1920s knickers

 I wrote a couple of posts last year about several knitted garments in the Knitting & Crochet Guild collection that were made in the early 1950s using Patons & Baldwins patterns from the 1920s.  Here's another:  a pair of lacy knickers.

They don't look very pretty laid out like that, but they were supposed to be worn as part of a set, and would look better with the rest of the set, and on a person.  Though loose knee-length knickers in wool still don't seem an attractive idea, to me. 

I found the pattern in the bound volumes of Beehive Recipe Cards in the British Library, which I wrote about here.  Card No. 61 has a British Museum date stamp for November 1923.  It's called the Princess design, and the set has a camisole and Princess petticoat, as well as the knickers.  

From Beehive Recipe Card 61

('Princess petticoat' was apparently a term for a garment combining a bodice and skirt part, without a waist seam.  The term was current from the late 19th century, and was advocated as a way of avoiding excessive layers of underclothing around the waist.)  I assume that the camisole draped over the model's arm, would have been worn under the petticoat, but would not then have been visible. 

All three garments have the lacy pattern knitted around the legs of the knickers, shown in close-up below. 

There are two other sets of women's underwear in the 86 cards in the British Library, both consisting of a camisole, petticoat and knickers.  The images from the cards are shown below.  

From Beehive Recipe Card No. 71

The photo from Card No. 85 shows that the legs of the knickers in this outfit are extremely wide, and also that the model is wearing what seem to be quite thick stockings .  The stockings would have been held up by either a suspender belt or garters - I'm not sure which method was current in the 1920s.  And possibly she would be wearing a corset, too.  

From Beehive Recipe Card No. 85

I suppose that these garments were quite practical, especially in winter - houses were generally not well heated at that time.  And the lace is quite pretty.  But really, I am very glad that I don't have to wear underwear like this.  We don't think of 1920s women as wearing bulky underwear, but we're too influenced by fashion drawings showing sleek silhouettes, and by modern dramas like Downton Abbey, where I doubt that the actors are wearing woolly underwear.  Most women, I'm sure, didn't look anything like fashion drawings - though that has always been true.