“Summer and the Country Life” is the caption of the introduction to the July 1968 issue of Stitchcraft. After eight years of blogging about this magazine, I have to admit that I still can’t necessarily say what makes a garment “country” or not in the world of 1960s British knitting fashion. Tweedy and casual, yes, and cardigans that can be worn as outdoor jackets. As for the rest, either there are some historical or regional codes at play (please enlighten me if you know what they are), or Stitchcraft just got tired of writing “for your holidays” in every summer issue.
The front cover design, for example, looks more like a fun night on the town to me. Knit in this year’s new bobbly-textured “Four Seasons” wool-synthetic blend, it’s a good example of the growing trend for cardigan-coats, here interpreted as a sleeveless buttoned dress. Other women’s fashions include a striped T-shirt and matching knitted skirt in smooth crepe wool, a long-line cardigan in the same Four Seasons wool, a textured blouse with a ribbed waistline, and a Victorian-era-inspired blouse in dropped-stitch lace in a “Romantic Mood”. Pastels (the long cardigan is “Surf Blue” and the ribbed-waist blouse “Beryl”) and especially pink are this season’s colours, or if uni-colour, in textured yarn and patterns.
(Apropos colours: there are so many more colour photos in the latest issues!)
For men, there’s a truly “country” cardigan in Patons Double Knitting wool, with vertical pockets and cable patterning on the sleeves and yoke. I cannot imagine a more 1960s male fashion photo than the one on the back cover. The other men’s design is a similarly loose-fitting and casual (i.e. worn with the casual dress shirt and tie; we are on holiday in the country, after all) pullover with a zig-zag texture accent. Suggested colours are “Musk” or “Earlybird Yellow”, matching the pastel theme from the women’s garments.
There is more of a balance between women’s, men’s and children’s clothes in this issue, i.e. fewer for adult women and more for the other two categories. “Boys play it rough” is the caption for the thick, tough moss-rib cardigans with ring zippers and little stripe accents for school-age boys. They will certainly have more fun playing in them than their sister, who has to try to play ball in a micro-miniskirt and a weirdly fitting short-sleeved knitted blouse. The choice of patterning ending just below the bust, plus pocket flaps (without even pockets) just below the patterning, must have been excruciatingly awkward for a preteen or teen girl. Maybe they got her to smile for the photo by promising her a pair of jeans and a T-shirt to change into. The girl on the inside back cover doesn’t fare much better in terms of casual, country comfort. Her (admittedly very cute) yellow-and-white-striped mini-dress has similar patterned / non-patterned proportions and picot edgings.
Rounding out the wearable fashions are a pattern for a plain knit skirt, tucked back in by the Readers’ Pages, which is quite similar in shape and style to the skirt worn with the striped T-shirt blouse, and a “Crochet Bonnet for the Sun” worn by the “sad” model. I like this model and think she is very pretty, but her facial expressions don’t do much to sell the designs, as she looks anxious and miserable in them. Maybe she just has terrible teeth?
The homewares mostly echo the summer holiday theme, with easy designs that can be adapted to different items. There’s a cross-stitch design of boats and fish to use on a beach bag or cleverly constructed pillow with a hidden pocket “for a day by the pool”, an easy flower embroidery pattern to trim a cushion, chairback, guest towel or pillow slip, and a Victorian-inspired tapestry design for a stool top and matching rug.
The crowning glory of home decorations in this issue is the large, paneled wall hanging with embroidered illustrations of some of the characters from Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales: the Squire, the Wife of Bath, and the Canon’s Yeoman. The figures are mostly worked in stem-stitch, including the fillings, which gives them a rich and solid texture. The panel is perhaps not all that difficult to embroider, but the finished effect is extremely impressive. In the introduction to the issue, “editress” Patience Horne promises another panel of 3 motifs in the coming months, so that readers can make a set of six pictures or two long panels of three.
in our current children’s comic, “Pets Corner”, Tottie Tortoise misunderstands a compliment meant for Pippa Poodle, paints her shell, ties a bow on her head and goes out for a walk feeling pretty. Then her mistress carries her home and she takes a nap. Sounds like a good day to me!
That’s all for this issue. My project will be the striped T-shirt, if I ever finish up any of my other other works-in-progress. Like Tottie Tortoise, I am currently slow. Have a great July, everyone, and I hope to be able to update some of the projects soon.
The Stitchcraft Sixties 