September 1965: Overview

Autumn is here, and the September 1965 issue of Stitchcraft is, as promised by its editress, a “bumper” issue with more colour photos (to offset the price increase to 2s. per single issue) and a new yarn from Stitchcraft’s patron wool company, Patons.

Called “Fiona”, it was DK-weight and made of 50% Shetland wool and 50% “Orlon” (one of the very first acrylic yarns). Shetland wool is beautifully warm and lightweight due to its being very lofty and “hairy”, and “Fiona” was marketed as combining these positive aspects with the easy-care, less scratchy and non-tangling qualities of synthetic yarn — a sort of “Shetland lite”, if you will. Real Shetland wool is excellent for traditional “Fair Isle” stranded colourwork patterns, since the hairs lock into each other in the stranding, but the “Fiona” designs in this issue employ smoother, textured stitch patterns. The cover cardigan-jacket has a bobbly lace pattern and the his-and-hers pullovers use a broken cable rib.

The other two designs for adults are made in standard 100% wools: a “young-looking sweater” with really, really unfortunately placed bobbles (directly along the bustline) in Patons Double Knitting or Crepe, and an Aran-patterned jacket in bulkier “Capstan”. An older brother might get this “Husky polo style” pullover in Patons DK and a fun reversed stocking-stitch pattern with more (and better placed) bobbles.

The trend for textured stitch patterns continues with garments for the younger set. The toddlers’ “walking-out set” of pullover, leggings and snug helmet-style cap (with more bobbles on the tie at the neck) is made in easy 2×2 ribbing in blue and white DK wool. Love the pre-Photoshop-era addition of a tree in the photo, to show you that he’s playing outside! His big brother gets a warm slipover in an easy zig-zag pattern, and tomboy sister, (with short hair and trousers) gets a set of cap and sweater in a fisherman’s rib pattern that is more complicated to do than it looks. You purl the RS rows and and on the WS rows, you *k1, purl into next st. but through loop of row below at the same time slipping st. above off left needle; rep from * to last st, k1. The vertical stripes are added later via Swiss darning aka duplicate stitch embroidery.

Above all, this is a bumper issue for homewares. There are multiple pages of easy projects for a “Sale of Work” stall at the church bazaar or what have you, including a “house” and “windmill”-themed apron, mat/cosy set and a “peg bag” for holding laundry pegs. Other quick novelties include a knitted scottie-dog toy and a cosy or cushion made out of odds and ends of wool.

More ambitious needle-workers can decorate an entire room from top to bottom with designs from this issue, starting with a needle-etched picture of a steam engine — a throwback to the Victorian nostalgia of the late 1950s and early 1960s — or a tapestry picture of the seaside village of Clovelly to hang on the wall.

For the furniture, there’s a beautiful “peasant” (their word, not mine) design for a cushion and chairback, made in embroidery wool on linen, and for the floor, a hand-made “Tartan” rug. It uses a latch-hook and the “Turkey knot” to make a soft, three-dimensional pile. Finally, church-goers can make a tapestry “kneeler” cushion in a pattern inspired by Gothic stonework.

And there’s a new children’s comic serial in the Readers Pages! This is a really cute and creative story about Homer the plush rabbit (so called because he was home-made) and Sale Price, the store-bought plush rabbit, who go out into the big wide world to try and find a real rabbit to befriend. Will they find one? Stay tuned! Oh, and I bought this issue on Ebay, so received a special… bonus? picture of an embroidered Christmas tree with no transfer or pattern instructions (and not from Stitchcraft.). If anyone can identify it, I will be very impressed!

My project from this issue will be the knitted cushion, by special request from someone who works on the computer a lot and would like a soft underlay to rest their wrists on.

August 1965: Overview

It’s “late summer” over at Stitchcraft magazine, and this month’s designs are still summery-looking, but warmer, with an eye towards the coming autumn and cooler weather. Also, production costs were apparently increasing, so readers were informed that as of September 1965, the price for individual issues would be raised to 2s. 0d. The increase to the current subscription rate of £1 8 s 0d for one year or 14s for six months, post-free to any part of the world (!) was scheduled to be explained in the September issue, with existing subscriptions running out at the old price.

How much was that in today’s currency? I cannot vouch for the accuracy or lack thereof from either of these sources, but the currency converter website of the National Archives tells me that a year’s subscription at the old price would be the equivalent of £24.67 in 2017 (the latest year the website calculates to), so quite inexpensive for 12 issues. A six-month subscription would cost £12.33, so pretty much exactly half (if you round up a penny, since a six-month subscription certainly wouldn’t have cost less than half of the yearly price.) A single issue at the new price would cost £1.76. According to this inflation calculator (again, take all of this with a grain of salt as such converters are always approximate), in 2023 prices that would come out to £2.21 for a single issue at the new price and £31.01 for a year’s subscription at the old price — again, quite reasonable, if the converters are at all accurate. Stitchcraft was published by Condé Nast as an independent publication, but of course was a co-product of Patons / Patons and Baldwins / at this point the company had been merged with J&P. Coats / yarn company, so served as an advertisement for their wools. As was common for knitting magazines at the time as well as today.

But I digress! The cover photo shows Aran sweaters in the partner-look for him and her, made in slightly-heavier-than-DK “Flair”, a wool-synthetic mix. Other fashions for women strike a balance between “cool to look at… warmer to wear” and include a two-piece DK dress with a short-sleeved top or a DK sweater in “ice-cream” colours of bubblegum pink and white. For the coming autumn days days, there’s a DK cardigan made warmer and heavier by the use of trellis-stitch panels on the front and back, or for a lighter touch, there’s a 4-ply jumper with diagonal stripes, knit diagonally — basically two rectangles for front and back, then picking up stitches for the vertically-knit yoke, and separate sleeves. The colour scheme is definitely still summery, with the striped jumper in navy blue and white and the trellis cardigan in light “Beau Blue”.

For men, in addition to the Aran-pattern sweater on the front cover, there’s a nice 4-ply slipover, made warmer by the use of a sort of broken garter stitch pattern: every 4th stitch is knit through the back on the RS rows and purled on the WS rows to create a pseudo-ribbing effect.

This month, we once again have children’s fashions for all ages. There’s a dolman cardigan for girls up to a 29 inch chest and a cute unisex “play shirt” up to 28 inch chest, all in sunny colours of gold, white, “Gay Turquoise” and “Sunglint”. Baby’s turquoise “extra jacket” is worked in one piece up to the armholes in a stitch pattern that looks a bit like the one for the man’s slipover, but is more complicated:

1st row: WS facing, knit.
2nd row: *k3, k3 tog and leave on needle, then k. 1st st again, then k tog the other 2 sts and slip off needle, k 3*, rpt to last 3 sts, k3 tog and leave on needle, k 1st st again, then k tog the other 2 sts and slip off needle
3rd row: purl
4th row: knit
5th row: knit
6th row: *k3 tog and leave on needle, then k. 1st st again, then k tog the other 2 sts and slip off needle, k 3*, rpt to last 3 sts, k3 tog and leave on needle, k 1st st again, then k tog the other 2 sts and slip off needle
7th row: purl
8th row: knit

I’ve never seen this stitch before — does anyone know it, or know if it has a name?

In the homewares department, we have the usual selection of versatile designs for different items and uses. The cross-stitch ivy border, for example, is suggested for “cushions, table mats and chair-backs, or as a border for curtains” , the wavy “design from Greece” is featured on a chair-back, cushion and rug, and the Swedish-inspired design “for bold counted embroidery” works on table mats as well as cushions. Even the tapestry hydrangeas can be used as a wall picture or fire-screen.

It wouldn’t be a proper issue of Stitchcraft without bizarre-bazaar ideas, though these are not nearly as weird as some of the items that we’ve seen in the past. The theme is clearly “kitchen” this time, with embroidered or appliquéd aprons and pot holders. Sometimes the chef looks happy with the food, and sometimes he definitely has l’air déçu!

The back pages feature a “special request” tatted doily edging, a great “leg lively” ad for nylon stockings from the Scotch Wool Shop. In the final chapter of the current children’s serial comic, “The Lost Stitch”, Jill and her brother James fall back through the magic portal that appeared in a dropped stitch, to find themselves back at home with the stitch magically mended. May all your dropped stitches heal this way!

There isn’t a specific design that I like enough to make from this issue, so my August project will be another non-Stitchcraft “Blast From the Past.” Happy late summer and if it’s still too hot where you live, enjoy that ad for Lightning zips that promises to keep you cool as a cucumber in your summer cottons.

July 1965: “Pansies” Garden Cushion

This month’s project was an appliquéd and embroidered cushion. Or, as the description in the magazine put it:

Attractive appliqué cushions in hardwearing hessian add a gay touch for garden lounging — ideal for deckchair comfort or to use on the lawn. Children will love them too, and they are tough enough to stand up to the rough-and-tumble of garden play.

Two cushion designs are given, one with autumn leaves and one with pink and purple pansies. I chose the pansies, which were bright and fun and very 1960s. As luck would have it, I had exactly the right amount of pink and purple felt in stash, and almost enough green embroidery thread for the stems and leaves, so I didn’t have to buy many materials and could use the project to de-stash. I did have to buy the backing fabric, and decided on a tough decorating/upholstery cotton instead of real Hessian fabric (aka burlap, jute, gunny-sack), since I don’t think this cushion will be subjected to any “rough-and-tumble of garden play” on my friend’s balcony.

Since I didn’t have a transfer, I made a little paper pattern for the felt petals, estimating the size based on the amount of felt and the size of the background fabric. One modern “standard size” piece of decorating felt made exactly 18 petals and I think it came very close to whatever size the original transfer pattern was. I overlapped the leaves in a sort of pinwheel layer (following the helpful illustration), using a little bit of stick glue to help keep them in place, and then secured them with pins. For placement, I simply folded the background fabric in quarters and used the fold lines for the two middle axes, then measured evenly from there for the corner flowers.

I sewed the flowers down with matching thread and added the yellow centres. The diagram shows them a bit above or below the actual centre of the petals, but I like symmetry, so I made the yellow pieces more round and put them right on the centre. (The layers of felt weren’t too heavy.)

All that was left to do after that was the leaf and stem embroidery, which was done in easy stem-stitch in green thread. The pattern didn’t say how many strands of thread to use, but seeing as it was a bold design, I used all six threads together and ran out of thread. (Up until this point, I had done all of the work in one day, but alas, I had to pause because it was Saturday late afternoon and the shops wouldn’t open again until Monday.)

Monday came, I bought more thread and finished the surface of the cushion. Sewing it up was easy enough. I had enough muslin in stash to make up one half of the inner cushion pad (pro tip: the inner cushion should always be a little bit larger than the outer cover, to prevent sagging) and enough of the beige cotton to make the other half. I did not, as suggested in the pattern, line the pad with plastic to make it waterproof “for use on the grass”. After making the pad, I had exactly enough beige fabric left to make strips for “piping”, so added that as well (not part of the original design). It was not “real” piping, which is made on a bias strip, and thus came out a bit uneven. Oh well. At least the zipper was no problem this time.

And that was that! I stuffed the inner cushion with fluff, sewed it up, zipped it into the cover and voilà. I have no garden, no balcony and too many cushions already, so this will be a gift for a friend.

July 1965: Overview

July is still “holiday” season over at Stitchcraft, but this summery issue is already looking towards cooler autumn temperatures and the return to post-holiday life. For women’s fashions, this means a “revival of the more feminine line” (as if there were ever a fashion for “the masculine line” in 1960s women’s fashions.) I guess they mean a slightly closer-fitting silhouette, or a little more shaping of upper-body garments between hem and bust. At the same time, “quick and easy yarns” or “easy-to-wear loose front styling” jackets are still in fashion, emphasising comfort and wearability.

Our cover model sports a white blouse made in 4-ply “Cameo Crepe” wool and twisted stocking-stitch for a little more texture. The navy blue accents on shoulder and pocket match the knitted skirt, which is just below-knee length. That may seem surprising if you associate mid-1960s fashions with miniskirts, but it took a while for the ideas of cutting-edge designers like Mary Quant or André Courrèges to trickle down to the general public, and hand-knitting magazines, even the more fashionable / aspirational ones, were oriented towards designs that “regular people” could wear in everyday life . The dresses and skirts in Vogue Knitting’s 1965 Spring/Summer issue, for example, all fall between just-barely-above and solidly-below knee-length — and Stitchcraft was a more conservative magazine than Vogue Knitting. We won’t be seeing miniskirts here for a while yet.

The upper-body fashions for women show, if not an extreme “revival of the feminine line”, a definite attention to cute colour and pattern details, particularly in the use of twisted stitches or ribbing variants. The pink raglan pullover on the inside front cover combines a sort of twisted rib on the sides with a “v” pattern, also made by twisting stitches, up the front and back midline and on the sleeves, and tops ot off with a black necktie bow. Nice touch to put it on a red-haired model! The combination of colour detail and ribbing variant (here: stranded panel and narrow slip-stitch rib) is also used on the warm blue-and-white cardigan. The “knitting that looks like crochet” trend continues in a short-sleeved blouse for larger sizes in 4-ply wool and a textured-lace pattern.

The men’s fashions use a predictably less dainty, but no less interesting use of colour and pattern: there’s a loose.fitting, sideways-knit and vertically-striped dolman-sleeve shirt for beach wear in “father and son” sizes for adults and children (though the “adult” model in the photo looks hardly older than a teenager himself) and a slipover in an Aran-style pattern of cables, ridges and zig-zags.

The kids’ designs utilise the same fashion features as the adults: the boys’ striped shirt is the exact same pattern as “Father’s”, and there’s a zip-neck pullover for girls with a stranded border reminiscent of the panel in the womens’ jacket. For younger girls, there’s a quick and easy, slightly striped pullover whose pattern details are embroidered on after knitting. Nautical white and blue, pretty pink and sunny yellow make up the summer colour palette.

There’s a good selection of easy homeware and embroidery projects: appliquéd garden cushions in “hardwearing hessian” fabric, single flowers cross-stitched on place mats “for an outdoor supper party”, embroidered “needle etchtings” of village scenes (Godshill and Shanklin Old Village on the Isle of Wight), or an easy stitched rug.

The Danish-design tapestry cushions look more complicated than they are, but are also more complicated than the usual tapestry cushions. Fans of finer work in cotton can make doilies or a traycloth, or pretty trims for bed pillows.

The ads are quite usual: Singer sewing machines, Patons yarns, and a swirly nightgown and negligée from the Scotch Wool Shop. Not to forget: the Turmix knitting machine, Stitchcraft binding cases to store a year’s worth of magazines, and order houses for wools, fabric remnants, etc. The children’s comic follows the adventures of Jill and James searching for a lost stitch and encountering interesting characters such as Spinning Jenny, who shows them how a spinning machine works.

That’s all for this issue! My project will be the appliquéd flower cushion.

June 1965: Overview

“Knit for High Summer”! The June 1965 issue of Stitchcraft “covers practically everything the family needs in the way of holiday knits”, i.e. sporty separates, cardigans to be worn as outerwear, and lots of warm, bulky sweaters for that unpredictable British summer weather. Our cover model sports a loose, unshaped, fine-knit blouse in 4-ply “Nylox” yarn, a combination of wool and nylon not unlike many sock yarns popular today. The matching skirt is below-knee length — it will take a little while for the miniskirt to reach high fashion and longer for it to be popular in a more conservative magazine like Stitchcraft.

The “crochet look” is already quite popular at this time, though. Prior to the 1960s, crochet was more often used to make doilies and fancy lace borders in fine thread, or quick and bulky items like hot pads, teapot cosies and mittens. The mid-1960s saw a transition to blouses, suits and other garments, and this issue features a lightweight blouse in an easy shell patter, worn by a model who looks uncannily like the young Barbra Streisand. Those who prefer knitted summer tops can make a little cap-sleeve blouse in fine bouclet wool, unfashionably short in this year of long, unshaped tops. The fine-knit items are rounded out by a striped cardigan in a mixture of plain wool and fluffy “Fuzzy-Wuzzy” angora blend yarn.

It wouldn’t be a proper summer without some cold wind and rain, so be prepared in your warm “bubbly stitch” cardigan made in bulky, but (comparatively) lightweight “Ariel” wool. The photo is so very 1960s! Diagonal camera angle, tilted head, high-contrast lighting for dramatic shadows, unsmiling but alluring facial expression — it’s all there. There are similar, but not quite matching, his-and-hers DK pullovers in ultramarine blue and white. The colour detailing is embroidered on at the end in cross-stitch. The man of the family can also get a bright blue waistcoat in a mock-cable and welt pattern. You know the model is on holiday, since he’s wearing his casual button-up shirt and tie.

“Youngsters” can stay warm (on their upper bodies at least) as well, in a Norwegian-style round-yoke pullover with a simple stranded pattern at hem and yoke or a “tough Lumber-style” zippered cardigan “for hard play”. You can tell the little boy in the picture is playing hard, since he’s wearing his playtime button-up shirt and tie! The girl model gets to wear shorts for once, instead of a tiny miniskirt that barely covers anything.

There are plenty of easy projects to take along on your holiday, or to prepare for it, or even serve as a memento of it — like the embroidered place mats with maps of France, Italy, Spain and Portugal, or Switzerland and their associated stereotypical motifs. Those who prefer to plan ahead can sew a simple folding bag lined with towelling for a bathing kit, or a cross-stitch hold-all for beach take-along items, as well as a little sundress-smock for a toddler.

A tablecloth is probably too big to pack in the beach bag, but the easy cross-stitch pattern is given for a cushion or chair-back as well. Little embroidered animal pictures in cross-stitch “for the nursery” are also quick and easy to pack along on holiday.

The highlights of the homeware designs in this issue are definitely meant to be made at home, particularly the embroidered “Chinese Garden” wall panel. I cannot vouch for any kind of cultural or historical authenticity in the design, but it is very pretty and delicate in shades of blue, green, lilac and orange. I’m glad they included a colour photo.

Last but not least, I leave you with this amazing “Practical Set for your bathroom” consisting of a bath mat and “Pedestal Set” made in cross-stitch with rug wool on mesh canvas. With penguins and fish! If you can’t get to Antarctica for your next holiday, the penguins can come to you.

My project this month will be a destash adaptation of the “Fuzzy-Wuzzy” cardigan. Happy holidays, or whatever else June brings for you.

May 1965: Primroses and Violets

For this month’s project, I couldn’t decide whether to make the pretty 3-colour “Shaded Blouse” (knowing that I have plenty of knitted tops, and that I would have to buy yarn for it when I am trying hard to reduce my stash) or adapt the tablecloth/dressing-table set embroidery pattern for another vegetable bag (quick, easy, useful, environmentally friendly and reduces the stash of embroidery thread and yet-unembroidered bags). Spoiler: I made both, so the stash balance will remain even. The top will take a little while, so here’s the veggie bag in the meantime.

The pattern is a design of yellow primroses and purple violets, but not in the same “bouquet” — there’s an option for a tablecloth with the primrose sprays in the corners and the smaller, individual violets scattered across the middle surface, or a “cheval set” for your dressing table with one large mat (2 primrose sprays and 2 violets) and two small mats (one violet each.) I chose to just make the primrose spray.

The bag is one of several that I bought at an antique sale a few years ago for a euro each. They are literally old moneybags, formerly used to transport money to and from the German national bank (hence the “Deutsche Bundesbank” and date printed on it; this bag was apparently from January 1997.) After 2002, the German Bundesbank replaced the old bags with newer and better ones (better in the sense that they presumably fulfilled new security regulations for the Euro) and you can now buy the disused old bags at antique markets, via ebay, etc. How they got from the bank to there, I do not know, but would love to find out. (If you are an expert in the sale and trade of disused moneybags, please share your wisdom in the comments — I genuinely would like to know.)

Anyway, apart from the fascinating can of worms that is their origin story, the bags are the absolute best for buying vegetables at the grocery store, farmers’ market etc, being made of a very thick linen (?) fabric and just the right size for small amounts of things like mushrooms, green beans, shallots, etc. Because they are both tough and easily washable (of course I washed them thoroughly before starting to use them for food items — money is literally filthy) they are particularly good for sandy or earthy vegetables like the aforementioned mushrooms, new potatoes, or the kind of carrots that I like to eat, which are grown in peat and therefore quite “dirty” (but taste better than regular carrots).

The actual embroidery pattern was not difficult. Of course, I had no transfer, since I would have had to order it in the mail in 1965. But it was no problem to sketch out the flower spray from the photo. I used transfer paper to transfer the design onto the fabric. The ink was quite faint, so I went over it with a ball-point pen (washable), which worked well enough. There were instructions in the magazine and even a helpful close-up of the stitches, which were all extremely easy: satin stitch for the petals, blanket stitch for the leaf outlines and stem stitch for everything else. I ran out of light yellow after embroidering half of the flowers, and the new skein I bought was one colour-shade different. You can tell if you look closely, but I don’t think it’s a flaw — it gives the flowers a little more depth.

This is the third “Bundesbank” bag that I’ve embroidered, as well as another bag of regular cotton fabric. I used the other bags to buy stuff at the local organic supermarket last week and the cashier stopped in the middle of my checkout to say, “I’m sorry, I just need to take a second to admire this beautiful work.” That was sweet! If I ever get enough of these made, I’ll probably start selling them.

Stay tuned for the “shaded blouse”!

May 1965: Overview

Spring and summer are always time for “holidays” at Stitchcraft, with a mixture of light, pretty blouses, warmer, casual jackets and sweaters for that holiday on a North Sea beach, and easy embroidery to pack in your luggage and work on while lounging in your deck chair. Our cover photo shows matching his-and-hers sweaters made in DK wool, and an intriguing photo begging to be captioned. “It’s for you!” “Not interested” “But it’s my mother!” “I am definitely not home” — Anyway, the sweaters are nice and good to “wear by the sea”, as it says in the caption. They are knitted in Patons “Flair”, a combination of Shetland wool and Courtelle nylon in a slightly thicker DK weight.

The remaining adult knitted “holiday” garments are pretty and practical: a men’s tweedy “country” cardigan, a heavy slip-on jacket for women in a sort of bubble pattern made by purling stitches together, wrapping them and purling them again on one row out of a 4-row rib pattern, a lightweight lacy top with a graded colour scheme, or a slipover in mohair blend “Fuzzy-Wuzzy” wool. There’s also a fashionable dress in bramble-stitch, made to look like crochet, but knitted. Colours are soft, cool pastels — white, natural, sky blue or light pink.

The “crochet look” in knitting, as exemplified by the dress, is the latest trend. If you can’t crochet, you can knit to make it look like crochet, and if you can, you can make a matching mother-daughter blouse set in wool-nylon blend “Nylox” yarn. There’s also a full-page “Learn to Crochet” illustration with clear and helpful instructions for the basic stitches. I keep it around for easy reference.

There’s nothing for very young babies in this issue, but toddlers can get a nice beach set of knitted pants and short-sleeved cardigan. The cable panels supposedly make it hold its shape, but it’s not intended to go in the water. The toddler’s tween sister gets a sunny and colourful “young style” blazer in DK wool and a “continental” design. I still don’t know what is meant by “continental” design — obviously referring to the European continent as opposed to the British isles, but I wouldn’t be able to say what design elements make something “continental.” If you know, do tell.

The summer housewares are fairly standard, with a floral cross-stitch design for either a cushion or tablecloth, and a knitting workbag featuring dancing “gay Tyrolean” figures. I know some gay Tyrolean dancers, but that’s a different story. There’s also an embroidery pattern for an easy tablecloth or “dressing-table set”.

And then there are some genuinely interesting place mats with figures of birds and fish adapted from Peruvian work. The “wingless bird” in the close-up photo looks like a rhea and the black and white one probably a guan. I don’t know about the third bird in the first photo, the squished-up one with a long neck, how about you?

There’s also a rug, for not taking along on holiday, as well as a fancy knitted lace cloth “for a summer table” (It is knitted in cotton and therefore wash- and bleachable, but still, I would be afraid to spill something on it.) And of course, cosies! Both egg- and teapot-, to knit from scraps of tapestry wool held double (not knitting wool as one would expect).

That’s all for this issue. I’m going to close with this wonderful Scotch Wool Shop advertisement for Bri-Nylon swimsuits. I would wear either of these in a heartbeat. Enjoy the Spring!

April 1965: Overview

Stitchcraft’s April 1965 theme is “Out in the Open Knitting”, with “country” style cardigans and jackets to be worn outdoors, and easy homeware projects that are “just the type of work to do through the lighter evenings and out of doors.” Spring is here!

Our cover photo features a “stroller jacket” made in tweedy “Glenora” wool. At 30 to 32 ounces and made in stocking stitch, I fear it would stretch and sag to much longer than the 34-35 inches given in the pattern. The other adult “outdoor” garments are similarly heavy: a “country jacket” in bulky Big Ben wool and knotted-stitch pattern and a square-shaped men’s jacket in double-moss stitch. Outdoor colours include natural beige and brown tones as well as sky blue.

The “indoor” garments are less bulky and use matching layers to adapt to capricious spring temperatures: a subdued twin set with “braided” bolero-style border on the cardigan and a set of jumper + “overblouse” slipover. The twin set and jumper are in lightweight 4-ply wool, the overblouse in DK.

Colours are muted and match well with the outdoor neutrals: , soft pink, peachy-orange and grey-brown tweed. There’s an “indoor” pullover for men as well, in tweedy green to match the outdoor country theme.

Children of all ages get “bread-and-butter” garments for school and play. There’s a crocheted baby jacket to be made either without shaping (“for a boy”) or with a skirted matinee coat shape (“for a girl”). There’s a tunic dress for a somewhat older girl, featured in one of my favourite photographs ever. Drink your tea… or else! The dress is pretty cool too: decorated with embroidered chain-stitch over nubbly Rimple DK wool.

School-age kids can get a practical unisex waistcoat for school wear, or a very nice fine-knit cardigan in 3-ply “Brilliante” wool. Brilliante was a wool blend using “Orlon” acrylic fiber, which had been invented in 1941 but only started to be popular for hand-knitting use in the mid-1960s. See also: the two advertisements in this issue touting the qualities of Brilliante and Orlon: soft, washable and thoroughly modern.

There are all sorts of homewares to choose from, most of them fairly standard: a striped, darned rug, a church kneeler in trammed-stitch tapestry, cutwork place mats, a simple embroidered cushion… There’s a flowery embroidered tablecloth for Easter (Easter Sunday was rather late in 1965, falling on April 18th, but still — better get that tablecloth done soon!) and two more cushions in counted cross-stitch work.

The two more interesting projects are a pattern for tatted place mats and napkin rings, or tapestry chair seats with an oceanic theme. Tatting designs are rare in Stitchcraft, so this was a special “by request” pattern. The sea-life chair seats are quite pretty and elaborate. One design features sea shells and coral, the other “Pond Life” — flowers, insects and butterflies. They are made with tapestry wool on canvas.

That’s all! My project for this month will be unusual: an adaptation of the cross-stitch “spot” design in knitting. I love the design, but I don’t like counted work and I don’t need any more cushions. I think it would work really well as an argyle-like intarsia + embroidered lines pattern for fingerless gloves. We’ll see how that works!

March 1965: Flower Border Bag

Choosing a project from the March 1965 issue of Stitchcraft was an interesting process. I loved both of the children’s designs (a “continental” cardigan and a textured pullover with a round stranded yoke), but could find no takers among the children / parents of children that size that I knew. I loved the red cardigan in the cover photo, but didn’t feel like going through the work of re-sizing and re-proportioning it for myself and it wasn’t the right style for any knit-worthy men in my life. None of the bulky, large, unshaped garments in the issue would have suited me. Also, I had multiple “endless” WIPs that I wanted to finish and other projects that have been waiting in the queue for a long time. So — I made a little embroidery project.

The project as presented in the magazine is a flower border in simple stitches and a limited colour palette (all blue, all “peacock”, or green and orange), to be worked either on a cushion, as a border on a pillowcase, or on satin fabric for a door panel. Not needing any of those things, I embraced the spirit of versatility and made a little embroidered and zippered bag that can be used for spare knitting needles / accessories or any other kind of easy-to-categorise-but-hard-to-contain “stuff”. I have many of these bags around the house, some made by me and some by friends. They are particularly useful for organising things in drawers or travel luggage. You can never have enough… and yet I kind of do! Luckily, they also make great little presents for friends, and one of mine has a birthday coming up, so I made it for her.

Of course, I don’t have the embroidery transfer from the magazine — readers had to send away for them back in the day. The flower is quite simple, however, and I was able to just copy it onto a piece of paper freehand. I had some nice bright turquoise linen left over from this cushion, some dove-grey viscose for lining left over from whatever, and embroidery floss in several shades of orange left over from this cushion as well as brown, so all I had to buy was a skein of green floss and a zipper. I transferred the pattern to the fabric by taping it up on the window and tracing with a marker pen and was good to go.

The embroidery is done entirely in satin, stem and blanket stitches — really fast and easy. I finished it in one afternoon, washed it out by hand under the tap to get rid of the marker lines and let it dry overnight. The next day, I made it up into a bag and voilà, finished.

It measures about 24×17 cm or 9.5×6 inches, a practical size, and the design works well. I could have chosen a more vibrant green for the leaves, but the subtlety of the leaves and stems makes the bright orange flower pop even more, and I think the smaller orange buds balance it out nicely. I am also very proud of my zipper-setting skills. All in all, I think this was a great example of how vintage designs can be adapted to fit modern needs and make homeware items that are both useful and attractive.

March 1965: Overview

It’s springtime! And the March 1965 issue of Stitchcraft is celebrating it with a bright, cheerful issue full of fun designs, great photography and very mid-60s hairdos. Our wonderful couple in the cover photo has just returned from the farmers’ and or flea market, proud of their purchases and sporting two of this season’s trends: textured stitch patterns and crochet.

“The interest in Crochet continues” writes “editress” Patience Horne in the first-page notes, reminding readers that crochet is not nearly as difficult as some readers think, as it is “all founded on the simple chain stitch” and one “only requires a little practice and patience” to make a simple item. The cover dress is basically unshaped, and made in a relatively simple cluster stitch with a dashing fringed hem and neckline. Beginning crocheters can start with an easy bathroom mat in rug wool, or a crocheted chicken toy for a toddler.

Men’s fashions, like the cardigan on the cover, have a loose, casual fit and interesting stitch patterns, like the traveling stitches on the cover cardigan or the easy diamond-pattern stitch on the V-neck pullover. The traveling stitches are basically very narrow cables, except the cables never cross, and the diamond pattern is made entirely of knit and purl stitches. Colours are either warm and bold, like the red cardigan, or 1960s natural, like the “Golden Beige” pullover, and buttons are big and round.

The knitted women’s garments show a similar interest in flat, textured stitches, warm or neutral colours and bold buttons and trim. The skirt suit on the inside front cover integrates all three trends. There’s a similarly patterned, buttoned and collared beige-and-orange cardigan in DK weight Brilliante wool/nylon mix, a red belted pullover with a polo (turtle) neck and a more subtle skirt suit with choice of pullover or cardigan and pleated skirt, made in finder Bouclet wool. In all the photos, the warm colours of the outfit — green, red, or gold-beige — are intensified by the warm-toned photo background, and the bolder designs feature models with impressive bouffant hairdos. All of the garments are long, loose and unshaped, with the tops reaching to the hips and a skirt length of 25 to 26 inches.

There are some great designs for school-age children in this issue, with a “continental” cardigan-blazer in “Riviera Blue” for girls and a unisex jersey with a stranded yoke design. Here too, we see the large collar and bold, round buttons on the cardigan, and warm colour palette and textured stitch pattern on the pullover. For babies, there’s a pram blanket with (purchased separately, not home-made) bunny motifs.

The homeware items are mostly practical and versatile. In addition to the crocheted bathmat, there’s a stitched rug/mat “for the bedroom” in an elegant arrowhead stitch and some cushion and/or stool-top designs in counted cross-stitch. A floral embroidery pattern can be adapted to make a door panel, frame a cushion, or decorate the edge of a pillowcase.

I wrote “mostly” practical items, but there is one unusual exception: these “Brass Rubbings to work with your needle.” They are two fairly large (7×16 inches) wall panels with icons of medieval people in the style of “brass rubbings“, which are made by laying heavy paper over one of those brass plaques often seen in medieval churches . The designs were inspired by “the interest in Church embroidery” per the description of the project, but I don’t know if the figures are meant to be specific, recognisable historical people or just representative of a typical medieval brass burial plaque. (Do any of you recognise them? It’s interesting that both of them are portrayed with small dogs at their feet, which seems like it should be a clue.)

Last but not least, Easter is coming soon (well, not that soon — Easter 1965 was on April 19th, which is actually fairly late) and it’s time to get started on those Easter gifts and novelties! Continuing the chicken (and egg) theme from the crocheted toddlers’ toy, there’s a stuffed felt “egg nest” in the form of a chicken with tiny accompanying chicks, and a gloriously huge knitted “Humpty Dumpty”, guaranteed not to break into pieces should he fall off a wall, and featured in colour in the inside back cover photo along with the child’s stranded-yoke pullover.

As much as I love this issue for its general aesthetic and fun, happy vibe, there isn’t a project in it that really grabs me. The mid-60s fashion for long, loose, unshaped upper-body garments is a terrible look for me and the homewares are generally not spectacular. I would love to make either of the children’s garments and am asking around if any friends with kids that age would like me to knit one, but I haven’t had any takers yet. If any of you are interested in a custom order, let me know! Otherwise, I’ll probably embroider the flower design onto something practical, like a little bag or a tablet/iPad cosy.

February 1965: Overview

Whew! January is over. I don’t know about all of you, but it’s my least favourite month. The holidays are a dim memory, it’s still cold and dark and damp in my northern climate, and spring feels far away.

Stitchcraft seems to know how I feel, since this month’s issue features outdoor photos in pretty, colourful outfits and interesting settings “to get away from the last of that tired January feeling.” There are lots of warm indoor-outdoor garments, like the boxy jacket on the cover with cable details on the pockets and collar. It matches a short-sleeved cable jumper to make a casual twin-set or to be worn separately, and both are showcased in the centrefold photo montage with another “country cardigan” in a twisted-stitch wheat-ear pattern. The cover cardigan and cabled jumper are both made in warm, normal Patons DK, the country cardigan in slightly thicker Flair. All have the typical mid-60s shape: long, loose-fitting and unshaped, and are made in natural, outdoorsy colours of off-white, gold and caramel brown.

The other adult women’s garments include an intriguing sweater in a “crunchy bramble knit … to look like crochet.” The bramble pattern is made by making a k1, yo, k1 all into the same stitch, then purling these 3 stitches together on the next row. It’s presumably very warm, uses a lot of wool and while it doesn’t exactly look like crochet, it has the same sort of nubbly texture you could get with crochet stitches. There’s no colour photo, but in white, “Golden Willow” and “Oakapple”, it fits nicely into the outdoor-casual colour scheme. For something a little less casual and a little more colourful, there’s a tweedy bright-purple cardigan suit in heavy-weight “Glenora”and two more elegant, fine-knit designs: a smooth, collared turquoise jumper with front-panel detail in Cameo Crepe and a bouclet suit with a dramatic blue-and-white colour-block design.

The men’s garments are casual and outdoorsy in form, but colourful and creative in design: a casual (though he’s probably secretly wearing a tie under it…) boat-neck pullover in a two-colour pattern made by knitting the RS rows in “Cool Lime” green and working the WS rows as k1, p1 in “Tahiti” brown. Even more impressive is the pullover in a remarkable “woven texture from Vienna”, featured in colour in the back cover. This “new Continental stitch” is made by combining normal two-colour stranded knitting with “long” stitches (wool wrapped three times around the needle) which are then slipped for a few rows before being knitted back in. It’s ingenious and produces a very striking effect without being very difficult to knit. Here too, natural colours of brown, beige and green are trending.

My photos aren’t crooked, by the way. It seems to be a trend to have the models stand at an angle, or have the models stand straight and take the photo at an angle, to get that dynamic diagonal effect.

And speaking of dynamic, check out this fantastic “play sweater for the space age”! It’s got a “cheerful mechanical man” motif on the front and is matched with a “jolly robot” hat (same motif, but with bobbles on top that make the robot look like a cheerleader.) This is as 1965 as it gets! The other children’s fashions are practical and easy: a back-buttoning “pinafore” and matching jumper for little girls (could she please wear more clothing on her lower body, though?) and a broken-rib button-up for school-age tots made with “Brilliante” synthetic-blend yarn.

The embroidery and housewares department is less exciting, with a few standard items in different craft categories. There’s a cross-stitch “ABC” rug for the children’s playroom, an apron and traycloth set in huckaback embroidery and easy counted- and cross-stitch items for the table.The inside back cover has a nice colour photo of a cross-stitch picture panel of the church spire in Chester.

There are so many fantastic designs in this issue, and yet I don’t have a practical use for any of them. Big, casual sweaters with no shaping are not really my style (even in that fabulous Viennese stitch) and I can’t think of any children I know of the right age and size who would want a space-age, robot-motif sweater (more’s the pity). If anyone wants to commission me to make one for their kid (to fit 28/30/32 inch chest), send me an email! Otherwise, I’ll use this month to finish a long-term WIP from a slightly later issue of Stitchcraft.

January 1965: Overview

Happy New Year, everyone! It’s 2023 in the present day and 1965 here at the Stitchcraft Sixties.

We are now solidly in the mid-60s fashion era of miniskirts, Twiggy and the “Space Age” look, but Stitchcraft was a conservative magazine, so hemlines are still at least knee length and the “country casual” look prevails. To be fair, it’s also January, so the focus is on practical, warm garments for both outdoors and in (good central heating was still not available in many British homes) and homeware projects to keep hands busy during the long, dark winter evenings.

The January 1965 issue was photographed in Lavenham, a medieval town noted for its timber-frame houses and its connection to the wool industry in the 16th century — a fitting setting for knitting magazine photos! Our model poses for the cover in “A corner of Lavenham’s delightful town square” whose entryway arch perfectly matches her bright blue sweater-dress (I don’t know if the poodle is hers or just happened to stop by for the photo) and for the inside photo in front of the historic St. Peter and St. Paul Church, whose construction was financed primarily by merchants in the wool and cloth business.

Other warm “sweater” garments for adults include a shirt-style pullover for women and a smocked-cable pullover for men in shades of gold and brown, a tweed cardigan in larger sizes (up to 43 inch bust), a crocheted skirt suit, and a “senior pullover” for “Father’s Classic Look”. All of them are in DK-weight or heavier wool. With the exception of the cover dress and the larger-sizes cardigan, both made in bright blue, tweedy, marled colours of brown, gold, copper and olive green prevail. Photographic fashion favours strong, straight-standing poses for the “bold” look, often with the camera held at a diagonal angle.

Winter means warm, quickly knit accessories as well, and this issue has some fun hats and mittens with Norwegian or blocky stripe patterns (the one with the broken lines is done by saddle-stitching embroidery on the finished cap.) No harvest golds and burnished coppers here: the caps are all made in red and white or royal blue and white for a typical wintery snowflake look. The cosy bedjacket is also blue and white and features a soft, squishy slipped-stitch lace pattern that is presumably very warm and comfortable.

Younger children can wear a truly cosy “snug suit for winter playtime”: a set of pullover and “helmet”-style cap in a thick slipped-stitch pattern with knitted leggings. Blue and white or red and white are the colour choices here as well. There’s also a pullover for “Junior” (three sizes to fit 24-29 inch chest) in light blue and dark blue. The “crunchy” stitch pattern looks complicated, but is made entirely using normal knit and purl stitches in a combination of stocking-stitch, reverse stocking-stitch and small bobbles made by knitting, purling, knitting into the same stitch on one row and purling 3 together three rows later.

There are plenty of homeware projects as well: like the knitted items, everything except the lace doily is more serviceable than fancy. There are stitched and crocheted rugs– and a conveniently placed advertisement for rugmaking which is one of the very few advertisements of this era that show a man working on handcrafts.

There’s a butterfly design in cutwork or as wool embroidery on a cushion in mid-60s shades of brown and dark green as well as more cushions in Tudor blackwork design or a geometric “peasant” pattern. The latter two take up the “bold” colour scheme idea with black on bright red or royal blue, scarlet, gold and jade on natural fabric. Finally, there are three flower panels than can be worked individually or combined to decorate a folding 3-part screen.

That’s this issue! My project will be the Norwegian cap and mitts in trending 1965 colours of blue and white. Happy New Year to you all.

December 1964: Overview

Stitchcraft sends good wishes for Christmas 1964! Yes, another year has gone by in a flash. Luckily, this issue is full of ideas for quick last-minute gifts, as well as warm clothing for the family.

The bulky partner-look cardigans on the front cover are timeless and modern – apart from the 1960s styling and lighting, and the man wearing a shirt and tie, this could be a modern advertisement for ready-to-wear knitwear. The jackets are made in „Big Ben“ bulky wool at 3.5 stitches to the inch, so they might just be finished in time for a winter cold snap. Similarly bulky, but lighter-weight „Ariel“ wool is featured in a vertically-striped („adds to the slimming look“) cardigan for somewhat larger women‘s sizes up to 42 inch bust, and there‘s a warm cabled „Cardigan for Driving“ for him with practical pockets and a big collar.

The women‘s fashions are more sleek, with classic straight lines and unfussy crew necks. A simple ridge-welt pattern can be knit from the bottom up with dolman sleeves for a horizontal stripe, or as a cardigan knitted sideways edge-to-edge for a vertical stripe effect. There‘s also a classic jumper with a twisted-stitch rib panel and a lacy sheath dress for parties.

„Juniors and Tots“ will stay warm in a fun stranded half-cardigan (zip opening from neck to waist – this is called a „Troya“ style where I live but Stitchcraft just calls it a jersey) with matching cap. Therre‘s another cap with cables running around horizontally, as well. „Tots“ from ages 1-4 get a sewn pinafore romper with a cross-stitch squirrel motif or a knitted tunic to wear over a jumper and tights (thank goodness, our child model can have warm legs for once.) Colours are warm and earthy — orange, brown and „Inca Gold“ for the adult and children’s garments and emerald green for the toddler‘s tunic.

The most important, and sometimes most entertaining, part of the December issue is the gifts, of course, and this one is full of „Last minute ideas“ — you can allegedly „make them all in an evening or two.“ Well, evenings are longer in the winter… There‘s a startled- looking owl to sew from felt pieces, and felt table mars with appliquéd butterflies. Felt is used for the draught-stopping caterpillar snake (with pipe cleaner feelers) as well, and cotton embroidered baby bibs shaped like a kitten and bunny rabbit complete the craft menagerie.

Other quick gifts include a knitted ball for a baby, a knitted and a tapestry tea cosy, and a knitted cushion — all good ways to use up scraps of wool. The „Ping the Peke“ stuffed dog looks a bit more time-consuming, and it’s probably difficult to achieve a really professional look with it.

Experienced embroideresses who have efficiently provided all of their Christmas gifts already and are not scrambling to get last-minute gifts finished can make a beautiful and very Christmas-y blue and green cross-stitch tablecloth based on a Rumanian motif. (For once, they didn‘t call a design from Eastern Europe „peasant“ embroidery! Progress.) Those looking for a simpler project can make a pretty dressing table set with flower motifs, or for the whimsically minded, there‘s a cross-stitch cushion „gift for a motorist“ with a picture of a prototype automobile on it.

The Readers Pages are full of ideas of things to buy (Stitchcraft subscriptions et. al.) plus an entire knitting pattern for a child‘s hoodie (2nd time reprint from 1954 — this must have been a very popular pattern) and instructions for an easy appliquéd spectacle case that a child could make „for Granny.“

My project will be the classic jumper with the twisted-stitch panel, in the same fun orange colour as the photo. Happy Holidays!

November 1964: Overview

“Winter Fashions and Christmas Plans” is the theme of Stitchcraft‘s November 1964 issue, with practical clothing for the family as well as gift ideas and a couple of glamorous items for parties.

You will be “set for winter” in the cardigan on the cover, knitted in bulky “Big Ben” wool at 3 1/2 stitches to the inch, with all-over mock-cables, a warm collar and practical pockets. The mock-cable pattern involves “losing” a stitch in the 3rd row with a sl1-k2-psso, then getting it back with a yo on row 4, making a “bar” and then a little hole for the mock-cable effect. There’s a handy close-up photo of the stitch pattern, so you can make sure you did it right.

The caption continues the use of a bit of word-play on the word “set”, which we saw in the October 1964 issue. There, the theme was “set to flatter”, whereby some of the items were part of an actual set, and some weren’t. Some of the other garments in the November issue really are a set, in that sense: this waistcoat suit in glowing fuchsia, for example. Rounding out the everyday women’s garments are a plain 4-ply jumper, a bright colour-motif sweater and a comfortable tweed jacket for larger sizes. I love that brooch on the jumper — it looks like Star Trek insignia.

The trend for textured patterns, big collars, zig-zag designs and bold colours continues with the men’s garments: he too will be “set for winter” in a textured pullover for larger sizes or a sport-weight “sweater-shirt” (they didn’t use the word “henley” at the time) that utilises many fashionable features. You get a glimpse of the women’s colour-motif sweater in the back cover photo, as well.

In the “Teens and Babies” department, there’s a wonderful winter “wind-cheater outfit” set (actually a set, this time) of sweater, leggings and hat, as well as a thick, warm jersey for a young girl (our model is quite possibly not a teenager yet, but the pattern is in three sizes up to 32 inch chest to fit older girls as well), and a continuation of the baby set (also an actual set) that was started a few issues ago with matinee coat, dress, etc.: this last instalment is a lacy one-size-fits-all hooded cape to go over all the other garments. I love the photo of the girl standing on the dock next to her boat, looking like a proud sailor! Last month’s issue, if we remember, touted “the Feminine Look”, meaning girls had to look pretty and not really do very much, so it’s nice to see our young sailor looking active and happy in her autumn sport set. The diagonally-striped hem and cuffs are knitted separately and sewn on later.

The non-Christmas-themed housewares continue the zig-zag / geometric trend with a crocheted rug, diamond-pattern cushion and wacky zig-zag chairback and cushion set (yay, another set).

There are tapestry and “needle etching” embroidered pictures that draw inspiration from Shakespeare’s family: “Anne Hathaway’s cottage” (Shakespeare’s wife, not the modern actress…) and “Mary Arden’s House” (Shakespeare’s mother, not Lady Arden of Heswall.)

But finally… it’s time for the pre-Christmas decorations! The wacky “novelties” and bizarre-bazaar items! I know you have been waiting for this and I promise you will not be disappointed. You may, however be scared out of your wits, if you happen to have a clown phobia, in which case I caution you to skip over the next few photos.

Starting with the melancholic stuffed animals, you can knit a “friendly” Jumbo the elephant, who seems to be rolling his eyes at the happy child who just pulled him out of their Christmas stocking, or a sad “bunny with a twinkle”. The table decorations are quite cute and easy to make: felt place-mats, napkin-holders and an Advent wall panel with wintery and Christmas-y appliqué motifs.

But that clown! The “Musical clown for a tot”! What in the world is going on with that clown? Even the bunny is giving it the side-eye. The construction is actually pretty interesting and a fun way to use up fabric scraps: you cut 4-inch diameter circles of fabric, gather them up with a gathering thread to make little poufs and then sew them on top of each other to make the arms, legs and body. Then all you need to do is sew and stuff a pointy head and cap and embroider a terrifying face onto it. Don’t worry, it has bells instead of hands and feet, so you can hear it coming.

EDIT November 12, 2022: I was browsing around on UK Ebay and someone is selling an FO of this clown! Unbelievable! I am not going to buy it but maybe one of you will…

To clear your mind of those images, here is a lovely lacy party top and fluffy “luxury stole” knitted with Lurex for holiday party glamour. The top can be lined with gold lamé for extra sparkle.

Rounding out this bumper issue are the “Readers Pages”, featuring Stitchcraft and Patons-inspred gift ideas (a yearly subscription, binding cases for past issues, knitting patterns…) and a fun way to use up wool scraps: a coat hanger cover to keep delicate items from creasing or stretching at the shoulders. The ads use babies to sell Lux soap flakes and Patons wool.

The only project that really called to me from this issue was (laugh if you want) the coat hanger cover, which could make a cute little gift for a friend or be useful in my own closet, as well as being quick and easy and a way to use up some of those mystery scraps in the stash drawer. The October 1964 dress is almost finished, so I’ll update that post soon as well.

October 1964: Overview

October is the start of the best season for knitting, and the October 1964 issue of Stitchcraft rose to the occasion with multiple themes and more colour pages than ever before (photographed in the villages of Great Waltham and Stebbing in Essex). There are knit designs for “him and her” as well as for different ages of babies and children, embroidery, tapestry, rugmaking and appliqué projects, “novelties” and even a few extra tidbits in the back “Readers’ Pages.” Shall we… fall in?

Our first Autumn theme is “The Feminine Look”, which cracks me up, for when has Stitchcraft or any handcraft magazine ever promoted the “masculine look” for women? It goes without saying that they would never advertise the feminine look for men… As far as I can see, the designs don’t look any more feminine than the designs from any other issue. Maybe it’s meant in contrast to the “partner-look” designs from previous fashion trends.

In any case, the cover-photo suit with coordinating jumper for underneath is simple and elegant, and probably quite comfortable to wear. It’s made in still-popular nubbly Rimple wool in DK weight and a slightly tweedy shade of light blue. The jumper is made in fingering weight and has a diagonal pattern.

The women’s “feminine” fashions include a great cable-pattern dress as well, in smooth, DK weight Totem wool, and a less “feminine”, but probably very cosy, roll-collar pullover with an aysmmetrically-placed pocket. The mock-cable pattern on the pocket and collar is used as an all-over pattern on a man’s classic V-neck cardigan, and there’s another man’s cardigan as well in a very similar design, with “real” cables, a zip fastening and in bulky Ariel wool.

The cable cardigan and women’s pullover are shown off in a gorgeous full-colour centrefold photo where the green, yellow and brown of the knitwear harmonise perfectly with the country setting. As the caption says, both garments are made in “Flair”, a somewhat heavier wool-acrylic blend.

For the children, there’s a boys’ version of a men’s pullover from last month’s issue… the one that would not be a good choice for most women to wear. I personally think the placement of the star motifs is a bit odd even on a flat-chested body (they could have placed the band near the hem, or in a round yoke), but Stitchcraft liked it enough to offer a smaller-sized version in blue. Girls get a jumper suit in a plaid-trimmed “gay design from Vienna”. The colour palette for both the adult and children’s fashion is bright — blues, green, yellow, chocolate brown and “Flamenco” (I’m guessing red?), the patterns are bold and clear and collars and pockets are big and conspicuous.

Continuing the baby-outfit series from the previous months’ issues, the (girl) baby of the family gets a bonnet and matinée coat. “The feminine LOOK starts when you are tiny” — i.e. get used to having cold legs now! The set is certainly pretty, and there’s a very practically placed ad for a Patons’ baby-pattern booklet, “Babes in the Wool” on the page as well.

With all these great knitting designs, you’d think the homewares department would be skimpy, but they really went all-out on this issue: in addition to the usual cushions, stool-tops and chairbacks in huckaback work or tapestry, there’s a bold red-and-green “traditional Austrian” rug photographed in colour (notice how a traditional Austrian design is not called “peasant”, interesting…)

… and an appliquéd wall picture with a “kitchen”-themed design. Do I have terrible taste if I admit that I love this wall hanging? It’s utterly kitschy and very 1960s! There’s a little sewing design as well, for a child’s pinafore smock… “for playtime or helping with the chores.” Beware, little girl, that feminine look comes with its own designated activities.

And don’t forget the “novelties”, which are not quite as weird in this month’s issue as we have seen in other issues. There’s a little stuffed penguin toy with very funny feet, and a night-case in the shape of a knitted duck. There’s also a winter ski set for a doll, with ski-pants and a warm stranded pullover and cap. (If the doll looks a little worried and not quite warm and comfortable, it’s probably because it’s standing barefoot in the snow.)

But that’s not all! In addition to the usual comic (Anne learns how to embroider an owl and a swallow using different embroidery stitches), the “Readers’ Pages” in the back of the magazine have a reprint of a 1944 knitting pattern for warm “cami-knickers” underwear, and some dainty stencils to embroider onto handkerchiefs. I love embroidered handkerchiefs, having inherited some beautiful ones from my grandmother and occasionally bought more on ebay. If I ever find any plain new ones to buy (shouldn’t be that difficult), I could try my hand at embroidering them myself.

The handkerchiefs, cami-knickers and even the cheesy appliqué picture all appeal to me, but I love the cabled knit dress most of all, so that will be my October project. I can’t imagine it will be done by the end of October, but I have already bought wool and made a swatch and am just starting casting on, so I’ll post about it soon when there’s something to see and write about.

Till then, happy Autumn!

September 1964: “Peasant” Embroidery

Photo of am embroidered cushion and tablecloth, from Stitchcraft magazine, September 1964

This month’s project — finished just on time! — was another embroidered cushion, larger and more ambitious than the previous ones I have made.

The cushion cover measures roughly 15×21 inches or almost 40×80 centimetres and features a highly stylised flower design in bold colours in the style of traditional Hungarian or Romanian designs. It is… interesting to note that Stitchcraft used very different appellations for traditional embroidery designs depending on the country or region they came from or which style they emulated. Typical Nordic designs were called “Scandinavian” or used the specific country name. Designs based on Indian, Persian, Chinese or Japanese works or styles usually used those country names. But anything related to a Southern or Eastern European tradition — Hungary, Romania, Czechoslovakia (one country at that time), Yugoslavia (country name at the time), Greece, etc. was a “peasant” design, with or without a specific country name. I’m sure it wasn’t meant in an insulting way (also pretty sure that most of Stitchcraft’s readers were descended from “peasants” if you go back far enough), but the word doesn’t quite sit right when you think about it in context; there is an unconscious bias at play, unfortunately typical for the time but worth noticing and pointing out when discussing vintage magazines now.

The design, in any case, is beautiful, and is given in two versions, for a cushion or a tablecloth border. As always, the biggest challenge is re-creating the transfer, which Stitchcraft readers at the time had to order separately. There is a colour photo, and helpfully, also a schematic diagram that is presumably exactly the same as the transfer, just smaller.

If the cushion were smaller, I might have been able to scan the diagram into the computer, adjust it to the correct size and print it out, then copy it onto the fabric with carbon transfer paper. Or even use the special embroidery printer paper that you can stick onto the fabric and wash off when the embroidery is done. But the design is much bigger than any paper my printer can print. I suppose I could have taken it to the print-and-copy shop, but I chose to enlarge the design the old-fashioned way, by drawing a grid over the diagram and the paper and copying it by hand. It’s a good exercise, and one I can certainly use more practice in. I transferred it with carbon paper and went over it with water-soluble pen. For the border flower circles, I marked the positions and just traced around a button.

My fabric was a fairly heavy furnishing linen in exactly the same colour as the original. The pattern is written for wool embroidery thread, which I would have had to order from the one little shop in Paris that sells it. It’s a wonderful shop, but I wanted to get the project started, so I just went with regular cotton crewel thread. The colours are Black, Peacock, Red, Rust, Dk Orange, Lt Orange, Gold, Yellow, Lime, and Cream. I used the photo and my own taste as a guide to all the shades of orange and yellow. My “Lime”, like the “Lime” in the photo, was more like a slightly greenish lemon, but it looked good (and probably accurately reflected the colour of any real limes available in England in 1964…) On working the embroidery, I noticed that the directions say “White” instead of “Cream”, but I was glad I had used the off-white — I think real white would have been too strong a contrast.

The stitches are all quite basic: stem, satin, buttonhole and blanket with some French knots and one use of Romanian stitch in the middle of the red and black flower. It was good practice for buttonhole stitch and French knots, which were my nemeses before, but have improved significantly due to this project.

I realised while working it that the individual motifs weren’t quite big enough — in the original, they are much closer together, almost touching. There was no way I was going to re-do the entire transfer and start over, so I accepted it.

The work went surprisingly quickly, considering how large the cushion is. I made it up into a cover with the same fabric as a backing and a zipper close. A standard 40×80 cm bed pillow fits in it well. Though my embroidery skills are still a work in progress, I am very happy with the final result.

When I started this project, I had no plans for it after finishing — I have more cushions than couch/chair space, so I assumed I would give it away as a present or sell it. Happily, a colleague noticed me working on it during a break and loved it, saying it was the perfect colour for her sofa and the walls in the living room, and she offered to buy it! So it will have a good home and I earned a bit of money for the craft budget. Perfect.