"Home Fires"

Sisters Laura (Leila Mimmack) and Kate (Rachel Hurd-Wood) wear, respectively, the embroidered jacket from Golden Eagle no.478 and the leaf-patterned cardigan from Bestway 1027.

 

The 2015-2016 series "Home Fires" set in WWII-era rural England is chock-full of wonderful period knits -- and we know they are absolutely authentic as Bridget C. has tracked down the original patterns for two of her favorites.  Copies of the patterns are available for a modest fee from Sue at FabForties.

For more photos of knitwear from the series see the A Bluestocking Knits post here.

Golden Eagle no.478, an embroidered Bavarian-style jumper or jacket, knitted in 3-ply, to fit a 34"-36" bust. The pattern also included instructions for modifying the short sleeves to long, and a quote for the number of coupons needed for the wool.

Bestway 1027 a leaf-patterned cardigan with small collar, knitted in 3-ply, to fit 32" bust.

Kudos to the "Home Fires" costume designers, Lucinda Wright and Howard Burden, for using authentic patterns for their garment!

"Panel Slip-On Sweater" (1919)

This panel sweater appears in the May 1919 issue of the American magazine "The Delineator," available online at the Hathi Trust, via Google and the University of Iowa. Note the model's fashionable post-war "corset-less" figure! quite a difference from her mother's rigid silhouette twenty-some years earlier.

"Ladies' and Misses' Sweaters" (1897)

This 1897 sweater pattern is from the American magazine "The Delineator" (v.49, pp.700-701), available free from the Hathi Trust, via Google and the University of Iowa.

This pattern, in two variations, is presented in what was then a rather modern way, with photographs showing what the finished garment looks like when laid flat and when worn, as well as having (basic) instructions for making it larger or smaller than the single size given.  The only different between the two versions is the generosity of the upper part of the leg-of-mutton sleeves.

 The Met in New York has in their collection a wool sweater that looks remarkably like the Delineator one in its shape --

Sweater, ca. 1895, probably American. Casual wear such as this, the Museum notes, "is rare in museum collections because of the nature of its use and the intrinsic value people placed on more formal attire." Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession no.2009.300.1111.

 The Met sweater, though, is worked in a brioche stitch on the body and upper sleeves, with probably a single rib at the waist and lower sleeves, with accents in an interesting zigzag stitch.

"Knitted Yoke for a Corset Cover" (1897)

This 1897 pattern for a lacy yoke for a corset cover is from the American magazine "The Delineator" (v.49, pp.590-591), available free from the Hathi Trust, via Google and the University of Iowa. The yoke would be sewn to a fabric bodice, buttoned in the front.

A corset cover was a garment worn over a corset to smooth the lines under one's dress, and also to protect the inside of the dress from the hardware of the corset.  Corset covers began to be worn in the 1860s, when smoothness of the close-fitting bodices became the ideal, and they continued to be worn through the Edwardian period, presumably as long as corsets themselves were worn.  See the post at Historical Sewing for examples.

The young lady on the left has a smooth bodice, whereas the young lady on the right has a slight "dent" from her undergarments just above the bust. Images via Flashbak.

Knitting sampler (1880-1920)

Knitting sampler, cotton (1880-1920). Source: ModeMuseum Antwerpen, via Wikimedia Commons.

Canadian cloud (1874)

In honor of Canada Day, here is a pattern from The Lady's Knitting Book (1874) by Elvina M. Corbould for a cloud, a fluffy sort of scarf worn draped over the head when outdoors, sometimes over the shoulders --

Canadian Cloud. 

Wooden pins, No. 1; 10 skeins of white and 2 of scarlet Shetland wool. 

Cast on 200 stitches, and knit backwards and forwards for 2½ yards. Cast off. Now with the scarlet crochet a border at the two sides. Double the cloud lengthways, and then draw up the two ends and finish off with a large tassel, made in the following way : -- Double a skein of white wool twice, then tie it round very tightly with strong wool about two inches from the end; cut the other ends, and join the cloud and tassel together with a crochet cord made of Berlin wool. It makes the cloud prettier to add a little scarlet crocheted cap to the tassel.

Two and a half yards (2.25 m) by 200 sts, even when folded in half, would be a Canadian-sized cloud indeed!

"La Mode Shawl for Mourning" (1862)

This shawl for mourning wear is from Mlle. Riego's La Mode Winter Book (1862).  There were strict customs for mourning, with different garments, fabrics, and quantities of black as well as specific time frames depending on one's relationship to the deceased -- deepest mourning for an immediate family member, "second" mourning for a more distant one, with "half" mourning being the lessening before returning to ordinary dress.  (See "Mourning in the 1860s" at Sew Historically and "Stages of (Victorian) Mourning and Fifty Shades of Purple" at Lilac and Bombazine, among others, for examples.)

Mlle. Riego's pattern is for a half-mourning shawl, as mauve, grey, or white were the first colors allowed after the year during which a widow, for example, would wear deepest mourning.  An 1860s-era knitter could, of course, knit pretty much any garment in black and call it mourning wear, but this shawl is interesting in that it is designed specifically for that purpose.

All of the patterns in this book except for the mourning shawl are in "tricot écossais," or what we now usually call Tunisian crochet.  

Note that the shawl pattern is written using British terms, that is, its treble stitch is equivalent to the American DC -- but it is otherwise very simple, being in what we now call, perhaps because of shawls like this one, "granny stitch".

"Mary Isabella Grant Knitting a Shawl" (ca.1850)

"Mary Isabella Grant Knitting a Shawl" (ca.1850) by Francis Grant.

This lovely painting of the artist's daughter is also one that clearly shows that the artist knows what a piece of knitting looks like.  Mary Isabella is holding fabulously long needles (not "parlour style"), with the ball of wool in a little basket on her arm.  The knitting looks like a brioche stitch, very popular in the 1840s and 50s!

"The Artist's Mother Knitting in a Flat in Paris"

"The Artist's Mother Knitting in a Flat in Paris" by Albert Ranney Chewett (1877-1965).

Maria Susan Chewett (1836-1918), née Ranney, knits in the English or "drawing-room style," with the right needle extending over the hand, much like holding a pen; this style was the "posh" way of knitting from some time during the Victorian period to the 1940s at least.  Mrs. Chewett was born in England, spent much of her married life in Canada (where her six children were born), and returned to England to live out her widowhood with her artist son and a number of his siblings.

Note that this is not what is now generally called English-style knitting, in which the wool is held in the right hand and "thrown" or wrapped around the working needle (as opposed to continental-style knitting, in which the wool is held in the left hand and "picked" or scooped up by the working needle) -- here it has more to do with the way that the needle itself is held.

This style of holding the needles was almost certainly much earlier than this Edwardian-ish painting, but for the time being this post will have the "earliest known usage" label -- more on the "drawing-room style" to come ...