Crimes in Crochet I (New Idea, 1975)

 Among other crafts, crochet underwent a revival in the 1970s.  However the patterns of the era were anything but traditional.  Here are a few examples of designs for keen crafters wanting that typically seventies look.

As a part of New Idea's "Winter Crochet Special" model Jan Hopper wears a crochet waistcoat in tricot.  This garment is comparatively sane: other patterns in the same issue include ones for a rainbow-striped crocheted saddle blanket and these remarkable handmade ties:

 

... Perhaps fortunately they've left the colours to our imagination!
 

Also a fine example of seventies weirdness (in full colour this time), this dress above is described as 'a long dress for summer evenings".  Hopefully it wasn't intended for formal occasions, but in 1975 who can tell?   Other patterns in the same magazine included crocheted sunhats with floppy brims.

"Make Your Own Broderie Blouse" (Vanity Fair, March 1962)

 Time for another vintage pattern! 

MATERIAL:
    1 yard embroidered lawn, 52 in. wide
    4 small buttons
    2 yards ribbon seam binding

To make Pattern for Version A (with sleeves)

Cut a piece of paper measuring 26 in. by 36 in.; rule off in 1 in. squares.  Number squares and copy down diagram 1 (each square represents 1 in. on paper).

Cut out pattern, and folding material in half, lay pattern pieces as shown in diagram 1; mark notches in armholes and sleeves to mark back and front, as in diagram 1.

MAKING UP:

Allow ½ in. turnings on all seams.  Sew back to fronts at shoulders, then at side seams.  

Facings: Fold 3 in. wide strip on front marked "Facing" in half right sides together.  Then join neck facings at shoulders and pin to neck right sides together, also joining front facing to neck facing.  (See diagram 2.)  Clip at curve of neck, turn and press.

Sleeves: Join underarm seam in sleeves and ease sleeves into armholes.  Finish off all seams by pinking or oversewing.  Sew ribbon seam binding to hem and lower edge of sleeve.  Turn up lower edge of blouse 2 in. and hem; turn up sleeve and hem.

On right side of centre front, measure down 1 in. from neck edge and make first buttonhole; from there make three more at 4 in. intervals; embroider buttonholes to size of buttons chosen.

To make Version B (without sleeves)

Cut pattern and lay out pieces as shown on diagram 1 but omitting the sleeves and laying neck and armholes facings as shown in diagram 3.

MAKING UP:

Following the same instructions as for Version A, except at armholes.  Simply stitch front armhole facing to look back at underarm and shoulder; pin facing round armhole right sides together; stitch, clip curves and turn right side out and press.

Well there you have it.  As usual, if anyone wants to give the pattern a go, I'd love to hear about it!

 

Sleeveless Dress ("Passap" 1980)

... And so I end my countdown back through the 1980s.

I found this publication in a junk shop.  It was one of a bundle of booklets containing patterns for the Passap Duomatic 80 knitting machine.  I find these old machine knitting patterns to be rather sad relics.  Whereas any skilled knitter can follow an old hand knitting pattern to create their own vintage garment, these patterns are useless unless you can somehow scrounge up the appropriate equipment.

 

And it seems that even forty years ago some people had problems knitting with their shiny new knitting machine.  The people at Passap introduced this book of patterns by trying to address this head on:

"...Some people seem to find the change from handknitting patterns to our machine knitting patterns difficult... we have therefore tried to insert all the required stitch and row numbers in the text as well."

Never mind.  If nothing else, the booklets are filled with amazing photographs like this one.  Isn't this a  perfect example of early eighties fashion?

Getting Physical (Sears, Spring-Summer 1981)

 In the late seventies and early eighties fitness (as opposed to exercising merely to lose weight) became all the rage with women.  Here's a quick chronology covering some of the highlights:

1969: Foundation of "Jazzercise"
1979: Publication of "The New Aerobics"
1980: Debut of "The Richard Simmons Show"
1981: Olivia Newton John releases "Let's Get Physical"
1982: Jane Fonda releases her "Jane Fonda's Workout" video
1983: First "Jazzercise" VHS release

Once aerobic exercise was established as a popular leisure activity the next step was to develop specialised clothes to exercise in.  Luckily Sears was on the ball: the first 47 pages of its Big Book for Spring-Summer 1981 was dedicated entirely to exercise wear and equipment. 

 

 

For outdoors wear "Bright Terrycloth Knits" in cotton/polyester.  These could be worn for jogging or—as depicted here—for cycling.  Lycra bodysuits and bike helmets were not yet in fashion.

 

 

 

For indoors exercise (think of all those aerobic workouts!) we have tights and leotards in nylon.  Still no lycra, and all those synthetics must have made for quite unbreathable active wear!

 

But what about the legwarmers, you might be asking?  Those ubiquitous woolly leggings so typically eighties?  Well the sad news is there are none in this catalogue.   No, not a single pair.  Though legwarmers had been invented decades before (for dancers) it took the movie (1980) and the TV series (1982) Fame to popularise them as amateur exercise wear.  1981 must have just been on the cusp on the trend, because by 1982 no pair of leotards was complete without them.

"Romance In Fashion" (Style Pattern Book, Spring/Summer 1982)

 Oh my!  If the photo on this cover doesn't portray every fashion fad of 1982 it comes close.  

But let's get to the clothes.  We'll start with the knickerbockers, because they were everywhere in 1982.  (The New Zealand Museum of Fashion describes them as "the single most important look of the season".)    Saint Laurent designed them, Princess Diana popularised them and yes, yours truly owned a pair.  

Next, the blouse with the frilled collar (another look made popular by Princess Diana).  It is worn under a brightly striped cropped waistcoat.  The New Romantics (who flaunted a look combining punk with glam rock) obviously influenced this outfit—though it is rather subdued compared to the flamboyant styles which inspired it!   By 1982 domesticated versions of the New Romantic look had emerged from the nightclubs where the subculture originated and made their way to catwalks, mainstream shops and sewing pattern catalogues like this one.

 

Grownup Styles in "Knitwit" Patterns (1983)

 Knitwit sewing patterns were multi-sized and designed to be altered.  Twice a year Knitwit would issue "collection" guides with instructions on how to turn older patterns into the newest looks.  Theoretically, one could cut and remodel a pattern until it fell to pieces... or buy a newly reissued pattern and start again.

These patterns are copyrighted 1983 and the photos illustrate what the resulting garments would have looked like before any adaptations.  These clothes are eighties classics which could have been worn from the late 1970s up until the early 1990s. 

We'll start with the blouses.  On the left is a pussycat bow blouse, popular with career women and female politicians (and most famously worn by Margaret Thatcher).  On the right, another working woman favourite, a front buttoning shirt blouse with open rever collar.

Here we have two pairs of slacks, with pleated fronts, fly fastenings and straight legs.  Styles like these would have been conservative enough to wear in the workplace—or with a change of tops and accessories, for any semi-casual situation. 

"Style for All Seasons" by David and Elizabeth Emanuel (1983)"

 "There isn't a title 'style designer'," the Emanuels say in the introduction to this book:

"but there might well be, for style is not just different from fashion—it is almost its opposite.  We are far more interested in developing individual style in people than in making them follow the dictates of group fashion.  Almost by definition fashion does not last, but style does and it is consistent."

Nonetheless, at a remove of nearly 40 years the styles photographed for Styles for All Seasons seem so firmly of their era that they could easily have the dates they were made embroidered on their bodices.

The Emanuels met and married in art school, and started their own business upon graduating 1977.  In 1979 they decided to dedicate their business entirely to the production of couture, thus beginning their career of dressing the rich and the famous.  The times were with them as their romantic, feminine styles were just right for the zeitgeist of the late seventies and early eighties.

Their most famous design was for Princess Diana's wedding dress in 1981.

 

Described as a "fairy tale wedding" in most of the media and in this book, it's not surprising that the Emanuels would create a fairy princess-style dress for the bride—complete with puffed sleeves and a 25 foot train.  Less romantically, the Emanuels describe the security precautions they had to take in order to prevent the press getting a look at the dress before The Day, including locking the actual dress into a safe, and planting decoy scraps of material in their own rubbish bins to mislead investigators.

 

However, there was much more to this pair of designers than one wedding dress.  Style for All Seasons is basically an album showcasing the Emanuels' designs up to 1983, and while it doesn't go into any depth analysing them it does make it clear what influenced them.  At that stage in their careers the Emanuels obviously had a great love for the Renaissance, 1930s film design, and rococo fashions.  As a result, nearly all the clothes in this book were designed for special occasions—though there are a couple of pages of vibrantly coloured swimwear tucked between the covers!

 

Did I mention that this book is full of lots of pretty pictures?

The authors of Style for All Seasons were both under 30 when it was published, so the book is very much a time capsule focused on the beginning of their careers.  Spoiler alert: they broke up in 1990, and have pursued separate careers since then.  Both the Emanuels are still in design, however, and have branched out from fashion design to designing for the stage as well.  Given their theatrical flair I can only say, "How fitting!"