Tuesday 14 May 2013

A trimly tailored jacket.

I have been very busy knitting lately so I have a number of vintage knitwear posts to come. It has been such fun taking these old patterns and making the garments come to life.




Take a look at this beauty! A gorgeous, tailored 1940's jacket with a choice of sleeve lengths and with moss stitch borders and cuffs. An added bonus is that it is knitted in double knitting yarn. Actually, I really enjoy working in 4-ply but it does take significantly longer so sometimes it is nice to have a double knit project to go to.

When I knit from a vintage pattern I try to produce a garment that resembles the original as closely as possible, I want it to look like a period piece and I want to make it the way someone at the time would have done. That means using the correct size needles for the yarn type and not altering proportions. As a hand knitter I like the feeling of following in someone else's footsteps and being able to make a garment that is recognisable across a 70 odd year gap. I like to know that if I was suddenly whisked back in time whilst wearing one of these pieces I would fit right in!



I chose to knit the jacket in Sublime extra fine merino wool  which is 100% merino and knits up beautifully. It has great stitch definition and it is so gorgeous and soft. I often cannot wear things with a wool content as it makes me itch but I would be absolutely fine wearing this.

This picture shows the lovely moss stitch edging. The colour isn't quite true, it looks raspberry here but it is more of a dusky antique rose, it is lovely. Although it was quite a mammoth task to knit the border separately I decided to do as the pattern said. The sewing up was a bit of a pain but it does look lovely. The collar is also knitted separately and stitched on after the edging. It was amazing how it transformed it from something nice to something really lovely.


Here it is in close up and you can see the lovely wooden buttons. I chose them as they were beautiful and tactile but simple as I wanted the pattern and tailoring of the jacket to speak for itself.


This side view shows the shaping on the fronts and on the sleeves just above the cuffs, contributing to the tailored look and fit.


If you look closely at the small of the back area you can see the shaping that helps give the garment a waist.

So here it is..........



The finished article! It is a size 34-36 inch bust and is for sale. I am working on an online shop but for the moment I can be contacted via my blog or Facebook .

Just to finish - happy blogging birthday to me. It is one year since I started my blog and I am enjoying the opportunity to write about and photograph the things that I am interested in so much. I aim to increase the frequency of my posts in the next year.

10 comments:

  1. Katie, fabulous! So good to see the finished article, beautiful

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you. It is such a lovely thing to see flat pieces of knitting come to life isn't it?!

      Delete
  2. This is so lovely! It would look fabulous with a pencil skirt or trousers :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks. You are right, a pencil skirt in particular would be a perfect match.

      Delete
  3. This is so splendidly lovely! From the design to the colour to the thickness of the wool used, I adore every last detail. You do awesome work, dear Kate!

    ♥ Jessica

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That is very kind of you to say so. I am glad that you like it.

      Delete
  4. Replies
    1. Thanks, it jumped out of the shelves in the store at me!

      Delete
  5. I love Sublime Merino wool. I've stocked a load of the 4ply as they discontinued it :-(

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I hate it when great yarn gets discontinued! I haven't used their 4-ply but I bet it is beautiful.

      Delete