Window shopping back in 1948

Nowadays, once in a while there is a (mostly unsuccessful) initiative to replace the usual, extra-small sized window dummies by 'average' size or plus size dummies, to make feel us, 'average' women better... Well, the problem of the idealized body shape image in marketing existed in the 1940's too.
While we tend to think that the nipped-in waist era started in the early 50's, even the window dummies went from the 26 in (=66.5 cm) waists to 22 in (=56 cm) as early as in 1948! 'Pleasing oval proportions' of the face and 'Vogue' noses, which were 'small, plump and delightful' were preferred. And how about the whopping 5 foot 11 (=180 cm) height?! Not so different from model sizes of our days which is more than 60 years later!!!!
There was true craftsmanship involved in making these dummies, starting with sculpting them individually. The horsehair wigs were set with bobby pins and even the eyelashes were curled...

did you know that...
...back in the early days of department stores window dummies were made out of wax which occasionally melted on hot days, causing the dummies to collapse in the shop window?

Scroll down to read!

source of all newspaper images: AWW through trove

Phillipa jumper: 9. Oh, those 40's sleeves!

Well, we are getting there, there will be one more post on the making of the Phillipa jumper before the big reveal! For now, let's talk about the sleeves.

did you know...
...that before the 1990's revival shoulder pads were very fashionable and widely used throughout the 1940's? Just look at those extended shoulder lines of old pictures, you often can spot the outer edges! 

Exaggerated shoulder lines were the rage in the first half of the 40's. By the end of the 1930's the sloping the shoulder lines were horizontally extended and got more and more accentuated with pleated or gathered puff sleeves, supported by shoulder pads. By the end of WW2 the shoulders became more angular by the end of the 40's with just a little upwards puff to finally become flat again in the 50's.


source images here

The sleeves of 1940's sewing and knitting patterns often have extended sleevecaps which are either gathered or folded into pleats when setting in the sleeves:


Below one of the finished sleeves of the Phillipa. The fullness of the sleeve cap is folded in 6 pleats, two on the top and two on the left and right side:





You really need to check the instructions or pictures of the pattern to see how many folds you are supposed to make or how the gathering should look like. My mistake: I assumed there were 2 in the front and two in the back, but according to the instructions there are 3 in the front and 3 in the back. Suggestion: focus!

Sewing the pleats:


First try (left) no success and a 'deflated' looking puff, second time (right) with 3+3 pleats much better and the pleats even support themselves for fullness:
  

shoulder pads
In contrary to the big, rounded, prefab foam shoulder pads which we all know from the 1990's the 1940's shoulder pads were triangle shaped and knitted for knitted garments. The pattern below was published repeatedly throughout the 1940's up to the 50's by the Australian Women's Weekly. This pattern makes triangle-shaped shoulder pads and is suited for fingering weight yarn.

shoulder pad pattern
- Using no 10 needles cast on 24 stitches.
- Work 24 rows in stocking stitch.
- Cast off.
- Fold in half diagonally, pad with cotton-wool and sew up edges.

To stuff the shoulder pads you could use synthetic fibres (like filling from a cheap IKEA cushion) instead of cotton or wool to add less weight. You can fix the shoulder pads with press-studs to the garment for easy removal when washing.

Next up the last pattern notes: crochet finish of the neckline.
Previous posts in the Phillipa jumper series:
1. introduction
2. yarn an gauge
3. fit an ease
4. pattern charts an diagrams
5. knitting in round &stitch markers
6. methods to increase
7. my seamless pocket lining
8. my version: back neck opening

Plus size modeling is not new...

When we think of the 1950's, we the 'New Look' era, tiny, nipped in waists and corsets come to mind. We don't think plus size, though one of the successful fashion personalities at the time was the 50 years old Mag, with her 16 stone (just over a 100 kg).
Scroll down to read the AWW article from 1959!

Phillipa jumper: 8. My version: back neck opening

Interestingly, the Phillipa pattern calls for a zipper closure on the neck opening, which was more popular in the late 40's and 50's. I decided to skip the zipper closure and go with a button closure. 1930's and 1940's sweaters and jumpers usually have quite high necklines. There is an extra opening needed in order to pull it over your head. Most of the garments of the era feature a button closure or press studs in the back of the neckline or button closure at the shoulders.

• zipper closure: divide the back neck opening in the middle as instructed. Keep knitting in pattern on both sides. Before inserting the zipper reinforce the back of your seamline with tape.
• button closure with vertical loops: the loops are crocheted on after finishing. An 'underlayment' button band is not necessary but looks professional. Imagine pulling the opening, you certainly don't want to show skin...
• button closure with horizontal knit-in buttonholes: a popular method but not my favorite because of the minuscule buttonholes you should knit. You need to make an underlayment button band on one side and knit in buttonholes on the other: When knitting you cast off a certain amount of stitches and cast on again in the next row on your pattern side.
• button closure with press-studs: you need an underlayment button band but instead of knitting in buttonholes add press-studs afterwards. Those can be either visible, with a nice shell-finishing or invisible and sewn to the wrong side of the upper layer.
• shoulder opening: due to the shoulder shaping you always need to pick up stitches after finishing to do this.

An 'underlayment' button band is often knitted after finishing.
In that case you simply divide the back in two and finish the right and left part separately as you would do for a zipper closure. Then you need to pick up stitches along the one side (usually left) and knit about 1/2 in or 1.5 cm (usually in rib). Another method is below, when you knit your button band with the existing stitches. This is done in garter stitch to omit the curling edges of st-st. Again, I think it looks neat and you don't have to pick up stitches afterwards!

The finished button tab with crochet loops - more about those in one of the next blog posts of the Pillipa-series. The buttons are sewn right on the inside edge of the garter-stitch band (where the garter stitch meets the pattern)
  



knit-in button band
To do this after dividing the back as instructed I picked up 4 extra stitches when knitting the second row of the left side by knitting (purling) twice in the last 4 stitches. I left the original stitches on a spare needle at the front of the garment and knitted the extra stitches continuing my other half back.
The 4 extra stitches were knitted in garter stitch as instructed by the most vintage jumper patterns (K those stitches in every row).
This created an underlayment. You could either knit in buttonholes on your other hals back or crochet loops when finishing the edges as I'm going to do.



   

machine buttonholes 
How do you feel about knitting small buttonholes? Although I can say I'm an experienced knitter this one is always a misery. I think it is close to impossible to get them the right size or shape. Somehow they are always too big or too small, or too shapeless... Remember, whatever you do you need to reinforce the edges by using tape or grosgrain ribbon. The same counts if you want to insert a zipper too. It stabilizes the fabric and prevent stretching. Here is a detailed tutorial on how to do this.

Next up: those puffy 40's sleeves!

Previous posts in the Phillipa jumper series:
1. introduction
2. yarn an gauge
3. fit an ease
4. pattern charts an diagrams
5. knitting in round &stitch markers
6. methods to increase
7. my seamless pocket lining

Drops 'Baby Merino' yarn on sale now

While finishing my first jumper, I've already started a new project with a very nice wool: DROPS Baby Merino. It is a fingering weight 100% Merinos wool with a nice smooth quality, not itchy and not expensive either. It is 'superwash' treated which means you could throw it in the washing machine, which I'm not planning to do, but can imagine it can be very handy when knitting baby clothes.

I knit it on size 3-3,5 needes with a tension of 28 sts per 10 cm (7 sts to 1 inch) which is tighter than suggested. But I like the look of it and I didn't experience any distortion or stretching after blocking. The suggested gauge is 24 sts for 10 cm. As you can see on the swatch below, the stitch definition is great:


Good news: this yarn is currently worldwide on sale:
-25% until the 7th of october 2013!

Phillipa jumper: 7. My seamless pocket lining

The pattern instructs to cast off 24 stitches for the pocket opening and then to cast on the same amount in the next row. When the front is finished you should pick up 24 stitches along the top edge of the pocket opening (the cast on edge) and knit a pocket lining in stockinette stitch. The cast off (lower edge) is then finished with two rows of double crochet.

We all know that picking up stitches always adds a small amount of bulk. To avoid the bulkiness I came up with the following seamless solution:

1. I knitted the pocket lining first, by casting on the same amount stitches and knitting in stockinette as instructed by the original pattern.
My lining is a bit shorter about 5 cm (2 in) since the pocket has just a decorative function:


2. Without finishing the stitches I inserted the piece while knitting the next row of the front instead of casting on new stitches for the upper edge of the pocket opening:


This is what it looks like after a few rows when continuing in pattern. No seam!


The back needs the same finishing as the original, the side and bottom edge of the lining will be sewn in place after blocking:


For now I basted the lining in place to prevent stretching out of the pocket opening while knitting the front:


Next up: My version of the back neck opening

Previous posts in the Phillipa jumper series:
1. introduction
2.yarn an gauge
3. fit an ease
4. pattern charts an diagrams
5. knitting in round &stitch markers
6. methods to increase

'Wet weather smartness' in 1935

Autumn has officially arrived... it's been raining for about a week here.
did you know...
...that the 1930's were the era of quite few new inventions in fashion? How about the use of wind- and waterproof fabrics, the fold-up umbrella's and the elegant 'shoe-gloves' in 1935? In the early 30's things were different:


Here are the 1935 news - scroll down to read:

Source of newspaper images: AWW through Trove

"The idea of wet weather being an excuse for wearing of old and often dowdy clothes, heavy, unattractive shoes, and a weather-beaten hat is, fortunately, a thing of the past.The modern wet weather clothes combine the smartest effects and the most modern trend in fashions. At the same time they are utilitarian and becoming, and are an indispensable part of the wardrobe of all smartly-dressed women.Those with an aversion to carrying ungainly umbrellas have their taste catered for by the new fold-up variety, and shoe-gloves take the place of the old-time *goloshes."

*'Goloshes' or 'galoshes' were rather unflattering, rubber overshoes. The 'shoe-gloves' mentioned were even made with a hollow heel to fit high-heeled shoes!

Phillippa jumper: 6. methods to increase

The jumper front and back has two times an increase in the amount of the stitches. The first time is when the last row of the ribbing is knitted and the second time in the rows above the waist to the breastline. When knitting the front and the back you increase at both sides. After sewing the sides together the increase is not visible.
When knitting in round the sides of your garment are already attached. This means that depending on what method you use, the increasing of the stitches will be more or less visible.



There are several methods to increase:

• - knit twice in one stitch
• - 'make one'
• - yarn over

'vintage' instructions
If you need to 'increase' or 'make one' in a vintage (lace or other) pattern make sure you reed the instructions very carefully! Often it is described in the 'Abbrevations' section what they exactly mean, often you just need to experiment... For example, 'make' could mean: "make by bringing the yarn to the front of the needle and over it". This is a yarn forward instead of a regular 'make one' like described below. Making a swatch of the pattern helps you to spot such problems and try out other methods if the instructions are not clear. 

knit one stitch twice
This is the most common method. You knit twice in one stitch (from the front and the back) before lifting it off the needle. In the next row there will be two stitches above the one in the previous row.
This is the method I used on the Phillipa jumper. To keep the edges neat, I increased by knitting 2 times in the stitch after the first one and before the last stitch of the row. That way there are two stitches between the increasing which makes a neat, barely visible dotted line at the sides:
   

The small 'holes' are better to see on the wrong side:
   

make one
Another method to increase is usually referred to as 'make one'. You make a stitch next to the one in the previous row. You do this by picking up the yarn between two stitches, twisting it and knitting it. I like this method, because it looks so neat and makes an almost invisible increase without holes.


On the right side you see the new stitches literally 'grow' between the two stitches of the previous row (left). At the back you see small dots (right).
Again, you could increase before the last stitch and after the first stitch of a row. Then you would have two stitches running vertically at the side, with the new stitches next to them.
   

yarn over
The yarn over method is used in lace patterns, because it creates a small hole between two stitches. It is usually followed by a 'k2tog' in the next row to reduce the increase that is made. In patterns it is often referred to as 'yarn over' or 'yarn forward'.
Because of the holes this method it is not used for increasing the width of a garment.


Previous posts in the Phillipa jumper series:
1. introduction
2.yarn an gauge
3. fit an ease
4. pattern charts an diagrams
5. knitting in round &stitch markers