Early Danish nattrøje

Mr. Ladsen's fiancée's nattrøje, in the National Archives. This photo and the one at bottom are available under the Open Government License.

A nattrøje has recently been discovered in the National Archives in London, part of the cargo of a Danish ship that was seized on its way from the Faroes to Copenhagen by the Royal Navy in 1807, during the Second Battle of Copenhagen. The parcel that contained the nattrøje had not been opened since it was posted.

The red sweater was shipped from Tórshavn [in the Faroe Islands] on the cargo ship Anne Marie on 20 August 1807 by a carpenter called Niels C. Winther, with a letter saying "my wife sends her regards, thank you for the pudding rice. She sends your fiancée this sweater and hopes that it is not displeasing to her." The package is addressed to a Mr P. Ladsen in Copenhagen and its contents are described by the sender as a "sweater for sleeping", though its style closely resembles Faroese national dress. The note is written in Danish.

Nattrøje (pl. nattrøjer) in Danish means literally "night jacket," but although it could apparently be worn while sleeping during cold Scandinavian nights, the word came to be used for the common daytime garment worn by women under the sleeveless bodice.  (Sometimes knitted sleeves were attached to a bodice of woolen fabric to give the same effect without a second layer.)

Young girl's costume from Frejlev, Aalborg. "Strikket trøje" means "knitted jacket." Image via Folk Costume & Embroidery.

The jacket is finely-knitted to fit snugly, with three-quarter sleeves and a small all-over pattern. Most Danish nattrøjer were knitted in a solid color, with patterns of purled stars, and so it is interesting to see a multi-colored one! This is most likely the influence of Faroe stranded knitting.

Several nattrøje patterns are available on the internet (e.g. on Ravelry), and of course in folk knitting books such as Traditional Scandinavian Knitting by Sheila McGregor and Traditional Danish Sweaters by Vivian Høxbro.

Two "shawl-scarves" and a pelerine-collar (1861)

"On mete un boutonnière à chaque bout de chale, et un gros bouton à la pointe de derrière, atin de croiser le chàle, et d'en fixer les extrémités sur ce bouton; nous engageons toute nos lectrices à faire ce chàle-écharpe, qui leur évitera des rhumes, et peut-étre des fluxions de poitrine" = We put a buttonhole on each end of the shawl [pictured at left], and a large button on the back point, in order to cross the shawl, and to fix the ends of it on this button; we urge all our readers to make this shawl-scarf, which will save them colds, and perhaps chest inflammations.

 

 

The French fashion magazine "La Mode Illustrée" -- similar in content and intended audience to "Godey's" et al. -- published these three patterns early in its career, in January 1861.  The two "shawl-scarves" are knitted, while the pelerine-collar is crocheted. "The fashion for cloth coats, infinitely less warm than quilted coats, resulted in the adoption of the shawl-scarf, to which we are devoting two designs today" -- admirably practical!

The first shawl appears to be an early instance of a sontag -- a waist-length U-shaped garment that crosses over the chest and wraps around the waist to the back, and is fastened with buttons on the ends, or with ties that come around to the front.

The sontag (1860)

The December 1860 issue of the "American Agriculturalist" magazine gave a pattern by Marian M. Pullan for "a sort of woolen habit-shirt that ... makes a warm and not cumbrous wrapper under a mantle" (in those days when a woman's usual outer garment was a cloak, not a coat).  Note that Mrs. Pullan had to explain what a sontag was!

What is a habit shirt?

Lady's riding habit shirt of linen, England, ca.1800. Courtesy V&A, accession no. T.104-1966.

The habit shirt was so called because it was originally worn by a lady under her riding habit.  Wiktionary defines it as "a thin muslin or lace undergarment worn by women on the neck and shoulders, under the dress." It seems often to have been sleeveless, as in the V&A garment above.  We might today, or yesterday perhaps, call this particular kind a dickey.

The term when it referred to a knitted garment seems generally not to have been something worn under the dress, but over it, for example a sontag -- indeed, Mrs. Pullan refers to her sontag as "a sort of woolen habit-shirt," presumably because it was a similar shape and worn in the same place on the body, not because it particularly resembled a habit shirt.

See other habit shirts in the John Bright Collection.

Cross-over (1886)

 

 

The 1886 edition of Mrs. Croly's Knitting and Crochet gives a pattern for a "cross-over," which anyone who does even a little bit of historical knitting will recognize is the same garment as a sontag.  This particular pattern will result in a triangle with a blunted bottom, which will be the back of the garment, with  opposing right-angle triangles worked at the sides forming the "cross-over" pieces, more-or-less the standard sontag shape.

Curiously, Mrs. Croly gives instructions to trim the garment, but not how to secure it while wearing.

Note also that the method of increasing the size is simply to use larger wool and needles!

"Needlework for ladies for pleasure and profit"; and, What is a penwiper?

The 3rd edition -- "revised and enlarged" -- of Needlework for Ladies for Pleasure and Profit by "Dorinda" (London : Swan Sonnenschein, Lowrey, 1886) is available online at the Internet Archive courtesy of the generous folks at the University of Southampton Digital Library.

The book is geared towards ladies who find themselves, through no fault of their own, surely, in distressed circumstances, and need a respectable source of income.  (The "pleasure" part of the needlework is clearly subsidiary to the "profit", but it is kind of the author to emphasize that pleasure can be taken in work done well.)  The first part of the book discusses the practicalities of making and selling various kinds of needlework, including which kinds are more marketable than others due to fashion trends, etc., and the last part lists work societies across Britain that sold needlework on commission (some of whom required references -- "one from a clergyman" -- this being 1886, after all), some by post, others in person.  The middle part of the book is patterns for knitted items, crochet, and "miscellaneous items" -- fringes, balls and reins for children, penwipers*, etc. etc.  While the knitting "recipes" do not give much idea of gauge, they do at least give needle sizes along with the suggested wools, so that the knitter does get some idea of the intended gauge.

There is, alas, not a single illustration in the book.

*When one finished writing with either a dip pen or a fountain pen, it had to be wiped clean so that the leftover ink didn't dry up and clog the nib.  Penwipers could come in a dizzying array of forms, from ones very like brush boot scrapers to folded fans to a (rather frightening) doll's head or felted or sewn animals atop the circles of fabric that were the actual wiping surface.  (And, yes, the succulent Kalanchoe marmorata is called "penwiper plant" due to its resemblance to the folded and stacked circles of fabric out of which penwipers were often made!)

An unknown young knitter

An unknown young knitter, possibly British from her "drawing-room" style of holding her right needle.

An elegant hat (ca.1850)

The Royal Victoria Knitting Book : containing an assortment of the most elegant patterns for hats, hoods, feathers, and bonnets, published in London by W. Clark, possibly in 1850, gives patterns for some very charming knitted hats and bonnets indeed.  The Victoria Knitting Book was published in installments; the copy at the Internet Archive linked above contains pages 85-96 (breaking off right in the middle of a pattern!); the full book can be seen here, courtesy of the Richard Rutt Collection at the University of Southampton.  Other installments focused on lace edgings and insertions, cuffs and collars, doilies and antimacassars, polkas, stockings, shawls, etc.

Here is the pattern for the exquisitely lacy hat No. 40, at top in the image above --

The "curtain" is the part of a bonnet or hat that covers the back of the wearer's neck. 

"Block for a slumber robe" (1891)

 

This "block for a slumber robe" is the earliest-known appearance of what later became known as the granny square.  It is from Butterick's The Art of Crocheting (1891).

Thanks to Hannah at HanJan Crochet for her post on the history of the granny square!