Today I’m chatting about vintage knitting. I always get excited when it’s time to plan what I want to sew and knit for the upcoming season. Now with the summer coming to an end, it’s time to think of autumn and winter garments. In last weeks video I was chatting with you about my sewing plans for the new season. This week I’m focusing on my knitting plans.
To create the vintage inspired wardrobe I love to wear, which is a mix of 1940’s to 1950’s, knitwear is an essential part of creating this look. Handy then that I enjoy knitting even though I’m much slower at it than I’d like.
During the war, with rationing in Britain, it became difficult to buy enough wool in the same colour to knit a whole garment so fairisle became the answer using smaller amounts of different colours. Women were encouraged to unravel old knitted garments to create something new. As the wool wouldn’t go as far the second time of knitting it, short sleeved patterns became a popular pattern of choice. Knitting was an essential part of wartime life, magazines always had directions to knit something, knitting groups were also set up to knit ‘comforts’ for the services.
In the 1950’s the sweater and Cardigan became symbolic of the look. The tight sweaters that were popular from the late 40’s to create the ‘sweater girl look’, emphasising the thrusting conical bust continued into the mid 1950’s. Now they also worked to create the hour glass shape of the era, worn individually or as a twin-set. Evening jumpers, covered in beads, sequins and embroidery were popularised in America. As the 1950’s moved on chunky knit sweaters worn with tapered trousers became popular as the new teenage market evolved in fashion.
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