Wearable vintage

I began making this sweater just for fun, a challenge to myself to see if I could knit something from a photograph.  This photograph

Oh no! not this one... this one is mine - three months of thinking, planning, writing notes and crossing out
and I got there -

from here...

via here...

I have simplified it, by knitting the main body sideways from cuff to cuff via the front and back I could knit the colour work panels fair-isle fashion and not as intarsia, much quicker.

The finished piece was HUGE and took over half the dining-room floor when I blocked it. Sewing up took ages too.  Does anyone else use safety pins for this?  It made it much easier to keep the lines matched up

All the little crochet detail were interesting too.  The fillets at the shoulders allowed for some fullness rather in the same way as one gets from a shirt with a yoke

And I loved the bobble buttons

and the tassells

Loved making them too

When I joined the Titanic sewing project the choice of patterns was wonderful but when I looked around there are far less things to knit.  Hats gloves and mufflers a-plenty, baby things too but not actual items of women's clothing.  Perhaps knitting was mainly confined to shawls and working men's sweaters.  So I was thrilled to find this which is spot on for the period.  Spot on for the style too.  I realise that many of the women in steerage would have kept themselves warm with a shawl but the patterns we are making up are more of the style of the 2nd class passengers and although this tunic is probably designed by Poiret, someone who would have dressed the first class passengers, I see no reason why a 2nd class passenger who was able to knit could not also copy.

My mannequin, still decked out in 1912 blouse, skirt and underpinnings wears the tunic well.

I too shall wear it, with something more modern such as a pair of straight legged jeans

The pattern I devised is available as a Ravelry down load if you would like to make one too.  If you do please let me know - I would love to see other versions

xx

c

In more detail

I haven't taken the Christmas decorations yet (I've got till 12th night right?)  it still feels a bit Christmassy here and I am going to have fun telling you about some of the presents I made for my friends and family that I couldn't blog about before.

In November I bought some beautiful cashmere yarn from indy dyer Elisabeth Beverley before I had decided what to make with it. Then I came across three patterns for fingerless mittens with perfect titles.  Poor Poets Gloves, Readers Mittens and Driving Miss Daisy, for three university friends, one a historian (with a a new job which means she spends a lot of time driving from student to student), two writers and all avid readers.

The yarn is dyed with plant dyes from Elisabeth's garden.  Cochineal, yarrow and woad.

Poor poets for one writer who has won awards for her poetry

Readers gloves for C who is never seen without several books in her bag (despite the demands of two lovely boys)

And Driving Miss Daisy for K, appropriately for a historian, dyed with woad

It was a bit of a rush but they were all finished, packed up, posted and arrived on time for Christmas

Happy New Year everyone

xx

C