“Holidays In the Wind” is the title of the June 1968 issue of Stitchcraft, promising “fashions for sunning and sailing”. The couple on the cover are dressed appropriately for sailing and/or a typical summer in the UK in their warm woolen cardigan-jackets. “Easy-fitting to slip on quickly — and smart for her to wear with culottes and slacks for rambling and biking” is the caption to the additional photo, showing the female model looking cute while the male model fixes her bicycle. When he’s finished with that, he can slip into a slipover in fine 4-ply flattened ribbing.
For the most part, the other women’s fashions in this issue eschew the casual, “country” holiday style in favour of slightly more dressy outfits in fuzzy or textured yarns and “dreamy” pastel and neutral colours. There’s a belted skirt suit in Patons’ new “Four Seasons” nubbly wool-mix, a dress and a sleeveless top in fine, fluffy “Princess” wool, a jumper with a lace yoke and sleeves in 4-ply “Cameo Crepe”, and another skirt suit, this time in bouclet wool and a flowery lace-rib pattern.
“Sophisticated”, “elegant”, “graceful”, and “softly fashioned” are the key words in the accompanying desciptions.
Crocheters get an opportunity to make something fine and elegant too: a cotton lace blouse, “so feminine for summer.” Crochet garments, especially somewhat more difficult ones like this, are rare in Stitchcraft, so we are assured in the description that it is “not a really difficult design to work.” The highlight of the issue though, if you ask me, is the knitted bikini! It is made in plain stocking-stitch, to show off the texture of the nubbly “Four Seasons” wool (the same as the skirt suit) and notably described as being for “sunning and… lazing.” Nota bene, not “swimming”! I assume it would sag horribly when wet, or fall off and float away. Still, it’s glorious.
There are some fun fashions for kids in this issue, too, conveniently in a “his and hers” version for both toddlers and school-age children. The former can “paddle and splash” in striped trunks (boy) or one-piece romper (girl), knitted in 4-ply Purple Heather wool. The bigger kids have matching short-sleeved knitted shirts with a jagged stripe pattern, paired with a skirt for the girl. I feel sorry for her trying to play on a beach in a tiny mini-skirt! The boy seems to be wearing more practical non-knitted shorts.
The homewares in this issue are pretty standard: counted embroidery for garden cushions or to work in tapestry on a stool-top.
More ambitious needlecrafters can make a tapestry scene of Dunster to hang on the wall, or a knitted lace table-cloth in washable crochet cotton.
In the children’s comic, “Pets Corner”, Hamish the Hamster decides he wants to go on a walk, then goes, then decides he doesn’t like it after all. Luckily, he comes home to find a spinning hamster wheel, “which meant that he could walk a hundred miles without leaving home.” And so the stay-cation was born!
Wherever or whatever your “holidays” are, I hope you get some and wish you well. My project will be the knitted bikini. Let’s hope it gets finished soon enough to get some “sunning and lazing” time.
The Stitchcraft Sixties 