October 1963: Knitting Apron

Photo of a woman wearing a knitting apron and knitting, Stitchcraft magazine, October 1963

This month’s project was, as its name suggests, a knitting workbag with an apron-style top, allowing you to “tie it on and keep your wool in your pocket as you work.” Brilliant idea! I actually have a vintage, embroidered apron that I inherited from my grandmother that I use as a tie-on knitting bag, but this Stitchcraft project goes one better in that the apron top folds down into the bag when not being worn, allowing you to close the bag with drawstrings so that nothing falls out in transport.

It’s supposed to be made with gingham fabric and embroidered with cross-stitches in the gingham squares, but I have so many unfinished embroidery projects that I went ahead and made this one plain, using a nice cotton print from Marimekko.

Since the “pattern pieces” are all just squares and rectangles, there’s a little chart showing how to divide up the fabric to get piece A (bag), B (apron top), C (waistband), and D (tie strings). After cutting out all the pieces (why are straight lines the hardest to cut?) I was suddenly confused: The bag, piece A, was 18×17 inches. That’s pretty big, and in fact looks just about that size in the photo, but a bag has a front and a back… Was I supposed to cut it on the fold? Or cut two pieces? The waistband is obviously folded in half, and the instructions for hemming the apron top make it clear that only one, unfolded piece was needed. Huh?

I cut another identical piece for the bag and decided to also cut another identical piece for the apron top, so the hems could be neater and the fabric stronger. I cut the two bag pieces with the selvedge on the bottom edge to make a very wide seam allowance, which I could then open up and sew down to make a really sturdy bag bottom. Similarly, I hemmed the side edges before making the side seams instead of zig-zagging the raw edges. This made everything very sturdy and very neat.The apron top is made with a couple of little pleats on the sides to bridge the width difference between bag top and waistband. Before it was sewn on, it looked like a little doll miniskirt!

The apron top is sewn into the back part of the bag, so that it folds down into the bag when not in use. I was really glad I had made the apron top double, as it makes the seams even neater and everything looks very smartly finished from every angle, inside and out. (I am a sloppy sewer, so always impressed with myself when lines are straight or seams are not ragged.)

That was it! I finished the whole thing in three hours. It works perfectly and I can use it to knit while standing, walking, sitting in the train, etc. without worrying that my yarn will roll away, and it packs up in a flash. The bag part is quite large — if I made it again, I would make it slightly smaller. Other than that, it’s perfect. I imagine it would be a lot of fun to make in felt, with an embroidered front part, and that I could adapt a lot of the typical Stitchcraft designs for embroidered chairbacks, cushions, tea cosies etc. to make more of these.

Design Extra: The Valiant Tailoress

This has nothing to do with Stitchcraft, neither is it vintage, but I had a design published in a brand-new magazine and just wanted to share that with all of you.

The Valiant Tailoress takes its name from the Grimm Brothers’ fairy tale “The Valiant Tailor” (or “the Gallant Tailor” or “Brave Little Tailor”, original title Das tapfere Schneiderlein) and combines sewing, knitting and crochet to create outfits that look great together. The theme of the first edition is “The Enchanted Forest” and was, fittingly, photographed in the beautiful Black Forest area of Germany.

I hesitate to call it a “magazine” because it is really a book — 260 pages long on glossy paper, with articles on unusual fibres, traditional hat-making, different techniques for lining a sleeveless dress, and pages and pages of gorgeous photos. Seriously, even if you don’t knit, crochet or sew, you could use it as a coffee-table book — it’s that beautiful. The knit/crochet patterns are excellently tech edited with full charts, schematics etc. and the sewing patterns are printed on real paper.

My design was a long, lacy cardigan called “Lemon Leaves” and was paired perfectly with a floral bustier dress.

As an only semi-professional designer (I’ve had one other pattern published until now, a stranded tam and mitts set in Knit Now magazine), I was really honoured that my design was chosen to be part of this project. And I love the idea of combining sewing and knitting/crochet in one publication! In a way it does tie back to vintage publications like Stitchcraft that combined knitting and crochet with embroidery, tapestry, rug-making, etc.

The Valiant Tailoress is available to purchase in print form from their website, www.valiant-tailoress.com. It’s published in Switzerland (in English) and can be shipped around the world.

October 1963: Overview

Cover photo, Stitchcraft magazine, October 1963

Tweed! Remember last month’s post with the advertisement for variegated-colour yarn? This month’s issue presents Patons’ new variegated wool, “Glenora Tweed”, a slightly thicker DK-weight wool with dark tweedy flecks. It appears to have been made up of 80% wool and 20% synthetic fibre. The twelve colours were chosen to be as vibrant as tweed can be (and very 1960s…) with rich shades of red, green, orange and yellow.

As it knits up fast at about 4 stitches to the inch (but promises to still give a “beautifully firm crunchy texture” i.e. hopefully not sag too much under its own weight), it is showcased with larger garments — the “pinafore-style” over-dress and men’s cardigan shown on the cover and two two-piece suits for women. There’s also a pinafore-style overdress with pleated skirt for a older girl and a boatneck sweater for men, both in similar Bracken Tweed wool. In keeping with the newer, looser and more square-shaped style, the garments have minimal or no shaping (except the girl’s outfit) and the skirts come to just above the knee. To me, the women’s Glenora garments look so similar that I had to check twice to assure myself that the pinafore dress on the cover (with high scoop neck) and the two-piece set with skirt and “overblouse” (V-neck) were in fact different designs.

There is a matching 4-ply (women’s) or DK-weight (girl’s) jumper to go underneath the pinafore looks or the overblouse, which, combined with the thick over-garments, must have been suitably warm for outdoors or poorly heated rooms in October. (The girl, of course, is going to have cold legs all the same.) For those who resist the tweed craze, there’s also a bright, fun colour-block sweater in a three-colour slip stitch pattern. I love the matching orange head scarf!

There’s also a fun 4-ply jumper for a child with some easy stranded colourwork blocks at the waist and yoke. The accessories continue the bulky, easy-to-knit trend, with a cap and scarf in Big Ben wool and a big, cosy scarf for men in an intriguing reversible cable-moss pattern.

Rounding out the family’s fall wardrobe is a matinee coat and “helmet”-style cap for a baby, matching the dress from the September issue. The November issue promises a warm shawl to match again, thus rounding out the set. Judging from the photo, “dear little baby Alicia” seems to have realised that the purpose of a helmet-style cap is to prevent the baby from removing it and flinging it around the room, and is suitably disappointed. It’s a great design, though, with the sides and chin strap done in garter stitch to accommodate movement and growing heads.

The homewares are plentiful and here again, there are some larger projects to be tackled at home during the colder Autumn days. The bright red rug in Soumak stitch and traditional design is vivid and cheerful, as is the Jacobean cushion “for the skilled needlewoman” which I would love to make if I didn’t already have two unfinished embroidered cushions in the WIP pile. (Not to mention that I am not skilled enough to make that elaborate a design, especially without a transfer.) The Autumn-themed acorn cushion is definitely easier. There’s a Regency ribbon design for tapestry or cross-stitch, too.

For those who want a quicker, easier homeware project or are already getting started on the Christmas presents, there are more embroidered acorns on cutwork mats and some knitted and crocheted goodies: a “Scottie-dog” night-case, a crocheted bag, and… a hippo, yes, a friendly knitted hippo stuffed animal. Well, why not? It’s cute. An older child might embroider her own Little Miss Muffet picture in cross-stitch.

The very last project in the issue, tucked way back in the “Readers’ Pages”, is the one I will make. In fact, I have been waiting for this issue to come up specifically so that I can make it! It is a very simply constructed and embroidered “Apron-cum-Knitting-Bag” where the front panel and waist ties of the apron fold into the bag part along with your knitting. Pull the drawstrings closed and carry the bag around, then when it’s time to knit you can undo the strings, pull the apron part out of the bag and tie it around your waist, Presto, you are ready to knit in any situation, standing or sitting, and your ball of wool will not fall down and roll about the room. Stay tuned for a project that will actually get finished on time, as well as progress on those projects that didn’t.