September 1963: Overview

Cover photo from Stitchcraft magazine, September 1963

“Knitting Time starts with a Sparkle” is Stitchcraft’s motto for the September 1963 issue, and the editress’ note assures us that “this is going to be a particularly interesting Autumn-Winter knitting season.” What does that mean for us? Lots of interesting use of bolder colours in traditional or not-so-traditional stranded and geometric patterns as well as subtler use of colour variation in tweeds and toning changes.

1963 was the year when variegated yarns, so beloved by modern knitters, first came into fashion (hence the “sparkle”), and although Patons doesn’t yet offer a truly colour-variegated yarn, here’s one from the competition: Bernat Klein No. 1, as featured in this stunning eight-page advertisement in Vogue Knitting Book No. 62 from 1963:

(The Lux and Opti-lon ads should look familiar to Stitchcraft enthusiasts as well.)

The tweedy look starts with the three-piece suit from the cover photo, consisting of a skirt, long-sleeved jumper and high-buttoning cardigan with stripe accents to bring out the lighter blue tweed flecks. Apropos “fleck”, that’s the name of the yarn: Totem Fleck. The jumper is made in the lighter, solid blue color with ribbing accents in the tweed shade. It seems to be a “switch-around” ensemble, i.e. you are not intended to wear the cardigan over the jumper as you would with a twin-set. Bracken Tweed, the somewhat bulkier tweed wool of the season (Totem Fleck is DK and Bracken is more like Aran-weight at 18 sts to the inch), is featured in this blazer “for young men who like comfortable clothes”. You know, the kind of clothes you can play ball sports in: a button-up shirt with tie, short wool trousers and a hand-knitted tweed blazer. Of course.

The other adult or teen garments feature bolder colours and interesting stranded or textured designs, like this intriguing dolman sweater with the stranded stripe running horizontally across the yoke and down the sleeves. I feel like this use of colour would look terrible on me (wide chest and long arms), but I love the idea! The man’s sweater uses a more traditional placement of the colour bands, but in contrasting green and orange tones and a spiky geometric diamond design (continuing the trend from summer 1963). The sweaters on the inside back cover have a more muted colour palette and subtle diamond texture pattern. Textured patterns make a showing in the other women’s garments as well: a bobbled raglan pullover, mock-cable cardigan and nubbly “Rimple” jumper. I want those glasses! The diamond-shape trend shows itself here in more subtle form via V-neck openings and pointy collars.

This issue also starts a new layette set for the youngest members of the family, starting with a warm dress, hat and bootees. Next month’s issue promises a matching matinee coat and cosy “helmet” cap. The caption for the modelled photo reads, “Jonathan is just 2 months” and reminds us that babies of both sexes wore lacy dresses with both pink and blue embroidery on them. 1963 was definitely a more sexist era, but also a more practical one in some ways.

There’s an interesting selection of Autumn-themed homewares as well, like a leafy fender-stool and chair-seat set, some blackwork finger-plates for the door (reminding me that I still have not finished my blackwork butterfly cushion from April…) a cushion and runner with Chinese motifs (I cannot vouch for any kind of authenticity — the motifs look very similar to the traditional European “Jacobean” designs to me, but what do I know), a pair of crochet-appliqué trolley cloths and a crochet-motif cushion.

And then there’s this “practical idea” — cover an old box (they used a wooden margarine box of about 16×12 inches and 8 inches deep, which sounds like a lot of margarine ha ha) with embroidered Binca canvas, cushion the lid with foam rubber under the embroidery and strengthen it with a piece of wood on the under-side and voilà: a “magazine tidy” which can also be used as a little stool to sit on. Very practical indeed and reduces clutter. I like it.

That’s all for this issue! I’ll be making the quick ! easy ! uses up leftovers ! crochet cushion. How quick and easy is it, you ask? I’ll tell you: it is so quick and easy that I started working on it last night, September 1st, and am already more than half finished: (Working on both halves of the cushion cover alternately so as to gauge how much wool I have of each colour.)

So there will definitely by a finished project in September, and hopefully this will give me some time to finish up the rest of the WIPs. I did also complete a retro-themed jumper of my own design which is not technically from Stitchcraft, but I’ll post about it anyway, because it was fun.

April 1963: Overview

Cover photo, Stitchcraft magazine, April 1963

First Fashions for Holidays! It’s almost always some sort of holiday season in these vintage knitting magazines — in this case, Easter and preparations for the summer. As the British climate makes it possible to wear thick, warm wool sweaters pretty much any month of the year, “holiday / not holiday” is less a matter of warmth or season and more about casual, easy-care garments to wear while “strolling” and sight-seeing, or projects that are small and simple enough that you can work on them while lounging in your deck chair. Or, as the facing page title puts it, “Sweaters off-duty.”

Thick, collared pullovers and cardigan jackets that can be worn as outerwear make up the bulk (-y) of the garments in the first category, many of them made in Patons Big Ben wool at 3 1/2 stitches to the inch. The tweedy, dark green jacket on the inner front cover is a good example of this and features an intriguing wavy slip-stitch pattern. The “Italian” tunic on the inner back cover has a knitted-in border pattern made of beads. DK-weight wool is used for the women’s round-yoke sweater on the front cover. Hip-length is the fashion for everyone, wide collars continue to be in style and decorative borders near the hem are the new spring trend.

There are fashions in finer-weight wool as well, “for elegant summer wear”. The red men’s pullover on the inside cover and the women’s Nylox pullover both have interesting stitch patterns, though I feel like the placement of the inserts on the women’s pullover could go horribly wrong a little too easily. If your man finds cables too exciting, you can knit him a plain V-neck pullover in bouclet wool and match it to your own fluffy mohair-mix jacket, made in Patons’ best-ever-named wool, “Fuzzy-Wuzzy.” Colours are strong and bright, including some very springlike salmon and turquoise.

Fashions for the younger members of the family cover all age groups: a dolman cross-front cardigan for the baby, a play-set for the toddler, a “miniature Paris blazer” for small and medium-sized children (she’s painting a picture on a easel, so you know it’s Parisian!) and a quick-to-make “chunky” pullover for “sub-teens” which is easy enough for a bigger girl to make for herself. (I don’t think the young model in the photo actually knows how to knit, though.)

With all that pre-holiday prep knitting, the homewares in this issue are generally unspectacular. There are chair sets in counted cross-stitch, a crocheted cushion and rug for the older daughter to make for her room, and a tapestry tea-cosy. The two more interesting projects are these corded crochet mats and a wonderful cushion with a design of butterflies, made in blackwork embroidery. Unfortunately I’m not good enough at crocheting to really understand how the “corded” look on the mats is achieved, besides the fact that there are a lot of picots and crocheting many stitches into a ring. Oh, and there are embroidered table mats, too, featuring line drawings of famous parks. I like the white-on-black effect — something different.

That’s it for this issue! The ads are pretty normal and in the comic, Miss Muffet continues her adventures, getting magically shrunk down to the size of an insect in order to go flying with a nice beetle-lady. I’m afraid the dragonfly might have dropped her into the lake, though! Oh no! How will it end?

My project for this month will be the embroidered butterfly cushion. Happy Spring!

January 1963: Overview

Happy New Year, everyone! It’s 2021 in the real world and 1963 in the Stitchcraft Sixties blog world. The real-life 1963 was a turbulent year: the Cold War escalated, as did the war in Vietnam; the civil rights movement in the US both gained ground and suffered violent setbacks; John F. Kennedy was assassinated; the Second Vatican council entered a new phase. In England, scandals abounded in the wake of the Profumo affair and the divorce of the Duke and Duchess of Argyll. On a happier note, the Beatles recorded their first album, Please Please Me, kicking off Beatlemania around the world, and women in Iran gained the right to vote. Also, the smiley-face symbol was invented. 🙂

Of course, none of this — not even the Beatles or the smiley face — had any direct influence on Stitchcraft (certainly not in the January issue, before any of it happened…). What we think of as “1960s fashion” — the miniskirt, the “space age” look, the shift dress, the Mod look, the hippie-bohemian styles of the later years of the decade — was just gearing up around 1963, and Stitchcraft was a fashion-conservative magazine. That said, holdover fashions from the 1950s like fitted, waist-length cardigans and wide, swingy skirts have disappeared completely by now; the female models often wear trousers or “slacks” and casual, bulky-knit sweaters are ubiquitous.

So what does January 1963 have in store for us? The theme of the January 1963 issue is “Paris Casuals” and resolves to start with “a bumper all-round family number.” For adults, that means warm, comfortable jumpers and cardigans in a range of wool weights with V-necks or interesting collars and textured stitch patterns. The cover garment epitomises all the trends: made in bulky Big Ben wool in a two-colour slip stitch pattern, it sports “this season’s Paris collar choice and longer line.” The textured raglan cardigan is a similar look, as is the man’s casual cardigan on the back cover. The bouclet cardigan gives a nod to earlier fashions with its choice of fine wool and classic shape, but here too it is longer and looser-fitting than previous classic bouclet garments. A simple collared jumper in double knitting with attractive fine details rounds out the adult garment selection.

There are great winter fashions for children, first and foremost the girl’s skating set of skirt and collared pullover. Unfortunately, I suspect something went wrong with the sample knit, as both pictures show the model turned 3/4 away from the camera and it’s not clear how it is supposed to look from the front. (Also, could someone please give her some warm tights to wear before she goes out onto the ice.) Toddlers get a cute “buster suit” with a design of cherries on the jumper, and older children get a wonderful hoodie (to use the modern term) and jumper-cap set to wear while playing in the snow. (Or in the photo studio — check out the snowman and snowball made of wool and/or cushion stuffing fluff!). Crisp, wintery colours of blue and red with white are trending. Notice also that the girl model is wearing trousers, the hooded sweater is unisex, and the model wearing the red outfit in the black and white photo is allowed to be active and tomboyish for once. I wouldn’t even have known she was a girl if the sweater weren’t (for whatever reason) considered specifically a girls’ garment. Slowly, very slowly, roles are changing.

Babies get a pram cover instead of a garment this time — padded and quilted to be extra warm — and there’s a cute bedjacket and fantastic “tower” hat that is perfectly in fashion. (Side note: The caption, “PARIS HAT”, makes me think of that line “If a Harris pat means a Paris hat, Bébé… ooh la la!” in “Always True To You In My Fashion” from the musical Kiss Me, Kate. In true Cole Porter style, it’s an upbeat love song… in which the singer explains to her boyfriend that her dalliances with other men for gifts and money — basically sex work, though of course not explicitly described in those terms — shouldn’t count as infidelity, since she’s only doing it for the financial benefits and is true to him in her heart. Ah, romance! Anyway, the hat is great.)

With all the great knitted items, home fashions are pretty standard this month. There are rugs and cushions, a lovely embroidered tablecloth and tea-cosy set, a tapestry picture, a cutwork table set, a very impressive crocheted doily and a hassock or kneeling cushion for church-goers.

The “readers’ pages” have a review of what was probably a very interesting book on dressmaking for dolls, and –bucking the “single girl” trend of the early 1960s — we’ve got another “stand by your man and knit him something” ad for P&B wools (though this one is really quite sweet and romantic, unlike the “you only exist to be pretty for him” ad seen in other issues). There’s also a new cartoon serial for children: a re-telling of the “Little Miss Muffet” nursery rhyme, where Miss Muffet is not at all afraid of the spider. I’m sure, when she grows up, she will be not at all afraid to suggest to her man that he knit something for her for once.

My project from this issue will probably be a scaled-down version of one of the children’s sweaters for a smaller child. Stay tuned!

December 1962: Quick and Easy Cushion

I have a huge backlog of unfinished projects and recently even got a commission to write a pattern for a new knitting and sewing magazine, so I needed the December project to be something quick and easy that I could make from stash. Behold, a very 1960s crocheted flower-petal cushion from this month’s issue! I love cheerful crocheted cushions and afghans — they have that fun, old-fashioned charm.

This one is made in double knitting, and I had two colours of blue and one of green to make a big, blue flower. I guess it’s a cornflower? Whatever, it’s cute and the colours looked good together. The dark blue is 100% acrylic (left over from this project and this project, which was patterned after this project — yes, I bought plenty of yarn), the light blue is 90% alpaca / 10% sheep wool (a gift from a very nice friend who brought it over from Chile!) and the green is a wool-acrylic blend last seen in this project from January 1960, so I was concerned that the finished item might behave inconsistently when washed or blocked, but I had no problems with that.

The size and scale, on the other hand… There was no tension given in the instructions, only a finished size of “approximately 17 inches diameter” and instructions to use double knitting wool and a No. 8 (5 mm) hook. The cushion is made in pieces — first the petals, then the triangular inserts at the top of the petals, then the center, then it gets sewn together, then you crochet the border and sew it onto fabric for the back side of the cushion — so it was hard to tell how big it was going to be. Also, the instructions very clearly say to make 12 petals and 12 insertions, but the accompanying photo very clearly shows a cushion with 16 petals and insertions. Patience Horne, you need a tech editor and a proofreader!

The result — once I had finished all 16 petals and 16 insertions, which was in fact the correct number to get the petals to form a circle, and sewn all the fiddly bits and pieces together — was huge. Granted, 17 inches in diameter is a fairly large cushion, but mine was 19 inches in diameter before I had even started crocheting the border, and the triangular insertions were also too big, making them pucker and wave a bit. I made a snap decision to just crochet the border larger and larger until all of the green wool was used up and have it be a baby blanket instead of a cushion, which would also spare me the trouble of figuring out how to make the back of the cushion, whether or not to make an inner cushion pad and have the crocheted part be a removable cover, etc. etc.

The border in the instructions only being a few rounds and me not being the world’s best crocheter, I searched for a formula to crochet something in rounds of double crochet that would have the right amount of increase per round to keep the circle flat. Though I found many amazing doily patterns and not-quite-fitting formulas, I didn’t find what I was looking for, so I just increased one stitch per petal each round and did a plain round in between every so often. There was much ripping back and doing over, but in the end it worked out fine. As for the still-puckery triangle inserts, I declared them a “design feature” and left it at that.

I wash-blocked the blanket, which evened it out some more, and only then realised that I had forgotten to embroider the lines down the center of each petal. In the end, I decided against it. The dark blue and green yarns were all used up, I didn’t have any other colour that looked right and I honestly thought it was fine the way it was. The finished size is 23 1/2 inches or 60 cm in diameter, which will fit a baby’s pram nicely. Not having a baby on hand, here it is with a teddy bear for scale:

It’s not perfect and it definitely has that “home-made charm”, but I think it will make any parents and baby happy.

December 1962: Overview

It’s that time of year again, and Stitchcraft is getting into the festive season with their annual Christmas issue — though if it weren’t for the wreath on the door behind our cover model and the other model in the window holding a metallic tree and box of ornaments, I wouldn’t know it was the Christmas issue at all.

The suit on the cover is “The Suit for Spring ’63”, made in Bracken Tweed double knitting (colour: “Green Witch”! Great name) and trimmed with black braid, like the November 1961 suit from which I made the blazer last year. The December 1962 jacket has no buttons and more of a boxy “swing-line” shape, like the classic Chanel suits that were especially popular in the early 1960s. The simple pink blouse worn with the suit was made from a Vogue pattern which could be ordered via Stitchcraft, thus completing the outfit.

The other larger knitting projects are either warm, bulky and practical for the cold, or fancy, pretty things to wear to parties. In the first category, there’s a wonderful hooded coat for a toddler which keeps out “all the draughts” — except, of course, the ones traveling up her bare legs! I still feel sympathetically sad every time I see pictures of cold-weather children from pre-1970s eras with five layers of wool on their upper bodies but basically nothing on the bottom half.

There’s a zig-zag patterned sweater in Big Ben wool for a larger child or young teen (who is luckily old enough to wear trousers, as seen in another photo) and a stranded design in double knitting that fits into the same “harlequin” diamond-pattern idea (though the adult version makes me think of spiky eyes looking out at me). Also in double knitting is the cabled turtleneck “for the extra slim” (30-31 or 32-33 inch bust). Rounding out the warmer designs are two partner-look sweaters in bulky Ariel and an “Italian stitch” (stranded knitting and purling — that’s going to be really warm and bulky.) The “Continental” trend can be seen in the spiky-eyes sweater as well, which is apparently of Viennese (as per page 20) and/or Tyrolean (as per back cover) design.

Then there are the party clothes: a fluffy cardigan for a young girl and a beaded 2-ply blous with minimal shaping and a beaded crochet finish on the neckline. Holly green is always a hit in the winter designs and other than that, the preferred colour is white with bright contrasts in red, orange or turquoise. The cabled turtleneck is made in “Lipstick Red”.

Surprisingly, this month’s homewares are not particularly special. Our year of embroidered flowers has come to an end with a design of “Christmas roses” (really, they’re just roses) and readers could back-order any transfers they might have missed over the course of the year to make a tablecloth with all of the 12 flower designs on it. There are quick, easy cushions in darning or crochet and a cutwork design for another tablecloth.

The Christmas issues of Stitchcraft usually have a lot of very creative and sometimes bizarre ideas for knick-knacks, small gifts and other “novelties”, but this year seems to put more focus back on knit designs. There are a few small sewing projects that could work as gifts any time of the year — little aprons, a pincushion doll and a sewing case. The winter-motif mats for the Christmas table, a small tapestry scene and a felt Father Christmas wall panel that you can pin cards to are more appropriate to the holiday theme, and the back pages give readers a few traditional cross-stitch motifs to adapt to their own use and ideas for table trimmings. The table-trimming “trees” are made of sequinned tissue-paper trees stuck on top of empty sewing-thread spools and the “Berries and Twigs” are twiggy branches from a real tree, painted white and decorated with red wool pom-pom “berries” and foil leaves.

Christmas and any other large family get-together holidays are obviously not happening this year, but — good news! — as the blog year 1962 draws to a close, so too does the real-life year 2020, which I’m pretty sure most of us can agree was awful. I hope you all continue to get through it with minimal damage and enjoy the holiday season as much as possible in a pandemic-safe way. My project for this month will be the easy crocheted cushion, and finishing up all the unfinished projects.

November 1962: Overview

For 1960s Stitchcraft readers, November means holiday planning, so this month’s issue is full of quick homewares for decorating and small, easy projects for gift-giving. The garments are warm and bulky, featuring Patons’ new “Ariel” wool. Warm autumn tones of brown and orange as well as bright, cheerful holiday reds and blues are the colours of the season. Christmas Plans and Winter Fashions ahoy!

Our cover garment is a bulky, yet elegant coat in Big Ben wool, weighing in at a hefty 52-56 ounces (up to 3 1/2 pounds, or about 1500 grams). The mock cable/twisted rib pattern certainly won’t curl at the bottom edge, which is why I guess it’s designed without a hem or ribbing, but at that weight and in that pattern, I suspect the coat would grow ever longer and ever narrower (just in time for holiday weight gain). Still, it looks lovely! I especially like the buttoned collar. Also, I just might try to re-create the model’s hairdo with my long lockdown hair.

The outdoor photography was taken near historical buildings in York, whose grey-beige stone walls give a nice background to the bright red and blue sweaters made with “Ariel” a bulky, yet “feather-light” (well… 20-24 ounces for a sweater, so lighter than Big Ben, at least) wool-synthetic mix. I really like the red chevron sweater and it doesn’t look bulky at all to me, just fluffy and cosy. Father and daughter also get warm, cheerful garments, and look at this amazing mini-dress for a young miss! That is going on my list of patterns to adapt for myself.

Older teens and young lovers can make “the ‘sweater-match’ theme with girl-friend and boy-friend” – classic pullovers with cable ribs in double-knitting weight and identical except for slightly different shoulder width and back length proportions. That’s all for the knitted garments in this issue, since the real focus is on Christmas preparations with little gifts and housewares.

For children’s gifts, there’s a doll, clothes for another doll (pattern in last month’s issue), and a night case in the form of a puppy. This last was especially popular around the late 1950s and early 1960s – I have a different magazine with a poodle nightcase on the cover, and Stitchcraft also had some kind of poodle nightcase in the later 1950s. Poodle or puppy or not, I don’t know why a person would want to put their nightgown in a special case in or on the bed. If you don’t want other people who might be using the room to see your nightdress lying around, you could just… put it under the pillow?

There’s an intriguing “Byzantine” cushion, a firescreen with this month’s embroidered flower (chrysanthemum) and some little gifts sewn in felt, but the more interesting projects are displayed nicely in the large colour photo in the middle of the issue. We’ve got an embroidered farm scene for the nursery wall, a “hostess set” of apron and coasters featuring international drinking mottos, the usual cross-stitch cushion, and a tray cloth/tea cosy design that I would love to adapt to an iPad/tablet cover. Crocheters can use up all their scraps with medallions or a … cute? eerie? not sure what to say about it? pixie doll and patchwork fans, generally ignored by Stitchcraft, finally have a little bag as a starter project.

There are even rugs in Scandinavian designs (is that basket pattern from Denmark or from Sweden?), one stitched, the other done with a latch-hook.

What an issue! There are so many projects I would like to make from it: the girl’s dress in my size, an embroidered tea-cosy for the digitalised world, the little girl’s bulky red sweater, even the green latch-hook rug. Sadly, pandemic and lockdown have thrown a monkey wrench into my current knitting plans, it’s hard to get supplies, and I’m trying to finish or even start multiple other large projects that were planned or promised or have been lying in the WIP pile for ever. One of those WIPs was a (non-vintage) garment that I will have to frog anyway (ran out of wool and can’t make it work), so the plan is to frog that project and use the wool to make “Father’s cardigan” from this issue. Said project and I are geographically separated at the moment, though, so long story short: I do not know when I will be able to post a November project. Take heart, though: there will be some more Stitchcraft cooking fun in December as well as a special surprise next week.

Repeat Performance: Charming Blouse

EDIT: Finally finished in March 2021!

It was very difficult to get a project going this month. The October 1962 issue of Stitchcraft didn’t have any designs that interested me and I had been trying to finish up some larger, non-vintage projects in time for the cold-weather season. But inspiration came from a good friend of mine, who politely reminded me that, way back when I made this “charming blouse”, I had casually offered to knit one for her if she ever wanted one, and wouldn’t this be a good time to make it for her? I agreed! So this month’s project echoed the one I made then. Here are photos from that issue and the finished project:

The original blouse, from the July 1960 issue, was designed for “larger”, curvier figures (37-38 or 39-41 inch bust) and featured horizontal bust darts, which was very unusual for knitting patterns of the time. I was intrigued to see how the bust darts would turn out, since I don’t usually make them on garments for myself. As I probably could have guessed, the bust darts were not only unnecessary for me, but actually negatively impacted the fit — since I am not busty enough to fill out the darts, the front of the blouse was too long compared to the back. That didn’t particularly bother me, but I did note it for future projects.

My friend has a more suitable figure for this design, and her version turned out even better. I used the same wool (Juniper Moon Farm Herriot Fine) in a lovely tweedy green colour, and (by request) without a collar or contrasting colour bands along the front.

It turned out perfectly and we were both very happy with the result. Since we’re not meeting indoors and it was still too cold for her to wear just a blouse outside (even a warm knitted one), I’ve only got her selfies for now, so I’m sorry if it’s hard to tell what the finished product looks like. When it’s warm enough to do a socially distanced outdoor photo shoot, we can hopefully get some better photos! According to her it fits perfectly, and it’s obviously a fantastic colour for her.

My friend, by the way, is the wonderful opera and concert singer Andrea Lauren Brown. We have all been out of work for a solid year now due to the pandemic, but you can definitely still buy her CDs, which I heartily recommend to all of you who love classical music. Seriously, she’s amazing.

July 1962: Overview

Cover photo from the magazine showing two women and a male waiter drinking cocktails.

Holiday and party seasons are both in full swing in Stitchcraft’s July 1962 issue and the more I look at this cover photo, the more I love it. Note how the foreground model is staring off into the distance while sitting on a table with a compass printed on it, as if fantasising about her faraway holiday (though, if she’s on holiday already, as the picture is implying, does that mean she can’t wait to get home?). Meanwhile, it’s a good thing that our flirty tuxedoed waiter’s drinks tray is empty, with that precarious balancing act. If anyone feels inspired to creatively augment this photo with speech- and thought-bubble captions, please do and share it with us!

Colour photo from the magazine showing a modeled, knitted ensemble and blouse

In keeping with the easy-going, summer holiday theme, the knitting projects are simple and quick to make. The two illustrated on the cover have no sleeves, minimal shaping and patterning, and are made in quick double knitting wool. Although pictured as stand-alone tops, they could easily be layered over a blouse on cooler days. There’s also a simple blue blouse with loopy flower details on the collar and a striped, sleeveless tunic-blouse with matching skirt, all in 4-ply wool. Our waiter from the cover photo has found another holiday-goer to flirt with, and sports a “Casual Italian design sweater” in the same colour as her skirt: “Water Green.” (Holiday tip: if the water actually is that colour, don’t drink it.) Speaking of Italy, doesn’t that beautiful model in the collared blouse look like she just stepped out of a Fellini film?

For cooler days, there are cardigans in “golfer” or classic, slightly bobbled styles, both made in double knitting. The golfer takes her sport very seriously! Knitters who are really in a hurry to get packing can make some simple, bulky pullovers for the kids in the family (shown here building a lovely British castle out of cardboard and sand in the Patons photo studio — I am guessing everyone had a lot of fun on this issue’s photo shoots) or a fine-knit slipover in honeycomb pattern, written for a home knitting machine.

The embroidered homewares are mostly easy and predictable: a chairback with this month’s flower, the carnation; a quickly-made “gay garden cushion” (Happy Pride!), and place mats with heat-resistant cork inserts. There’s a tapestry stool and/or project bag in Florentine pattern, knitted or crocheted cushions, some fancy knitted doilies and a trolley cloth from crocheted motifs. I didn’t photograph all of them, since they’re pretty standard fare.

For those who like to immortalise their holiday paradise in tapestry, there’s a wall hanging of the village of St. Etienne de Bougary in the lovely French Pyrenées. For your outing to that very inviting-looking lake, you can sew you own beach bags and/or an appliquéd blanket-towel-baby’s-playmat for outdoor lounging. The beach bags feature adhesive plastic lining to keep wet bathing suits from leaking into the bag. Smart and easy, indeed.

I’m kind of ambivalent about making a project from this issue. The only thing I could really use is the bobbly cardigan, but it’s not exactly necessary, and the only design that I find exceptional is this crocheted blouse (worn by my favorite Stitchcraft model, who featured in a lot of the mid-and late 1950s issues). Model and blouse are both beautiful, but the blouse is way beyond my limited crochet skills. I wish I had the “Traditional Norwegian Designs” booklets from this ad! I think I’ll take the time to finish up another long-standing WIP instead.

September 1961: Circular Rug to Crochet

September’s project (finished only one day late) was this extremely 1960s crocheted green rug with black, white and orange embroidered spots (they “add a modern touch”) and fringe. Loved it!

Before I could start, I had to figure out what kind of wool to use. Rug wool, such as the Patons Turkey Rug Wool in the pattern, was available in the 1960s in large skeins by weight and rugs could be made using tapestry stitches on canvas, crocheting, tufting or using the latch-hook method. Latch-hook rug makers had to cut the wool themselves and there were ingenious little tools to help them do that, like this Patwin rug-wool cutter or this “strip slitter” from Bliss. Later in the decade, “cut packs” were introduced for latch-hook use and it is now very difficult to find rug wool in skeins.

Felting wool, like rug wool, is bulky, mostly unprocessed, coarse and strong, so that was my first thought… but would it felt with use or washing? I decided to take the chance, since it’s easy to find, inexpensive and there happened to be some in the perfect colour at my local yarn shop. It’s the exact same shade of green as the embroidered cushion from 1960 that I made last year! It even possibly matches the original colour from the pattern, “Green Haze”.

I had to order more wool than they had in the store. To figure out how much wool I needed, I asked a better mathematician than me if he could work it out using the diameter of the swatch, finished diameter of the rug (29 inches without fringe) and the amount of wool per skein. Then I calculated it myself based on the number of stitches in one skein’s worth of wool and the total number of stitches in the rug. We were both a bit off — he thought I would need 11 skeins (65 grams) and I thought I would need 9, when in fact I only needed 8. Then again, the 8 skeins made a slightly smaller rug when done by the pattern, so I kept on for a few more rounds and used one more skein to get the proper size.

The crochet part was easy — just rounds of double crochet with regular increases — and went very quickly. You can see that the wool I ordered was from a different dye lot than the first skeins from the store, but I don’t mind. The embroidery was a bit tedious and the fringe posed a new problem: this type of old-fashioned cotton sew-on fringe is very much not in fashion and hard to find in stores these days. I hate buying things on the Internet, so I asked my friendly wool-shop owner from the store where I bought the wool what she thought, or if it could be ordered through the store. She suggested hand-knotting the fringe with cotton yarn in a similar colour to the rug. (the fringe in the original seems to be white or a lighter colour). I was eager to get the thing done and not wait for more elements to arrive, so I did it. I like the result! It’s stringier than the original, of course, but it makes the rug look like a sort of friendly amoeba. I like that.

Wash-blocking it gently in cold water worked well and did not felt the wool. Also, it is going to live under my coffee table where it won’t get much foot traffic, so I’m not worried.

A good friend saw it and said, “Wow, it’s so ugly, I love it!” Which stung a bit, but I know what they meant. It’s really 1960s! But it also really goes well with my retro/vintage living room decor and I don’t think it’s ugly at all, just goofy. I’m very happy with the way it turned out.

September 1961: Overview

“Knitting with an Autumn Theme” is the motto of this month’s Stitchcraft from September, 1961. Knowing that September is the month where many knitters take up their needles again after not wanting to handle wool in the hot summer, I would have expected a “bumper issue” with extra ideas, new fashions from Paris, more colour photographs and so on. Not the case! It has more or less the same mix of “chunky”, bulky garments and easy homewares that we saw in the summer issues.

Not that that’s bad, of course (though bulky is not and probably will never be my style). The kid’s coat looks cosy and fun to wear, and the “gay sweaters for him and her” in a Norwegian-style pattern are warm, practical and unisex. I imagine the boatneck collar on an unshaped front must scratch horribly across the neck, though.

There are more men’s garments than usual: a wide-collared “sports sweater” and an elegant crossed-front pullover with twisted-rib details on the pockets and borders. The former is meant to be worn for “golf, country walks and all the week-end jobs in the garden”. I’m guessing the plants in the garden will grow better if you wear a shirt and tie under your sweater while working on those week-end jobs, as it will make them feel important and worth dressing up for. Maybe I should try it — I’m terrible with plants.

Collars, V-necks and checked patterns are still in fashion, as seen on the comfortable, yet elegant cardigan suit and the cardigan in a familiar three-colour slip stitch pattern. Terry-towel-like Rimple is still going strong, featured here in a cardigan for larger sizes.

Babies get a bonnet and jacket in the same bramble stitch pattern as last month’s coat and July’s dress (“Part 3 of our Layette”) as well as a vest and pilch (underpants/diaper cover) and small children get machine-knit slacks to match the blazer. Hooray for warm legs, finally!

If all of that sounds underwhelming, we haven’t even gotten to the housewares… The knitting and crochet projects focus on using up scraps and “leftovers” to make either a cushion, a stuffed puppy toy or some utterly goofy egg cosies. Needlewomen (sadly, they don’t write “embroideresses”, which would be more entertaining) can make floral cutwork mats or a cushion, or a “Vintage Parade” of early-20th-century automobiles. There’s a tapestry hassock for church-goers and the last of the Zodiac-themed projects — this month’s sign is Virgo.

I almost gave up on this issue, as there just wasn’t anything that inspired me… but then there was this rug! This utterly 1960s, easy enough for me to crochet, fringed and polka-dotted rug that would look marvellous underneath my vintage, Danish Modern coffee table and, if made in the right colour, would perfectly match my embroidered cushion from the January 1960 issue. I love it! Rug wool in skeins isn’t really sold anywhere these days, but I’ve got a solution for that that I think will work.

Stay tuned for the result… and the “special bumper issues” with “extra features in colour” that are promised for October and November.

August 1961: Overview

“August is an issue that needs special thought and planning” writes Stitchcraft‘s “editress”, Patience Horne, in the introduction to the August issue, pointing out that it is “rather an “in-between” month for needleworkers” — often too hot to want to wear or make heavy sweaters and too late in the year for fine-knits. At the same time, reminding people that “Autumn is around the corner” can be “a little depressing” to people enjoying their late-summer holiday.

I get this! It’s one of the … hazards? “joys”? features? of living in a temperate/oceanic climate zone like the UK: August, and in fact the entire summer, can be so hot that you can’t even imagine holding wool in your hands or performing any excess movement (thus the small, easy embroidery projects in cotton thread on linen), or 10 degrees Celsius with unending rain (just ask Edinburgh, or the Bretagne), or anywhere in between.

Stitchcraft‘s answer is to offer casual, “all-year-round” knit styles that could work either on a (cold, wet…) holiday or back home in the autumn and lots of little needlepoint and embroidery projects that fit in a suitcase and can be done easily in the heat. The adult garments are thick and warm and serve as outerwear on a summer evening or Atlantic boat trip: the cardigan on the cover, “chunky” pullovers for women (one knitted, one crocheted), and a man’s pullover in “that typical man-appeal style which will make it a winner.” All are made in double knitting-weight or bulky Big Ben wool and both the knitted pullover and cover cardigan feature slip-stitch patterns which make the finished garment that much thicker and warmer. Golden or orange tones and white continue to be popular colours.

There are sleeker, finer-knit short-sleeve tops for girls in their “early teens” (the models seem to be young, slender adults, but OK) with high necklines and an interesting mitred collar on one. Smaller girls (or boys, I guess? this garment doesn’t seem to be heavily socially gendered, but the instructions only have options for buttons on the “girl’s side”) get a fine-knit cardigan with a border of “Scotties chatting to a friendly Cockerel.” Babies get the newest addition to their “Stitchcraft Layette” with a matinee coat and bootees in bramble-stitch to match last month’s dress.

The real fun is in the homewares, where there is a huge selection of projects and needlecrafts to choose from: embroidered ivy borders for tablecloths, traycloths or cushions, a tapestry footstool or “needle etching” picture of a “typical Cornish quayside”, a crocheted rug, blue rose sprigs to embroider on a cushion or a fringed lampshade, a weird crocheted and embroidered tea cosy in Turabast (which I can’t imagine would have good insulating properties), or “Fluff”, a somewhat psychotic-looking, yet endearing knitted kitten. Also, I thought the Zodiac year theme had to be finished by now but no, it’s Leo the lion’s month.

My favourite, though, is this sewing project: a head cushion that lets you recline charmingly in bed with your hair and makeup perfectly done, your satin nightie on, a book on your lap and your telephone on your ear. It’s glamorous leisure and lifestyle advertising personified, and though they say it’s an “idea for your bazaar”, I would bet the Stitchcraft readers who made this in 1961 did not make it to sell.

Apropos lifestyle advertising, the early 1960s Stitchcrafts show a rise in full-page ads for Patons and Baldwins wools. That’s obviously not surprising considering the magazine was published for the Patons wool company, but the full-page ads that “tell a story” are a new trend: the late 1950s and 1960s issues up to now had little celebrity testimonials. This one caters to grandmothers and the message is clear: Knitting is not only a rewarding pastime on its own, but earns you the love and affection of the grandchildren for whom you knit. (But only if the kid likes it, and that’s only guaranteed if you use P&B wools, of course.) The 1950s and 1960s saw a huge shift in advertising methods towards a psychologically-based system, which is a huge topic that I won’t start with here, but suffice to say there will be more of these ads, and that they are representative of changing advertising styles.

That’s it for today! I have lots of unfinished projects lying around, so my August project will be something small, definitely not the Turabast tea cosy, but very probably the blue rose sprigs on a little bag, or tablet cosy, or something.

Inspired by Stitchcraft: Red and Blue Dress

This month’s project was a little bit different than usual. Instead of making something from the April 1961 issue, which didn’t have any projects that really spoke to me, I decided to finally make something I’ve been dreaming of ever since I made this little girl’s jacket from the March 1960 issue. I loved the check pattern and the bright red and blue combination. “Wouldn’t that make a great 1960s-style minidress?” I asked myself, and the idea has been percolating in my mind since then.

I chose the same yarn and colours from the child’s jacket: Schachenmayr Bravo, which is inexpensive, machine-washable and knits up quickly. It’s even historically correct for a 1960s design, which is a nice way of saying “100% acrylic.” (Though true 60s synthetic wools were more often Bri-Nylon or Orlon.)

I chose a typical basic construction with front, back and sleeves all made flat and separately from the bottom up and sewn together, and made a stockinette-stitch hem with the blue yarn. The dress shape is a modified A-line: flared at the hem and narrowed to the top waist, then increased slightly at the bust. I used another knit dress as a pattern, but had to deviate from it as the stitch pattern made the fabric behave differently. The sleeves are short, simple and set-in. The front piece is essentially the same as the back, but divided in half after the armhole cast-offs and rounded a bit at the neck. The button band is plain crochet.

After it was all done, I realised that I liked the roll of the blue stockinette stitch hems, so I decided to just leave them as is. That means the bottom hem is a little bit narrow in the blue part where it should flare out. I may or may not fix that in time, depending on my laziness levels.

It’s soft and squishy and in spite of the synthetic yarn, doesn’t feel like plastic or make me sweat uncontrollably. The only real disadvantage is the virtual weight it puts on. It’s got negative ease everywhere and is narrower than the very svelte-looking dress that I used as a pattern, but the sponginess and three-dimensionality of the stitch pattern makes me look much bulkier than I actually am. I thought a crocheted belt in blue would help define the waist area a bit more, but the belt is curly and not heavy enough. Maybe a 1960s metal ring-chain belt would do the trick? But it’s utterly comfortable and fun to wear, so I’m happy.

March 1961: Overview

Are you ready to “Rendez-vous with Spring”? I sure am! This month’s issue has a lovely extra “centerfold” spread in colour, showing off Spring 1961’s latest fashions.

That said, no especially new looks, wools or techniques are introduced. The partner look is still going strong, as you can see from the his-n-hers Aran sweaters on the cover. They both have boatnecks, popular for a little while in the late 1950s and showing up again here. They are not shaped at the front neck at all, so I imagine them to be uncomfortable and awkward to wear.

Nubbly Rimple and thick, bulky Big Ben wools continue to be popular, featuring in almost all of this month’s adult garments. Big collars are still in, but one jumper utilises a contrast collar design in a different wool, with an interesting shape and ribbed texture. For larger sizes, there’s a cardigan skirt suit in purple plaid — bold colours and jewel tones are in fashion for all sizes and make a great centerfold picture all lined up together.

In the homewares department, we’ve got another beautiful “peasant” design (they really love that word) for a cushion, a decorative wall tapestry with pictures of chipmunks, some flower embroideries for cushions or a tray cloth, this month’s Zodiac symbol to embroider on whatever you want (Pisces), and a really difficult-looking crocheted cushion cover.

The highlight of the homewares patterns has got to be this incredible “Willow pattern” latch-hook rug. I had heard of “willow-ware” porcelain (remember that scene from one of the Anne of Green Gables books, where Anne or Davy or someone accidentally breaks Aunt Josephine’s blue and white willow-ware platter, then Anne sees a similar one in someone’s house, climbs up on the roof of the barn or something to look at it through the window, then falls through the roof and gets stuck, having to wait in a rainstorm until the owner gets home and then explain the situation?) and I have seen this type of pattern on porcelain china, but never knew that the one was referring to the other.

Stitchcraft‘s description of the rug refers to “the 3 figures in the Willow Pattern story.” I had also never heard of any Willow Pattern story, but my good friend Wikipedia told me all about the history of the Willow pattern and the associated legend (spoiler: the “legend”, like the pattern, was a 100% British invention made up to sell more porcelain goods, not any kind of authentic Chinese folk tale). Both the pattern and the associated story served as inspiration for further literary, media and commercial works. You can read all about it here.

Finally, it would not be Stitchcraft without a page of little items “for sale-of-work” at church bazaars etc., or to surprise your family on Easter morning. The continuation of Belinda the doll’s knitted outfit is quite cute, but what on earth were they thinking with these egg cosies?!? They look positively psychotic. If I were a child and my mother served my Easter morning Easter egg in one of those things, I would be surprised all right… and probably wouldn’t sleep for a week.

Speaking of children, here are some who weren’t scared off by their egg cosies and were rewarded with bright, sunny “play sweaters from Vienna” in spring colours of lemon yellow and white. The caption on the page opposite is “Gay as a See-Saw!” I’m sure there are a lot of jokes one could make about gay and see-saws, but I won’t. The kid’s comic in the back pages has the usual continuing story — Wendy and her dog Wag are having some fun adventures in Wallpaper Land.

The ads are for the usual knitting machines and sewing fabrics… except for this one, for “Cooper’s moth proofer” spray, presumably made of DDT or some other extremely toxic insecticide that kills “ants, beetles… these and other crawling insects die on contact — even months after spraying.” Just the thing to use in your enclosed, airless closet space!

With that, I wish you all a lovely, non-toxic, gay as a see-saw rendez-vous with spring. My March project will be some version of the flower embroidery.

December 1960: Overview

This year (1960 or 2018, take your pick) draws to a close with Stitchcraft’s “Christmas Issue”, which, as you may expect, is full of holiday-themed novelties to decorate and give.

That said, the hoodies on the cover are surprisingly modern and not “Christmas sweaters” in the sense we usually think of them at all. If I just saw a photo of them without the festive vintage backdrop, or the “DEC 1960” in the cover corner, I would be hard-pressed to say from what decade they came from. You could sell them in a regular modern store today and nobody would think they were a vintage design! I love the little tuft on the kid’s hood, too. They are made in nubbly Rimple yarn, still a hit and always featured somewhere in each issue.

There are “gay ideas” for festive party table decorations of all types: a floral tablecloth for a tea party, a merry-go-round tea cosy for the “Nursery Party” and table sets with playing cards as napkin holders for the grown-ups. “The last minute novelties” take on a fairy-tale theme, with a Red Riding Hood doll, a Noah’s Ark nightcase, a friendly draught-stopping snake and — for your holiday Dickens bedtime reading — a tea cosy that looks like a plum pudding, complete with attached crocheted plate! More pious readers can make an appliqué wall hanging of the Three Wise Men and heathens can make an embroidered wastebasket cosy with a Sagittarius theme (this month’s astrological sign).

Of course, one never has enough time in the holiday season to make everything perfectly, so if you are “really stumped for time” you can make the wall hanging “in bright, shiny papers” (instead of felt), “cutting out the shapes and sticking them down, then adding cut-out strips, etc., for the finishing touches.”

For those who have the time, or don’t go all-out for holiday decorations, there are the usual assortment of knitting projects, starting with a lovely warm dress-booties-mittens set for a baby. I do admire her elegant mitts, but I’m guessing that in real life, they don’t stay on a baby any longer than it takes to take a photo. Older kids can get a striped jumper in a fantastic, very modern colour combination.

Teenagers haven’t been forgotten either, and can enjoy these Italian-inspired colour designs with added embroidery on the young woman’s jumper. I really like both of these designs! The young man’s jumper is fun without being too flashy, and with a little tweaking, would work well on a woman’s figure, with the dark colour band starting just under the bust line. There’s even a little extra “how-to” lesson on embroidering knits, which is still perennially in fashion at this time.

Adult women, having hopefully embraced the “new length” (long) and “new sleeve style” (3/4 or 7/8) from last issue, can get ready for Paris’ “new necklines” — a high turn-down-and-rib combination or a buttoned-up turtle (polo) neck. No turn-down collars this time — are they on the way out? There’s a new yarn to go with them, Cameo Crepe, which is smooth and less “hairy” than other wools, for good stitch definition.

All this new fashion detailing can be admired in the two-colour twin set from the inside back cover, and to go under it all, why not knit yourself a lovely warm woollen vest (camisole)? I don’t mean that sarcastically — they are really the best! I made a woollen lace under-dress (slip) last year and it is heaven in a cold, damp climate.

It’s hard to decide what to make from this issue. Lots of the items are cute and fun, but nothing jumps out at me that I absolutely have to make. The plum pudding cosy is so silly that it’s cool, but I don’t use tea cosies and it would be a lot of work for a gag. The snake is cute and useful, but I don’t have odds and ends of double knitting at the moment and I do in fact already have a stuffed snake who occasionally gets put to work plugging a “leaky” window. I also have plenty of jumpers and even wollen underclothes (s. above), so don’t need more. I do have a hundred grams of very nice, hand-dyed green fingering wool in search of a project, so maybe I’ll make the baby dress.

In the meantime, Happy Holidays to all my readers! May everything you celebrate be jolly and festive.

September 1960: Overview

September 1960 is supposedly a “Special Number” of autumn knitting fashions. I’m not sure what exactly makes it so special, since it doesn’t seem to have any more, or particularly different, projects than the average issue. I guess it’s special in that September is finally a bit cooler weather-wise, so you can start to make some nice wool garments for the colder months — very appropriate in 2018, where we had the summer to end all summers. Things have cooled down a bit now, so I’m looking forward to wearing my (still unfinished) projects from July and August soon.

But back to September 1960. “You must include some heavy-knits for the really cool days out of doors, but for the milder days, a fashion feature to note is the use of finer knitting,” Patience Horne tells us, and this month’s issue gives a good mix of finer and bulkier garments for adults and children. The 4-ply women’s sweaters (why sweaters and not jumpers? I still can’t figure out why they sometimes use one term and sometimes the other for the exact same type of garment) have those big square collars that we’ve seen on other 1960 designs, with or without buttons. The pink sweater is made in super-fine-ply Lucelle at 10 stitches to the inch! If hand-knitting in fine yarn is too time-consuming for you, you can make a lacy cardigan on your machine.

Moving up the bulkiness scale, we’ve got the lovely skirt suit on the cover, made in Rimple, a sweater in “overblouse style” and a “raglan golf sweater” for men in green plaid. Green checks continue to be in fashion! The “young sports fans” in the family get comfortable jackets in double knitting weight, “made to match for brother and sister.” Can you spot the difference between the boys’ and girls’ versions? (Do you remember those “can you spot the 10 differences between these pictures” puzzles in the kids’ comics section? Do they still have those?) If you can’t, I won’t tell you, but try buttoning a cardigan made for the “opposite” sex if you need a hint.

Fans of Big Ben bulky knitting can make a Viennese design with added-on embroidery in duplicate stitch, or a trio of crochet items in “crunchy Pineapple-stitch”. I love the pram cover, bound with blanket edging, but I wish I could see the bonnet from the front.

Homewares are well represented by a stool cover in Florentine tapestry, a great embroidered cushion in blackwork design, traditional and “modern” pile rugs and some interesting tablewares — tapestry table mats with pictures of “3 famous castles” and crocheted raffia drink mats for your cocktail party. Cheers, everyone! My September project will be the blackwork cushion, and I hope to finish up the knitted blouse from July and the cardigan from the August twin-set.

July 1960: Charming blouse

This “charming and unusual design for larger sizes” (37-38 or 39-41 inch bust) features narrow dolman sleeves, crochet insertions, and horizontal bust darts.

I was intrigued by its construction, having made tops with bust darts from modern patterns or while working without a pattern, but never having seen vintage patterns with them. Oddly, instead of making short rows, you are supposed to cast off stitches, cast them back on again, and then sew up a seam! I guess that makes it look more like sewn fabric? Or the “editress” thought short rows would be too difficult? I can’t imagine that, though, since patterns from this time regularly call for short-rows to shape the back side of baby rompers and leggings. In any case, I made the bust darts with short rows to avoid having to make a seam. I also made the back and fronts up to the armhole shapings in one piece, again, to avoid seaming more than necessary.

I was interested to see how it worked out with the dolman sleeves. When I think of “dolman sleeves”, I think of those 1950s, or worse, 1980s garments with a huge triangle of fabric under the arm, which must have been very uncomfortable and inconvenient to wear. But after my April 1960 blouse with the horizontal cap sleeves worked out so well, I was willing to give this one a try. And it turned out great! There is no more extra fabric under the arms than there would be with set-in sleeves, and the horizontal construction gives plenty of room in the upper chest/back area, where I am quite wide. I guess the secret lies with the number of stitches cast on for the sleeves per row — this one had 2×8 rows and then 10×16 rows, making the sleeves narrow and more horizontal, thus less triangle-like.

The knitting was slow-going at 7 stitches to the inch, but of course once the body was done, so were the sleeves. Seaming was a nightmare, as the yarn (Herriot Fine from Juniper Moon Farm) curls more severely than stockinette stitch in other yarns and I had to block it well to even find the edge to sew. I was willing to put up with that, though, because the yarn is absolutely fantastic. It is warm, soft, weighs practically nothing (300 grams made the blouse with about 20 grams to spare) and it is the only alpaca I have ever worked with that I can wear directly next to my skin. It is the perfect, ideal wool for this type of knitted blouse.

(On that note, why on earth did knitted blouses go out of style? They are wonderful! The perfect garment for autumn days in a damp, chilly climate. Note to self: make more.)

What took longer than expected was the whole crocheted edging-collar-button-band extravaganza. The crochet bands are extremely fiddly — they are crocheted onto each other as you go, it’s difficult to make them all exactly the same size, and each one needs its own, new piece of yarn. There are a total of 50 elements, so that’s 100 yarn ends to weave in right there. Then there’s the “inner” collar, the “outer” collar and the button bands, all of which are made separately and sewn on, and somehow need to end up symmetrical and fit properly on both sides. Of course, I sewed the collar on backwards the first time, forgot to switch the right and wrong sides at the collar fold, etc, etc. It all worked out in the end, though.

My only modification (besides the short-row darts) was to make the sleeve ribbing 3 inches long, like the waist ribbing, instead of 1 1/2. The sleeves are still not full-length, nor are they supposed to be. I don’t like the idea of 3/4 or 7/8 sleeves, but it worked out better in practice than in theory.

To sum it up: Pattern was wonderful, yarn was wonderful, knitted blouses are the coolest thing ever and I am 100% satisfied with this project.

Version 2