July 1964: Blouse in 4-ply

EDIT August 10, 2022: Finished!

My July project was (emphasis on the past tense) a simple, pretty sleeveless blouse with a decorative square-cut neckline.

It’s written to be knit in (you guessed it) 4-ply wool, specifically, Patons Nylox. According to the Ravelry database, Patons made two different types of Nylox over the years: the first version was 80% wool and 20% nylon, the later version 60% wool and 40% nylon. The photos of the ball bands that I see on Ravelry make me assume that the Nylox used in 1964 was the later, 60/40 version.

It would not have been very much trouble to find a 60% wool, 40% synthetic modern yarn to substitute, but I much preferred to use a wool-cotton blend, being more natural, nicer on the skin and temperature-controlled than 40% synthetic. I decided to try Lana Grossa’s Alta Moda Cotolana, a 45% merino wool, 45% pima cotton, 10% polyamide blend which was available in my local yarn shop and in colours other than white, neutral or pastel. (Thank you, Lana Grossa, for understanding that some people do not wear light colours even in summer!)

The wool is chained, not plied, and of a sort of indeterminate thickness — it seems to be used more often for shawls and lacy items than solid garments. I got 6.5 stitches to the inch in stocking-stitch on 3 mm needles, which made a nice fabric texture on the swatch and would allow me to make the top with a modified gauge. Or so I thought!

Sadly, this is not the right yarn to make a garment in stocking-stitch. The yarn itself has absolutely no stretch to it due to the high non-wool content and the chain plying. The longer the stocking-stitch tube for the body got (knit in the round with fake “seams”), the more it stretched width-wise. Any attempts to measure, try on, or check the gauge of the garment were futile — it was too slippery and drapy. I frantically tried to save it by decreasing, but it was all to no use, and once the body was pretty much finished (!!), it was clear that it would not work. It was a saggy tent.

I frogged the entire thing (forgot to take a photo beforehand too, sorry) and thought about how to solve the problem. The easiest way was to choose a stretchy pattern stitch to make up for the lack of stretch in the yarn. A sleeveless top in feather-and-fan (a.k.a. Old Shale, Old Shell) lace would be pretty, stretchy, easy to knit and have a somewhat earlier vintage feel, so that was my choice. I made it flat in pieces with plenty of negative ease and adding some waist shaping to avoid any sagging or floppiness.

As I knitted, I remembered seeing an older Stitchcraft pattern with a pattern for a similar blouse in it. I didn’t know which issue it was, but a little digging turned it up: December 1949. Of course, the Stitchcraft pattern is for a different weight of wool as well a a different size of person — and even a different stitch count in the pattern repeats — so there was no point in trying to re-create it step for step, but I used the photo and general shape as a guide.

I made the waist shaping by increasing and decreasing, which was not as difficult in the lace pattern as one might think. The neckline is square and edged with just a couple of rounds of garter stitch. I did the sleeve cap shaping by guesswork and it turned out fine.

My only complaint is, again, the yarn. The top — made with at least four inches of negative ease everywhere — fit OK after knitting, but stretched during blocking. When I put it on this morning, it still fit fine, if a bit loosely, but by evening, it had sagged and stretched widthwise. As nice as this yarn seems, it is utterly useless for knitting garments, as it refuses to hold any shape and its elasticity only goes in one direction. What a pity, as it has excellent temperature-control properties (it was 32 degrees C today) and feels lovely to the touch! I’m happy with the finished result, though, and will probably wear it a lot.

Design Extra: The Valiant Tailoress

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.