given here in the post. Both categories are subdivided into historical periods.

The label "Historical patterns in modern terminology" gives either patterns themselves or (more usually) links to historical patterns rewritten for the knitter of today. (It can be very illuminating and educational to compare the original with an updated version!)

Note that although ordinarily we far prefer to refer to authors as they wished and presented themselves to the world on their books' title pages, in the case of knitting authors who were known -- sometimes known only -- by their husband's name, we have decided to here use their married names, e.g. Mrs. G.J. Baynes is here listed as Anne Baynes.

Weights of the more common historical yarns

Andalusian falls between modern fingering weight and sport weight; Jamieson & Smith's 2-ply "jumper weight" Shetland can also be used.

Crewel is the same as modern crewel wools.

Double Berlin is equivalent to a modern DK or a three-ply worsted.

Fleecy could come in a range of weights, probably from fingering weight to a soft bulky weight, but was most commonly from DK to soft bulky; the modern knitter will have to experiment to achieve the desired result.

Germantown is equivalent to a modern worsted (18-20 sts per 4"/10cm).

Knitting floss is probably a modern lace-weight.

Lamb's wool or worsted equivalent to modern sport weight; it is not a modern worsted, but refers to the way the wool was spun.

Pyrenees is a lace-weight wool with a slightly tighter twist than Shetland.

Saxony is equivalent to modern fingering or baby yarns (about 32 sts per 4"/10cm).

Shetland can still be found today; a two-ply lace-weight can also be used.

Single Berlin, like its relative double Berlin, was traditionally of merino wool; single is a needlepoint or fingering weight.

Worsted or lamb's wool is equivalent to modern sport weight; it is not a modern worsted, but refers to the way the wool was spun.

Zephyr is probably a light fingering weight wool.

A detailed table of discontinued vintage yarns (i.e. mostly 20th-century) and their respective weights can be found here, and a very helpful table of specific modern equivalents to historical yarns can be found here.