Miss Lemon wardrobe files : 6. Red pieces

Miss Lemon loves red! She often chooses a bordeaux hue or 'true' red for her outfits. Of course, with a coordinated color of lipstick!

Bordeaux dress with ruffled off-white collar
This dress has so many pretty features! I love the little ruffle details at the back of the sleeves! The intriguing neckline is high and decorated with a shawl secured by a metal ring. Under the collar is a cutout feature with two rows of narrow ruffles.


     

  

Bordeaux evening dress
This is the only evening dress Miss Lemon owns. She wears it with a brooch.
Compared to the evening dresses of the rich ladies this one has a high, modest neckline and little sleeves too. We only see the upper part of the dress but can imagine it has a long, straight skirt.
   

Bordeaux coat
A tailored coat with big, rounded lapels. Looks almost like something from the 70's, right? The coat has pleated details at the back and lapels in a complementary brown color. The upper lapels have parallel rows of topstitching.
   



  

  

Bordeaux 'Art deco' dress
The main features are the softly rounded off-white collar and the striped inserts. This dress has very little shaping. The early 30's high waistline ties at the back.
  

    

Brick red dress with yellow details
Another early 30's raglan sleeve dress! The raglan seams are accentuated by a row of ajour. The close-up pics shows the delicately woven fabric which must be quite heavy weight too because it drapes beautifully.
   

   



Red striped double bow sweater
This sweater has a fake button tab at the front that makes it look as a cardigan. Have you spotted the distinct stripes at the sleeves? The sweater (or 'jumper' as they called it back then) has a double bow in a contrasting color, that is tucked under the button tab. I think this is one of the designs in the series that would be easy to reproduce, just by altering a ready-made sweater.


  



Fun fact: this sweater returns in an 11th season episode 'Cat among the pigeons' and is worn by another character in two different scenes:
   

Blue dress with bright red accents
A one-scene-dress again! This is actually a dotted blue dress but the distinctive bright orange-red inserts attract the eyes first. There is a red colored belt too. The sleeves have a cut-out feature. The big, rounded lapels and the sleeve inserts are buttoned down at the corners. In the close-ups there is a lace insert making the deep v-neck more modest:

   

  

Bright red plaid dress with white jabot collar
Such a pity, here is another dress we only see in an evening shot, when Miss Lemon is listening to the radio (where Poirot unravels the mystery of the Harlequin figurines) As she walks by we get a glimpse of the white cuffs and the belt. Interesting detail: The edges of the collar are finished with bias tape from the same fabric.
   

Orange dress
This dress appears just in two short scenes in two different episodes and almost escaped to my attention! It is worn with a white jacket so no clue about the sleeves. The skirt is long and slightly flared. The dress has a finely embroidered white collar with a mini-jabot, once worn with a brooch and once without.
   

   


Next up: white and pastel colored outfits!

My 1940's knitted scarf + pattern!

I found this very pretty knitting pattern on page 26 of the 9 march 1940 issue of the 'Australian Women's Weekly'. The color illustration was even on the cover! We are not used to knit without any pictures, it is always a guess whether the illustration is correct or there is a little bit of artistic freedom involved. Since I did like the illustration I wanted to give it a try. I'am not disappointed! The illustration is correct, the finished design has the pretty, pleated borders!
source: Australian Women's Weekly magazine through Trove

1940's scarf pattern
To make the pattern more visual I made a chart of it (this illustration is not part of the original pattern) As you can see it is a triangle pattern made up of knit and purl rows:

When knitted it gives a 3-dimensional pleated effect:

My notes and adjustments:
- For the scarf I used about 200g/7oz of 'Pingouin Le yarn 3 chine' in color 'jeans' (yarn specifications: 50g=90m=100yds 76%Acrylic/20%Wool/4%Viscose) The original pattern probably used thinner yarn in combination with a bigger size needle, resulting in a more loosely knitted scarf
- Needles: metric size 3 (=US 2 =old UK 11)
- to make the edges look tight I slipped over the first stitch of every row (knit- or purlwise following the pattern) instead of knitting, though the pattern doesn't specify this.
- I made the middle section longer than the length suggested in the pattern because I couldn't make a knot with the 22 in/56 cm. I simply tried this a couple of times when knitting and ended up with 80cm/31,5 in instead.

Original material specifications:

- 3 ply super fingering wool (4 oz for scarf + gloves)

- Gauge: 1x1 in: 7 st and 9 rows

- No 9 'Vyella' needles (the old UK size 9 is metric 3.75 and US 5)

- Finished scarf length: 38 in (=96 cm)

Pattern:
- Cast on 70 stitches
- Knit the pattern rows in total 6 times.
- In the next row you are going to decrease, this gives the flared ends of the scarf. After the last row of pattern: *K1, K2TOG* K1 (47 st)
- Now start with the middle section of the scarf:
Row 1: P
Row 2: *K1, P1* K1
Repeat Row 1 and 2 for a length of 22 in (=56 cm) and end with a Purl row.
- Continue with increasing as follows:
Row 4: *K1, INC* K1 (70 st)
- Repeat the 10 pattern rows for 6 times in reverse order (start with row 10 and end with row 1)
- Cast off

Notice: I do not own this pattern. 
The original pattern is free available through the Trove website HERE



Right side left, wrong side right:
  

Right side:


Wrong side:

Miss Lemon wardrobe files: 5. Brown pieces

Miss Lemon seems to wear most of the brown outfits during the first seasons. Also her hairstyle is early 1930's, she wears different versions of 'spit curls'.

Brown dress with plaid bow collar
A long sleeved, belted dress with a very pretty, pleated and embellished bow-style collar. Truly a highlight of the 1930's decorative elements! The 'tartan' plaid insert at the front is folded open like a second collar, the corners and the lower part of the fabric are secured with metal rings. there is a smaller dark brown bow placed under the 'upper' collar.
    

  

Light brown blocked blouse
A coffe-coloured blouse with dark brown and white geometric motives. The blouse has a narrow, round neck and there is a knotted, pleated fake bow running down the front. The fabric of the bow is secured at the shoulders and is double folded in a cascading style. The blouse probably has cut on sleeves.


  

Brown 'speckled' frock
This dress has a round neckline with a big, rounded collar. The collar has a ruffle finish around the edges. The gathered sleeves are open at the shoulders and are finished with ruffles around the elbows.


   

   

Brown dress with smocked shoulders and off-white collar
This belted dress has smocked details at the shoulders. There is a lot of gathering going on around the sleeves and bust area. The softly folded off-white collar is decorated with spaghetti strap loops with metallic 'pendants' at the ends. The same fabric is used for the folded back cuffs. The ends of the curved collar only reach over the shoulders and remain open at the back. The dress has a long, flared skirt.

  

   



Camel brown suit
A long, straight skirt and a collarless jacket with almost no shaping. The jacket falls below the hips and closes with three buttons that are placed quite low. Worn here with a white blouse with plisse ruffles and jabot collar.


  

  

Brown fur jacket
A loosely fitted fur trimmed coat. The coat has a big, round fur collar and puffy sleeves which are more fitted at the underarms. The coat closes with a huge single button, like most 20's style coats did.



  

Yellow flower frock 
A brownish-yellow dress with puff sleeves and V-neck. The slleves seems to be cut in one piece with the bodice, the fabric is folded in pleats instead of gathering at the shoulders. There is a bow placed above the right breastline (barely visible because of the busy fabric).


   

Next up: the red outfits!