Vintage Knitting, Retro Dressmaking, Make do and Mend, Original and Vintage Inspired Knitting Patterns, Vintage Inspired books

Friday, July 29, 2011

Some Pretty Pictures

Excellent progress is being made on A Stitch in Time Vol 2 and it will soon be going to the printers. In the meantime I'm excitedly looking forward to the arrival of samples to pick our cloth cover for the book. I've always wanted to publish a book with a hard back cover but wanted even more to publish a book with a cloth cover like the Odhams books etc so am thrilled with this. I also think it will make the finished book even more special.

I know I've been quiet on the blog for several weeks as I have worked on the book day and night so thought I would share a couple of the designs from the book with you:

Copyright Susan Crawford 2011
This gorgeous coat is officially known as 'The Swagger Coat' and is from the 1930s. It may be more familiar to many of you as Miss Marple's coat, worn by Geraldine McEwan in the TV series. It has also been seen far more recently, for approx 5 seconds, in the film 'The King's Speech', so a bit of a celebrity!

To create the smooth, slightly shiny fabric the pattern required and also getting the uncommonly big tension for the period, I used Fyberspates Scrumptious Aran in Water. It knits up beautifully, extremely quickly and with its high silk content, has exactly the right amount of sheen. The first size shown here takes 8 skeins. It will be available in a wide range of sizes from 30-52 inches.

Copyright Susan Crawford 2011



This garment has had quite an impact on everyone who has seen it. She's called Kasha and is from the 1940s. I have a separate blog post all about the intricacies of multi sizing this little lady as she is quite a challenge so I won't dwell on that today. This beautiful cardigan jumper is knitted in Skein Queen Blush in a very special shade created by Skein Queen herself called Vintage Gold. The largest size is knitted in Lotus Cashmere DK. The lace motif is pretty complex but has been charted for the book making the knitting a lot easier. The button band is knitted as part of the fronts with the collar and little shoulder pads knitted separately and sewn on afterwards. Because of the complexity of the lace pattern, Kasha is available in a smaller range of sizes but is still available in sizes 30-44 inches.


Copyright Susan Crawford 2011

And one final reveal before its back to work for me. This is the Pretty Frilled Jumper, again from the 1930s. This is knitted both vertically and horizontally and with delicated frills knitted separately and sewn on afterwards. The stitch pattern is very simple but made more intriguing by the unusual construction. This design seems to look good on everyone who has tried it on despite being a little underwhelming in the original pattern. I think its the frills, framing the face so elegantly and then adding a bit of glamour at the wrist. It is knitted in Jamieson & Smith 2 ply Jumper yarn which has the right amount of body to get those frills to stand to attention. It is available in a range of sizes from 32-46 inch bust.

I will leave it there for today but will introduce a few more designs next week.

for now
Ruby xx

24 comments :

Sandy said...

Oooh...I so can't wait for the book now! I tend to knit the shorter jumpers/cardis but I must say I'm very taken with the Swagger coat!!!

Jennie said...

Seeing the frilled jumper has made my day, I can't wait to make my own!

Hen said...

These look wonderful. I am just waiting for your first book to arrive. I can't actually knit (yet!) but am a vintage clothing fan (mainly '40s) and I love the beautiful pictures you've created. I will hunt down an able knitter to make me some of the designs!

Kate said...

Ahhhh, the excitement is TOO MUCH! xx

Shearer's Girl said...

Stunning pictures!

Tanya Murray said...

I can't wait and I'm so teased and excited. Wait till the girls at my Ravalry group see my book. They'll love it and be sure to order themselves.

Marzee Flamingo said...

Can't wait just not enough hours in the day to knit!

Lauren Hairston said...

OH MY!!! I'm now even more excited to get my copy! Gorgeous items!!!

Jenny said...

Susan thanks so much for sharing these three. I love the coat and the beautiful pattern on Kasha and the Pretty frilled jumper is lovely. Hope I get my book before Tanya gets hers, he he. We live in the same town.

flossieKNITS said...

I can't wait!

BaronessVonVintage said...

Oh, sigh, swoooooon! Can't wait!!

Anonymous said...

I can't wait for this book. I want to make all three of the projects here, and I can just imagine what the rest of them will be like! The photos are just beautiful.

Rosalia (on ravelry)

Mary Beth said...

I think the swagger coat, particularly the color, is my favorite. This would be gorgeous over a pair of jeans.

Mary Beth said...

Also the pretty frilled jumper is cute too. I could imagine this in a two-tone color scheme with the buttons matching the frill. That would be just smashing. What a great book you've got there.

Rebecka M said...

The frilled jumper looks so good - and great excuse to use up all my balls of jamieson & s's jumper yarn. look forward to getting the book in the post & good luck with the final process!

shannon said...

Wow! Amazing work, love Kasha, that lace pattern is incredible.

Maja said...

is it you who made it for miss marple? It is so funny you mention that it is featured in both marple and Kings speech - when I saw the kings speech in the cinema I almost yelled out loud "that's miss marple's!" My mom and I have talked about it so often, well every time we watch miss marple;)

Can't wait for your new book to arrive!

Maja said...

oh and by the way thank you for making your patterns in so wide a range of sizes - I'm about 32" and it often rather difficult to find patterns that match my chest size without making me look like I have stolen somebody's blouse;) so thank you thank you thank you!

Theodora goes Wild said...

I'm watching The Body In The Library and Miss Marple is wearing THAT coat! Ahh, a dream come true.

Anonymous said...

Love that last one -- it is sooooo cute (and I have just the right yarn in my stash). But I love the others, and the Kasha stitch pattern is fascinating too...

Couturette said...

Oh my gosh, O love all three of them. Now I am growing REALLY impatient to ge the book.

Anonymous said...

I just spotted the coat watching Poirot on itv player!

Just call me Ruby said...

ooh which episode? I have my complete Poirot listing next to my chair and i can see if I have it saved on the hard drive :-)

ines said...

Hi!
these look goegeous! I've preordered the book, and can hardly wait to start knitting the musterd yellow short sleeved cardigan. Oh my! It is soooo beautiful!