Kristen Rengren - Vintage Baby Knits: More Than 40 Heirloom Patterns from the 1920s to the 1950s

Published in 2009 by Stewart, Tabori & Chang

An imprint of Harry N. Abrams, Inc.

Text and illustrations copyright 2009 by Kristen Rengren

Photographs copyright 2009 by Thayer Allyson Gowdy

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Rengren, Kristen.

Vintage Baby Knits / Kristen Rengren ; photography by Thayer Allyson Gowdy.

p. cm.

ISBN 978-1-4532-6843-8

1. Knitting--Patterns. 2. Infants' clothing. I. Title.

TT825.R424 2009

746.43'2041--dc22

2008028231

Editor: Melanie Falick

Designer: Onethread
Production Manager: Jacqueline Poirier

115 West 18th Street, New York, NY 10011

www.hnabooks.com

Chapter Two
projects to knit for baby

Chapter Three
resources

Introduction

The first time I saw a vintage knitting pattern booklet, I was captivated. Are you sure you want all of those? asked the lady whose garage-sale collection I was cleaning out, as I handed over every last laundry quarter in my pocket. I didnt need clean laundry. I was in love.

Ive admired vintage clothing for as long as I can remember, and by the summer when I spotted those first pattern booklets, Id already been knitting for ten yearsbut my two passions had never really connected before. And, all of a sudden, I had a wonderful ideaI would make vintage clothes from scratch by updating old patterns!

From that moment forward, I hunted high and low for this new quarry. I was already working as a vintage clothing dealer, which meant I spent much of my time milling about estate sales before dawn, combing through thrift stores, and scouring eBay at all hours to find trim Dior suits, slinky Schiaparelli gowns, and other vintage treasures to send off to boutiques in New York and Hollywood. By multitasking and searching out pattern booklets at the same time, within two years I was able to collect hundreds of them from the 1920s through the 1950s.

The baby pattern bookletsloaded with black-and-white photos of babies in handknits, as well as lively illustrations of frolicking tots, friendly zoo animals, and smiling storksalways intrigued me most. The projects were classic and simple in style, yet detailed enough to hold even a highly distractible knitters interest, and I could easily imagine modern babies wearing them.

I spent months studying those patterns. Most called for a long-forgotten yarn, such as 5 ounces of Lady Betty or Germantown Zephyr, and a particular needle size, but did not specify fiber content, yardage, or gauge, or even include a schematic. I read each pattern word by word, sketching my own schematics along the way, in order to understand the projects construction. I created charts where there were none. And I compared one pattern to another in order to learn about the styles and knitting conventions of the day. Then I began swatching with modern yarns of different gauges and fibers to determine which would work best for each project.

I went through this process for more projects than could ever fit into this book in order to determine which ones would work together to make the best collection. Once I had narrowed down my options, I began testing each pattern, correcting, revising, and resizing as necessary to suit the modern knitter (and baby), all the while striving to maintain the classic spirit of the original design. Wherever possible, I addressed issues of safety (removing buttons and ties) and convenience (for instance, making sure that garments would be easy to get on and off). Some patterns required only moderate adaptations, such as figuring out the gauge, choosing a yarn, and adding multiple sizes (since many of these patterns were originally written for only one or two sizes), while others required overhauls that were more extensive in order to be usable today. From time to time, a pattern didnt work at all and had to be rewritten completely.

While I did include some quick-to-knit projects, the majority of the patterns from this period seem to have been knitted at much finer gauges than a knitter today might be accustomed to. A few patterns called for Jiffy-Knit or bulky yarns, but most called for the equivalent of todays fingering-weight yarn. Accordingly, many of the projects in this book are knitted to gauges that may seem small to the modern knitter. But because baby garments are so small, even at finer gauges they can be worked quicklyand the results are not only handsome and durable, but also boast true vintage style.

While my collection of vintage pattern booklets is large, vintage patterns are actually rarer than you might imagine. Yarn companies in the 1920s through 1950s published pattern booklets by the thousands each month, but the average knitter discarded them at seasons end. When I visited the U.S. Copyright Office at the Library of Congress to painstakingly check the copyright status of each book I had acquired, I was stunned to learn that rarely if ever had their copyrights been renewedif the original copyright had been applied for at all. The companies that published these wonderful patterns did not seem to see the value in preserving them. Moreover, with very few exceptions, the booklets did not credit the projects designers. Their endless creativity went unrecognized, except by the millions of women who gratefully knit their designs.

It is to these talented individuals that I dedicate Vintage Baby Knits . I can only hope that they would be pleased by my efforts to recreate their work and to share it here. I hope that you will enjoy these patterns as much as I have, and that the projects you knit from them will become cherished treasures for generations to come.

CHAPTER ONE

Getting Ready to Knit

Here are some pointers to consider before casting on. Follow them and youll be sure to knit something that will be cherished for many years to come.

CHOOSING THE RIGHT PATTERN
FOR BABYAND FOR YOU

Theres something in Vintage Baby Knits to meet every knitters mood and every babys style and needs. You will find unusual patterns that include cables, lace, colorwork, textured stitches, and more, as well as some wonderfully simple patterns too. When choosing a pattern from this book, youll notice that there are no levels of difficulty listedbecause if you can knit and purl, you can learn to make every pattern here. Thats one of the beauties of baby patternsyou can experiment with techniques youve never tried before, and because baby things are so tiny, you dont have to invest a lot of time or money. Theyre so small that youll be done before you know it!

BUT WHAT SIZE SHOULD I MAKE?

Before you get started, there are a few factors to consider regarding size. People grow big babies nowadays. Although the 0 to 3 month size is useful for very small babies and for garments that absolutely need to be worn just after birth, like a christening gown, many babies simply never fit into it. If the baby hasnt yet been born, or if you have an inkling that he or she is going to be a big one, consider making a 3 to 6 month or even a 6 to12 month size. Another consideration is the age the baby will be when the garment will be worn. If you are knitting a winter sweater for a June baby, make sure you choose a size large enough to fit the baby when the time comes. Next, think about your own knitting ability and a realistic time frame for finishing the project. Finally, when in doubt, knit big. Babies grow amazingly quickly, and you want to have a garment that will last for a good long while. They can always grow into a garment that is large at first. For a chart of average baby sizes today, see .