There is also a charming ad for Patons and Baldwins knitting wools, entitled "Heard at the Vicarage sewing party". Alison, Janet and Enid are discussing the jumpers they are wearing. (It's a Knit and Natter session, in fact.)
They are obviously intended to look (to a 1934 reader) young and fashionable, as they admire each other's handiwork, as well as the Patons and Baldwins' patterns and yarns.
Janet: ..... Patons & Baldwins never design stodgy styles. How do you like the bright idea I'm wearing now?
Alison: Lovely, dear. What pretty little cape sleeves! But you know I'm all for cosiness, so this long-sleeved style is more suitable for me.
Janet: Well, the squiggly white hairs all over do make it attractive.
And so on... (No idea what the "squiggly white hairs" are - the yarn is called Kempy.)
I think that the whole magazine is aimed at young women aspiring to be fashionable, though it's a bit difficult to grasp that the styles they feature were once the latest thing. For instance, it's suggested that you could make a dressing table set with the free embroidery transfer, and it is just the sort of thing that would have appealed to my Grandma.
And elsewhere there is a puzzling piece about what an "older schoolgirl" could wear, by the magazine's Paris Correspondent. (Stitchcraft had a Paris Correspondent!) "With the older school-girl in mind, I asked Anny Blatt to choose two models from her collection of knitted frocks". The suggested outfits look very smart, though you wouldn't think of them as suitable for a teenager (especially as most girls then left school at 14).
This post makes me smile. I also have some older magazines and wonder how people could knit those things. Yours looks more stylish, though. :)
ReplyDeleteDear Barbara
ReplyDeleteI love the 1934 jumper and would like to knit it. Have you published the pattern online ?
Thank you
No, the pattern is not online, as far as I know. The copyright would belong to Patons, I believe, who published Stitchcraft and are still in existence.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your answer.
ReplyDeleteWould it be possible to send me privatly the pattern ? or at least to guide me roughly through it.
But ...if I'm not mistaken, it's not possible to contact you by email through the blog (nor for you to contact me)...
I am barbaramary on Ravelry, so you could contact me that way.
ReplyDelete