The Garment - The Lower Half

The main part of the lower half of The Garment is finished and has been sent to my model for a fitting. He is 6’2”, hence the long legs. The foot sections will be knit down from the ankles.

The photo at left shows this part of TG in its final stages, minus the fall. The legs were knit in the round but then I switched to back and forth for the upper part. The open (not yet sewn) inner seam is just visible. Following the pattern of men’s breeches at that time, the seam is on the inside of the leg. There was an outside seam, too, but "it don't signify" in this case. This photo also shows several sets of needles on TG. The fall (front flap) is on a small circular needle and green wool, holding the stitches until the needle was put on but left on for clarity in the photo. This was knit back and forth with two garter stitches on either side and across the top to flatten the edges, and with a button hole at either upper side. Decreases were made on both sides for the waist as I knit up the hips, also, at this point, back and forth, with stitches both cast/bound off and some replaced, at the front for the waistband. The waist area shows two pairs of long circular needles. The larger, wooden set is knitting the outer waist band, including the stitches added for the front of the waistband which will also have a button. The thin, metal long circular needles are holding the stitches at the base of the waistband which will become the inner waistband, offering double support, therefore, to the upper part of TG which will be knit upwards from the lower part pictured here and from both waistbands, incorporated into one knitted row.

The Garment - January 2009 Update 2

The Garment - January 2009 Update

I know that I am taking a long time working on this project. One of the reasons is that I keep adjusting the design. The legs have been knit several times as have the rows which join the two legs and sides at hip level just below the fall. I think, however, I have finally got it right this time. There are the legs, hanging out of the cloth bucket which makes a perfect knitting bag. That photo also is the most accurate representation so far of the shade of brown of the wool.

The other reason I am moving slowly is that I adore this wool. It is strong, feels good in the hands and on the needles, and rips and re-knits beautifully. The colour is gorgeous with flecks of lighter wool that show up from time to time.

2009 Knitting Resolutions

It isn’t as bad as it looks and it is, in fact, much more organised. There are currently no socks on the needles in the sock/Crabtree & Evelyn bag, the latest pair being finished last night and posted on Ravelry tonight. The contemporary wips number about five at the moment with the reproductions far outnumbering them:

1. Lady's 19th century garters
2. Cord and tassels for a completed sontag
3. Knitted counterpane shells (one a day or at least five a week – they only take twenty minutes each to knit) and design the sides and corners and think about the edging
4. THE GARMENT – finished as a birthday present for Stephen Maturin (March 25th ) which that is the goal
5. Child's handspun 18th century stockings (one foot and a complete stocking)
6. Child’s marled 18th century stockings (same as above)
7. Handspun gauntlet gloves (one down, one to go)
8. Lady's 19th century fingerless gloves (second one)
9. Vanity Fair purse
10. 1918 Dutch baby cap
11. Infant's 17th century jacket
12. Gentleman's 19th century underdrawers (only the top on the second side)
13. Stephen Maturin’s blue stockings (peeking out of the 18th century pockets)
14. Lady's mid-19th century brown stockings

Planned reproduction projects include

1. Lady's 19th century underbonnet cap
2. Man's 19th century nightcap
3. Child's 19th century nightcap
4. Lady's 18th century mitts
5. 19th century purse (yes, another one!)
6. 1918 boudoir cap
7. 17th century red stockings to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the publication of Washington Irving’s satirical first book, A History of New-York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty by Dietrich Knickerbocker in which he describes the stockings (also blue) of the inhabitants of New Amsterdam.
8. 18th century stockings with re-knitted foot
9. Lady's 19th century undersleeves
10. More Aubrey-Maturin miniatures

I would also like to reproduce one of the little knitted shawls from the television production of Cranford.

Well, that’s the plan. Finishing is not difficult. Resisting starting new projects (contemporary and historical), including the unplanned, will be the challenge!

19th Century Handkerchief Case - Finished!

I have been searching for a reproduction button to put at the center of the lower part of this handkerchief case but have not been able to find a suitable one. The case could be used as is, without a button and loop to close so I am considering it as finished. The body is 10" long by 11 1/2" wide, and is lined with an imitation pink satin. The stitch and thread details may be found in my earlier post of March 3, 2008.

Desolation Island Mittens - Finished!

These are the warmest mittens I have ever worn and I would like to think that Louisa Wogan knit with similar wool for Stephen Maturin or those American whalers who brought her back to the United States. I finished them three ways, first with a squared off top, then a pointed one and finally settled on a rounded edge by knitting two together around in the last three rows until there were only three stitches left which I ran through with the tail of wool. Since we have no description of the mittens, let alone Louisa Wogan’s knitting techniques, the mittens are open to interpretation and are more of a tribute to part of her seagoing output than a reproduction of an early 19th century style. The wool, handspun, from an unknown breed (it was a gift to me), is dense and thickly spun.

The mittens were photographed on a nearby beach. Not quite resembling Desolation Island (http://www.discoverfrance.net/Colonies/Kerguelen.shtml#) but looking appropriately bleak, I quite like it in the winter, when the wind is blowing and the air is so invigorating.

Matching Materials

The Wool Winder
(probably 1759)
Jean-Baptiste Greuze
(French, 1725-1805)
Oil on canvas, 74.6 x 61.3 cm
ID Number: 43.1.148
The Frick Collection
New York, New York


Finding the right materials with which to knit a reproduction of an item is, perhaps, the most difficult part of the process. I knit over four and a bit centuries, from the 16th to the present day. Many of the objects that I reproduce are made using the original one as inspiration or a model whether I can examine the piece myself or am working from photographs or paintings. The 16th through early 19th centuries are the most challenging. I am continually searching for wool, linen, silk and cotton that will resemble those of the past. Contemporary versions possess a very taut twist, all very much looking machine made. If I am knitting in the Industrial Age, I am still wondering if my materials resemble machine spun threads of that era.

Wool offers more choice and accessibility. I can spin or have wool spun for me to my weight or plying specifications. I am also able to obtain naturally dyed wool, that is, wool being dyed with indigo, cochineal, vegetables and plants using 18th century methods. It is possible to find commercial wools that will pass in reproduction knitting. Jamieson’s, Morehouse, Blackberry Ridge, Harrisville Designs offer fine weight wools in acceptable colours after careful research. I have also recently added some glorious undyed Wool out of Wales to the reproduction stash.

Nineteenth century knitting is, of course, much easier to replicate as by the late 1830’s and early 1840’s, patterns, although laconic, were appearing and knitting materials (type of needles and wool or cotton) were often suggested. This continued throughout the century even, sometimes, with the suggestion of colours for their durability to retain their dye through wear and washing and not always as a fashion statement. The range and accessibility of materials were, thanks to mass industrialization, much wider. Wools, silks and cottons were specifically named and needle sizes begin to be standardized. Books and periodical publications about needlework from this era are still widely available online, in facsimile and original editions in libraries. The last mentioned often have a section describing materials, in less or more detail, such as found on http://www.robinstokes.com/yarn_names.htm

Some of my reproduction knitting takes me through the early 20th century right up to the 1930’s and by then it is much easier to match wools and cottons if not actually find them sometimes. Damaged vintage garments can be unraveled for period knitting. I was lucky enough to have inherited wool in different weights from the 1950’s and 1960’s and poking about in antique shops has yielded vintage fine cotton. My dream, however, is to find some (silk) twist from c. 1800!