knitting history, late 1900s

The 1930'S was a period of ecomomic recession resulting in mass unemploymment,
both in America and Great Britain,
The unemployed suffered cuts in their unemployment pay, which now became means-tested
Life for many families became very tough indeed
Middle class ladies, having experienced the war time comfort's knitting,
now began a new crusade, and charity knitting was undertaken with gusto
Every tiny odd scrap of yarn was collected and utilised to knit small items,
tea cosies, mittens, hats toys, or anything else that would sell.
Most of the major spinners published knitting patterns or pattern booklets of instructions for bazzar knits
Once more the whole country was knitting.
In 1932 the Personal Service League was founded, with Queen Mary as the patron.
The league was set up to encourage knittingThey organised the collection and distribution of the knitting,
The league existed for at least 10 years
On 2 November 1934 'The Times' made a National Knitting Appeal for every woman in the country to knit one garment, for the unemployed.
The target was 100,000 garments,
In terms of fashion the 1930's was the era of detailed shaping, nipped in waists,
slightly broader shoulders, and intricatly shaped necklines.
It was a period of very sophisticated dressmaking , which had a strong influence on knitwear.
Almost all middle-class women were expert dressmakers ,
with an understanding of pattern cutting
This knowledge enabled them to expertly translate the detailed
shaping of woven wear into 3 dimensioonal knitting
knitwear now began to imitate the styling of woven Fashion,
For the first time garments were now knitted with carefully shaped bust, hip and waist darts,
Jumpers, skirts, dresses and suits, were smooth fitting from neck to hip,
the skirt being either straight or a slightly flared 'A' line
The shaping lines often appeared as decorative elements within the knitting
It was during the 1930's that sweaters became acceptable wear
both in town and for early evening wear
And by the end of the decade the sweater had become the basis of most looks,
It was worn with slacks, or tweed skirts
Highly sophisticated versions were worn with the town suit
the sweaters were short, brief,and fitted, knitted with rib textures,
and knots, short puff sleeves and tied neck lines
Hand knitted boleros with short puff sleeves often covered backless evening dresses
Another 1930's handknitted innovation was the snood, a very glamourous sort of hair-net, which was an essential accessory to a smart suit or day dress.
Hand knitting was more popular than ever, lots of patterns were published,
either as leaflets or booklets or as instructions in magazines
And many knitting books were published
In 1932 Vogue launched The Vogue Knitting Book , the first of a highly successful series of books which lasted for over 30 years
Mary Thomas, fashion Journalist and illustrator,
wrote her first books, which were on embroidery in 1934, and 1936,.
her first knitting book 'Mary Thomas's knitting book' was published in 1938.
Her second knitting book, 'Mary Thomas's Book of Patterns' was published in 1943
In 1939 the world was at war for the second time,
The decade ended with all knitters once more supporting 'the soldiers comforts campaign'
by Knitting socks, balaclavas, scarfs, finger-less mittens, blankets etc.

1940'S

The war years of the early forties were a time of utility and thrift, make do and mend,
Knitting wools along with fabric and clothes became rationed in June 1941,
To buy knitting wool it was neccessary to use a precious clothing coupon
Published designs always contained helpful information on how to use both wool and clothing coupons in the most economical way
To save coupons knitted garments were unravelled and reknitted, not once but many times,
To save wool the short sleeve became very popular,
There were also an assortment of instructions available for gilets, to be worn under a jacket
The front of a gilet was knitted like a jumper but the back was either
made from a rectangle of discarded fabric, or a cheap net,
more frugal was the backless gilet,
in this case, tapes were stitched at waist level on each side of the front
for tying at the back, while the shoulders were safety-pinned to underwear
In 1940 the first of the Koster and Murry books was published by Odhams Press
'Practical knitting Illustrated'
This very popular book was reprinted seven times and remained in print for a decade.
The book contains knitting instructions for underwear, beach suits,
cushion covers and place mats for the table,
Plus jumpers, (lots of short sleeves) cardigans and so on for men, women, children and babies,
The book also incudes alternative stitch pattens, and graphs of sizes,
with instructions on how to adapt the patterns
The sweaters are short and body fitting, shoulders wide and padded,
All the neck lines have interesting details.
Also very typical of the forties, surface decoration and texture
is more important than colour patterning.
Bobbles, moss st, and cable twisted-stitch patterns, are the vogue.
Over the following 9 years a further seven books by Koster and Murrry were published by Odhams,
These two ladies continued writing knitting books, booklets and articles throughout the 1950's
In 1941 silk stocking were banned, the substitutes, cotton and rayon,
were soon in such short supply, that bare legs and footlets were recommended
At this point Vogue offered it's readers a knitting pattern for footlets
Two years after the war ended 1947, Christian Dior introduce his 'New Look'
skirt hems exactly 16 inches from the ground,
tiny waists, a defined bustline and batwing sleeves, lots of extravagent fabric.
This design was the reaction to years of restriction and making do, and women loved it.
during the next decade, the 1950's, this more exuberant style continued

1950'S

The Fifties were a heyday for handknitting,
And for Fashion in general, a new era was born
The Festival of Britain in 1951 was a celebration of British achievement,
renewing confidence in British manufacturing,
The following great wave of commercialism brought with it the concept of mass production.
For Fashion that meant, cheap, trendy, easily accessable 'ready to wear'
Rationing ended in 1954, negating any regard for economy
Overlarge, generous, extravagant, full , became the fashion buzz words of the decade.
For the first time young people began to use clothes as a means of group identification
The word, Teenager, imported from America, was used for the first time.
The Fifties was the age of the young.
It was also the age of male clothing, as men became very conscious of fashion
A look based on the Edwardian Style evolved and Teddy Boys emerged.
Young new, British, just-out-of Art School, designers,
eschewed establishment fashion and developed their own fresh and original looks
Dior died in 1957, and Yves Saint Laurent became the new King of Fashion,
Chanel continued to be Queen
The British designer Mary Quant became the major fashion force outside Paris
Handknitted fashion was revolutionised by the introduction of nylon synthetic fibres.
Yarns made from nylon, Orlon and Courtelle , were easy to machine wash,
and they dried very quickly
Soft, thick, chunky yarns in pale colours became very popular.
Large, over-sized chunky sweaters, called sloppy joes, worn over tight pants were hot news,
A second look was a tight , either very low scoop neck or high polo neck, sweater
worn with a full complete circle skirt.
Both looks were accessorised with flat ballet pumps,
and a very tightly fitting, 4 inch wide, elastic waspie belt.
Also in demand were, thick mohair cardigans and jackets, and aran knits
These sweaters were usually underpined by a 'sweater girl' bra,
The bra sported stiffen, conical shaped cups, spiraled with rows of stitching.
These new yarns and new shapes created a tremendous demand for new patterns ,
Many new knitting books, knitting leaflets, patterns in magazines, and new specialist knitting magazines were published.
Once more, everyone was knitting.

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