Vintage patterns and making

How to make a fair isle pullover jumper- vintage knitting pattern

Here is another of our wonderful fair isle design vintage knitting patterns. This one is particularly handsome as it uses the most beautiful range of colours.....

It dates from the late 1940s , early 1950s and as written fits a 37-39 inch chest. We think you could use 4 ply for this as it uses old number 9 needles which are equivalent to 3.75mm modern needles- but please do check your tension by making a tension square before starting!

If you have never knitted a fair isle design before but would like to make one then don't panic- its actually very easy as there are only ever 2 colours in each row. There are 2 secrets to successful fair isle. The first is in the colours you choose- if you are a nervous colour picker then its probably wise to stick to the colours given in the picture as that is most likely to have attracted you to the design in the first place.

If you would like to choose your own colours then bear in mind that you will need a main colour (traditionally the main is a neutral gray, beige/cream or black) and a selection of other colours. Colours can be chosen by placing balls or skeins of yarns together and then choosing the colours that you think go well together, or you can find a colour scheme from a picture you like from a magazine or a photo (landscapes or sunsets are good) and look at the colours that make up the photo and choose similar coloured yarn.

The second secret is how you knit the two colours across the row- the secret to fair isle is to make sure that the yarn not used in the stitch is not carried too tightly across the back of the stitches being knitted- in fact it should be quite loose. If it is tight then the knitting will 'bunch' in places and the design will look odd and distorted. try a tiny square before starting to practise.

If you like fair isle patterns and designs  do check our our fair isle section of the blog which you can see at the right hand side of this blog in the long list....the patterns and more can be found by clicking here to browse and purchase at our Vintage Visage website...enjoy!

 

James Bonds Roger Moore models vintage fair isle pullover knitting pattern

 This is a wonderful fair isle design vintage knitting pattern- modelled by the also very wonderful Roger Moore, who graduated from knitting pattern modelling to be a fab actor as James Bond!

Make your own matching pullover- The pattern is available in our ebay store now which you can find by clicking here...

Vintage 1920s,1930s fair isle jumper patterns pdf

Today we have digitalised these very pretty little fair isle design jumpers which date from the late 1920s, early 1930s. There are 2 designs with fair isle patterned bands and fair isle design collars with a 2 button neck detail. They are made with the usual yarn for fair isle at the time, which was a 2 ply shetland wool, and old size 8 and 10 needles- we give you the modern equivalent charts for needles in the pattern.

These have such pretty details such as a moss stitch waistband and collar band trim. Today they could be made in really soft merino or cashmere yarns and gorgeous colour schemes to make quite upmarket jumpers.

As you see, if you are looking for a period late 1920s, early 1930s look for a little girl for a TV drama or film then these will give you that look instantly. (add in the lovely bob hairstyle too though!)

They will fit aged around 8 and measure 28 and 26 around the chest, just to give you an idea of size. Of course, this will depend on your tension and if you decide to use a thicker yarn for a bigger size too- they would look lovely on grown ups too. You could even make them simpler by not shaping at the sleeves and having a more modern drop sleeve shoulder if you are more comfortable with sewing in straight sleeves .

We can imagine these in all sorts of really pretty pastel colours- pinks, lilacs, primrose, bluebell, soft turquioises - or with lots of leftover or odds and ends of yarn....the backgrounds could be pastel too, or the more normal grey, black , faun cream.....

Have fun making these-the patterns can be found on the Vintage Visage website and purchased as instant downloads. Click here to go straight there

 

Vintage 1940s fair isle beret knitting pattern

We have just popped this set of gorgeous fair isle design knitted childrens berets  onto the website. They re so cute, even when photographed in black and white....

The little girls have also got such cute 'little girl ' faces...is it just me or do little girls these days seem to have faces which are much more 'grown up'?

Fair isle is so useful for using up odds and ends of yarn, and these berets use tiny amounts of each colour. You could make them in lovely creams, whites and neutrals for a classy look, a range of soft chalky pastel colours for a pretty look, or how about using lots of bright colours on a white or black background for a more dramatic look. We think that one of the best things about fair isle knitting is choosing your range of colours before you start- but thats because we love all types of colours and we have an arts training background.

We do know that some of you are a little nervous about choosing colours that 'go', and our advice is always to look at something that you like - it might be a picture in a magazine, or a flower, or a painting- and see which colours are in that, and try to reproduce by using yarns of similar colours. For instance, if you like a bunch of nasturtiums, you will gets yellows, golds, oranges and greens. If you take yarns of those colours, add a cream, faun or black background and use them for fair isle designs and change the yarn every couple of rows (as usually instructed in the pattern or chart) it would look so pretty.

Please note that we do not recommend these patterns if you are a beginner at knitting. These berets incorporate 2 methods, which is 'knitting in the round' (on 4 double pointed or a circular needle) and multicolour knitting, so we recommend that you have experience in both of these methods before starting these.

You can find these patterns as a set on the Vintage Visage website by clicking here

Vintage Fair Isle knitting patterns

 Vintage Fair Isle knitting pattern designs are another of our favourite types of knitting patterns. They were made popular in the 1930s in the UK when the then Prince of Wales started to wear them (he later  became King and abdicated in 1937....).

They stayed popular in the 1940s as war broke out and rationing became widespread in the UK. Yarn and wool were in very short supply so ideas and designs were inspired by using small amounts of yarns. One of the best ways of doing this was in multicolour or 2 colour knitting and as Fair isle patterns change colour every couple of rows they were excellent for this.

Women often unravelled old jumper to get the yarn for the background main colour. There was an art to this- they unravelled it, then made it into hanks and steamed it to make it smooth and get rid of 'kinks'.

This is one of my favourites- I love the duck egg blue background colour and the lovely yellow and mauves which were quite unusual for the time. Many fair isles in the 1940s used quite natural colourings like the beiges and green and browns in the first photo. In the early 1980s, a small firm in the UK called 'Edina and Lena' successfully reproduced and had handknitted old fair isle jumpers with a range of pretty pastel colours which were very fashionable and sold at very high prices in exclusive shops in London and around the world.

Back to the 1940s though, fair isle designs popped up in may items- gloves, and even slippers- 'salvage your scraps' was one of the straplines of the time and these items helped women do just that, whilst of course provided the function of keeping warm when heating was in short supply too.....

More on 1940s designs and other fair isle patterns and designs soon- just click on the fair isle category if you want to see more.

Vintage Fair Isle Patterns here