Portfolio for Knitted Items

(Click on the image to enlarge the view)

After some years of doing living history demonstrations, I realized that I needed a way to display various very small knitted items so they would not fall on the ground or wander off with visitors or, perhaps, discourage touching like this arrangement:

When the film, Miss Potter (2006), came out, I was intrigued and inspired by the portfolio used in the film by Beatrix Potter to transport her drawings from her home to her publisher. I don’t know if Miss Potter had such a portfolio in real life – is there one like it and connected to her that exists in a museum?

I had also long been fascinated by 19^th century books of collections and instructions which had miniature samples of items in the book such as these: 

http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O108337/the-national-societys-instructions-on-instruction-book-unknown/

http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O108338/simple-directions-in-needlework-and-instruction-book-national-model-female/

http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O108618/sample-book-elizabeth-hume/

Whether the tiny objects were, in fact, a row by row rendition of the accompanying pattern or, like mine, an abbreviated version which is true to technique, I do not know. That is a research project for the future.

The resulting portfolio allows me to display and label items in a tidier and safer way. It was also a way to use up some of my vast collection of reproduction materials like these 19^th century ones. The little flaps protect some samples and also offer more layers for display.

Seen above are two stockings with long heels and drawstring toes. Some other examples of pieces are:

 

Knitted Pattern for a Quilt, Octagons and Squares from Weldon’s Practical Knitter, Number 54, Series 13, 1890, and the facsimile, Weldon’s Practical Needlework, published by Interweave Press, Volume 5, 2001

Narrow Vandyke Edging from Exercises in Knitting by Mrs. Cornelia Mee, London: David Bogue, Fleet Street, 1846.

Knitted samples from 1884 (http://laceknitter.blogspot.com/2008_10_01_archive.html)

Cyprus Edging from Weldon’s Practical Knitter, Series 14, Number 55, 1890, and the facsimile, Weldon’s Practical Needlework, Volume 5, Interweave Press, 2001. 

Metal straight pins hold all of the pieces in place.

The portfolio measures 42” long and 14 ½” tall, and is made up of fifteen different cotton prints. Some may look familiar to readers of this blog as I frequently use various parts of the portfolio for backgrounds in photographs of projects.  Sewn into the shape of a long rectangular sleeve with a flap made of fabric and then slipped over a long piece of cardboard cut from a large box, the portfolio is decorated and ties with grosgrain ribbon.

(Apologies for the odd formatting in this post)