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!

 

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 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