Coronation Knits by Susan Crawford

Go make yourself a cup of tea, butter your scone and get comfy. This is going to be a dose of loveliness. (And there is a giveaway at the end! Giveaway now closed!) There are some designers whose works are so distinctive that you don't need to look at a label or a tag to know who made a particular item. This is true for catwalk fashion design, of course, but also true for the very best of knitting design.

To my mind, Susan Crawford's work is instantly recognisable as hers. Her designs are informed by fashion history, always impeccably finished and oh so very British. Her work is nostalgic, but in a very wearable, contemporary way: these are designs to knit while you are watching Brief Encounter or A Matter of Life & Death in your 21st century flat.

Susan has just released Coronation Knits - a lovely collection of 14 designs inspired by the late 1940s and early 1950s. I was given a copy some time ago (such a huge treat!) and absolutely loved what I saw. The book plays right into that young girl who subsisted on Nancy Mitford novels and David Niven films when growing up in Nowheresville, Denmark. Susan's book makes me yearn to be impossibly elegant and witty with a rich, plummy accent. Maybe if I knitted that twinset jumper..?

.. well, I would look absolutely ravishing, of course, but there is no disguising those Scandinavian vowels of mine. Alas.

Then Susan sat down for a conversation with me. As you do.

To me, your work is always unmistakably British - and Coronation Knits is, of course, as British as you can get. Could you say a few words about what you think British style is and, if you think it exists, how it informs your work?

"I too look at my work and can see something ‘distinct’ about it, and I guess that distinction is as you say, unmistakably British. I think British style does exist but it is not just one style or a particular look. I think it comes from an absorption of (..) the landscape, heritage, textile traditions and history, dressmaking and tailoring aesthetics along with design, art, interiors, fashion history and much more. Added to that our 'interesting' weather, drafty old houses, being outdoors in all climates, even frugality and you begin to create a combination that seems to evolve into a British style.

I don't think any design is done in a bubble, we are all influenced either consciously or unconsciously by things we have seen, read, touched but I think those listed above with a good helping of film and social history thrown in are the primary influences on my work. I love how fashion is linked to social changes happening at any given time and I try to explore the connections between the two in my work."

How did you approach Coronation Knits? Did you have set ideas in your head or were you surprised by the direction CK took you?

"I didn't have any designs in my head when I first started thinking about Coronation Knits. More an abstract concept about connecting my interest in this particular period of British history with a very themed collection of patterns. From that point of view the direction the book took has remained very true to that original concept but how the designs developed into such a real 'collection' has surprised me, especially considering the short time frame the book was created in.

I was nervous before commencing the project as to how quickly I would get back in the designing 'groove' after spending over two years working almost exclusively on A Stitch in Time Volume 2, which doesn't allow room for personal design ideas. However as soon as I began designing the ideas flowed and this was most definitely helped by having already created a specific theme to work to. I enjoyed the process so much I would really like to work this way again."

When I think of your work, I always think of it as being soft and feminine. I was intrigued when I saw your mens' sleeveless pullover - it is very much recognisable as your work, yet it is obviously very wearable for any gentleman of discerning taste. Was it a challenge to design a menswear item?

"I've designed menswear before and often get asked by men to do more menswear but its just one of those things that is on the list to do when time allows. However I really wanted to include some menswear in this book. I deal a lot in shape and fit and using the body to create that shape which is very different to how most men think of their clothing I would imagine. I used to make men's tailored suits and learnt a lot about the fit of men's clothing through that so hopefully that translates into my knitting patterns. I also know a fair number of male knitters and wanted to design something which would be interesting to knit if you were knitting for a man or are a man who knits. Having knitted the sample garment myself I found the pattern moved along nicely and helped me feel that I was covering big chunks of length each time a pattern repeat was completed. I know the Coronation Sleeveless Pullover is quite a statement but I think the muted colour palette really turns it into a very wearable garment."

(This sleeveless pullover is one of my favourite pieces from Coronation Knits, actually. Far too often designs for men equal baggy, dull jumpers in safe, dark colours. No man of my acquaintance would ever wear such shapeless things and it was so wonderful to find a fitted and quirky menswear piece in Susan's book! Huzzah!)

Finally, the book looks absolutely gorgeous. It is an absolute joy to look at. How did you go about styling it?

"As a vintage clothing collector I do have a lot of bits that I have collected over the years – hats, scarves, bags and jewellery in particular, but clothes, shoes etc as well. The main difficulty this time was having chosen the red, white and blue theme all the props had to fit in with that theme too so it did involve quite a bit of searching. Fortunately I have some great contacts who work with vintage fashion who help me out when I get stuck and who came up with some key pieces on this occasion.

I had decided from the very beginning of the project to use the 'Royal Route' background that you see in every image. This original illustration from 1953 was the perfect backdrop for the designs and made it much easier to theme. I also have hundreds of magazines and books from this period and both my models, my daughter Charlie, and her boyfriend Denis, spent a lot of time studying the magazines to identify poses that were appropriate to the time frame. They really worked it and brought the images alive.

Gavin, my husband, is the Graphic Artist on all our projects and he has an amazing eye for detail and can make any page look better just by minutely adjusting something. It really is a team effort and I hope it shows in the finished results."

It does indeed look gorgeous - as I am sure you can tell from the photos. Isn't that Diamonds Is Forever jumper just lovely? I can just imagine myself wearing it with a little pencil skirt to a certain little retro tea shop in my neighbourhood. And, you know, I bet my 16-year-old Mitford-reading, Niven-watching self would say I was the height of glamour.

You can purchase Susan's book here but Susan Crawford has generously offered me an extra copy to give away to a reader.

Thank you, Susan!

In order to win this, I would love to know which piece from the book you would knit and where would you wear it? Giveaway runs from Saturday July 7, 2012 until Saturday July 14, 2012 8am GMT.

This blog post forms part of the Coronation Knits blog tour - please go visit all the blogs on this tour - they are all great reads.

12th June 2012 - More Yarn Will Do The Trick - Jean Moss 16th June 2012 - JenACKnitwear  - Jen Arnall Culliford 18th June 2012 - The Icelandic Knitter - Helene Magnusson 20th June 2012 -Knitting Institute - Knitting Magazine 24th June 2012 - Ingrid Murnane Investigates - Ingrid Murnane 28th June 2012 - Domestic Soundscape -Felicity Ford 29th June 2012 - Sheep To Shawl - Donna Druchunas 2nd July 2012  - The Making Spot - Simply Knitting 6th July 2012   - rock+purl - Ruth Garcia-Alcantud

-- 10th July 2012 - By gum, by golly! - Tasha 14th July 2012 - tomofholland - Tom Van Deijnen 18th July 2012 - Woolly Wormhead - Woolly 22nd July 2012 - Crinoline Robot - Mim 25 July 2012     - Sexyknitter.com - Sarah Wilson

Woolly Art

Quick & sweet. Gorgeous, gorgeous woolly art from Eszter Burghardt. Enjoy.

Therapy

I was grumpy yesterday. I was so grumpy (and whiny) that my partner started laughing hysterically every time I said something. It did not help.Yesterday I hated humanity. I hated the world. I just wanted to curl up in a ball and not interact with anything or anyone at all. Snarl. But I mellowed. I treated myself to some of my favourite things and I got into my comfort zone. This is how I eventually returned to normality:

• Tea. A strategically timed cup of hot, milky, strong tea with plenty of sugar. I am normally a coffee fiend, but tea makes me happy.
• Some old favourites on my iPod: Finn Brothers' dark and atmospheric Suffer Never hit the spot as did Crowded House's wistful, mysterious Kare Kare.
• Knitting in bed. I am currently working on a shawl pattern with a release date ultimo September. I loved working soothing lace repeats with  Juno Fibre Arts' "Belle". The feel and handle of the yarn is extraordinary.

My other half is off for a second blissful day of Glasgow Comic Con (yesterday he met Grant Morrison, if that means anything to you. Dave told me it was A Very Big Deal). I think I shall flex my toes, have a long bath and then continue my therapeutic dose of 90s moody Antipodean pop, tea-drinking and knitting. And breathe.

Scottish Textiles Heritage - A Day in Paisley

You may remember that I have been involved with the University of Glasgow and their work on Scottish textiles heritage. Most of the talks from the workshops are now available to download from iTunes.

On a very related note, I travelled to Paisley today to have a closer look at their textiles heritage. Paisley is a town just south of Glasgow and it is steeped in textiles history - not only did it lend its name to the paisley pattern and the Paisley shawl, but it was also home to many textiles mills and weavers. Be warned - this is going to be a picture heavy post. For the full set of photos, do go to the Flickr photo set.

Mile End Mill is no longer a working cotton mill, but it used to be a part of Anchor Mills, home of Coats & Clark and the world-famous Anchor threads and crochet cotton. Coats & Clark still exist today and they still produce the Anchor threads, of course, but the company has left Paisley (though the Anchor emblem is scattered throughout Paisley as are statues of Messrs Coats and Clark). Today the Mile End Mill is a business centre with a gym and a nursery attached .. and a museum.

The Thread Mill Museum is symptomatic of many local museums: it has practically no funding and is run by volunteers - most of which are former mill workers who delight in talking about their former workplace and in keeping the memory of Paisley's industrial past alive. We were greeted by the lovely Eleanor who took us around the small space. There was much to interest the casual textile enthusiast.

Many of the machines on display had been rescued from skips or recovered by former mill workers.

Boxes of brightly coloured crochet cotton. 1970s?

Various stages of cotton thread production - from raw cotton via bobbins to finished dyed thread.

Mill workers leaving the Anchor mills, 1950s. Note the "mill wheel" on the gatehouse.

And that was what really struck me. When we visited, there was a small group of elderly ladies chatting in the room whilst leafing through photo albums. It soon became clear that when the last cotton mills finally closed in the late 1980s, Paisley did not just lose a lot of jobs; it lost a sense of community. The mills had not just provided a paycheck, but also a social structure around which lives were constructed. Tellingly, when a supermarket chain opened a new store in the mill area, it branded its building with anchors. We belong here, it screamed to me, and you belong to us.

Paisley's weaving industry can be examined in the Sma' Shot Cottages - a small cluster of buildings a short walk from the mill complex. They are found in Shuttle Street (Paisley street names are fantastic markers of textile history). I really enjoyed these cottages - I did not know nearly as much about weaving as I did about cotton mill production - and I found the place fascinating. Material history and social history twined together.

This sock-in-progress was too lovely not to photographed. One of the local guides was busy spinning yarn on her wheel when we arrived. I wondered if this was her work too?

A 18th century loom still in use today.

 The weavers of Paisley had a dispute with their employers in 1856 over the sma' (small) shot thread used to bind the weft and warp threads. As the sma' shot was not a visible part of the shawl, employers refused to pay for the thread leaving weavers to purchase the thread themselves. The weavers organised and eventually the employers had to back down. Paisley celebrates a Sma' Shot day today - the first Saturday of July - by staging a rally and burning an effigy of an employer. Ouch.

Paisley museum has an entire section devoted to Paisley shawls, as you might imagine. Sadly the museum is being refurbished and you can only access the shawl gallery by a side door. It is well worth the effort, though. The museum has some beautiful looms with great educational material displayed. And they have shawls. Photos do not do the shawls justice: their colours are deep and rich, and the patterns are intricate and exotic. The shawls were (mostly) woven using jacquard looms with punch cards (as pictured). Many of the punch cards reminded me of knitting charts.

I found it particularly interesting to see how fashion had an impact on the Paisley shawls. The stoles were particularly popular during the Regency period. The 1820s and early 830s favoured triangular shawls (the notes on these shawls called to mind knitted triangular shawls) and later squares became popular. The Paisley shawl was finally undone by the bustle - you did not want to hide your bustle under a shawl nor did you want anything to hide that tiny waist above the bustle. I have always been a fashion history geek and I had a bit of a moment there and then.

The refurbishment meant the Textiles Department was in a bit of a disarray but we were lucky enough to meet up with Dan Coughlan who works as the Curator of Textiles at Paisley museum. This proved to be my personal highlight of the day. Unfortunately we were not able to leaf through the museum's collection of paisley pattern books, but we saw photographs as well as various types of looms. Dan also spoke passionately about the need to highlight not just Paisley's but Scotland's textiles heritage. I could not agree more.

It was raining all day long but I did not mind the rain. There is such a rich seam of textile history in Paisley and it is a shame that this is not discussed with same fervour as Bradford or Leeds.  I wish funding was in place to fully support Paisley's textile and industrial heritage - as it stands, much depends upon volunteers to keep places running. Do visit and do support the hard work all these people are doing. I learned a lot today. I think you would too.

Nobody Told Me I'd Need To Do This On A Regular Basis

That's one shawl for magazine publication finished and sent into the world. I wish I could show you, but you'll have to wait until November :) What I can show you is what I got up to this afternoon.

I needed to get a head-shot done for various reasons (not least because my face'll be in a magazine soonish - good grief!). Luckily my Other Half is a talented photographer with a knack for making me relax in front of the camera - this is no mean feat as I hate having my photo taken and I usually pull all sorts of unnatural faces. It took Dave quite a few attempts to get some good shots and I thought I'd share some of his tips for successful photography:

1) Unless you have a really fancy kit, natural light is best. In the photos above I am standing right by a window.

2) Indirect light is a lot better than direct light. Direct light tends to either flatten your features or cast harsh shadows where you least want them.

3) Work with a neutral background. We have neutral coloured walls which work well in this context but brickwork, painted doors and foliage can also work. Remember, you don't want anything to compete for attention, so move that table lamp!

4) Take lots and lots and lots of photos. Dave routinely shoots between thirty and seventy photos whenever we work together on something. Having a lot of photos to choose between makes it  easier to find that "hero photo". For this headshot we actually shot in excess of 90 photos(!) because I just couldn't stop pulling faces.

5) .. and relaxing in front of the camera is something I find really difficult. I keep trying to pose or doing model-like faces - none of which work because I'm a 5'6" lumpy thirty-something woman, not a 14-year-old super-skinny genetic freak. How does Dave make me relax? He makes me focus on something else than that infernal camera pointing at me. He also ensures I feel comfortable - unsurprisingly I won't look relaxed if I'm wearing uncomfortable clothes or in an awkward setting.

I am not saying I look particularly relaxed here but that shawl looks absolutely stunning (especially in the original size photo). Apparently my Other Half is now so well-trained that he automatically starts homing in on knitwear. This bodes well for future Finished Object shoots..

.. which reminds me: come late August/early Sseptember I might be looking for a Goth/steampunk/burlesque type model for some knitwear photos. Sadly I cannot promise much in the way of financial recompense bar coffee & cake at Glasgow's finest retro cake shop, but it is a good chance for any budding model wanting something for her portfolio. Glasgow-based, por favor. And, of course, absolutely no nudity involved (oh please, it is knitwear!).

A Handmade Wedding

Remember the wedding blanket that Glasgow Knit'n'Stitch made? The wedding took place this weekend and it was full of knitterly details. Settle in for some great photos.. The wedding took place at New Lanark about an hour south of Glasgow. New Lanark is a UNESCO World Heritage Site right by the Falls of Clyde. The setting is absolutely stunning and is teeming with wildlife - but New Lanark is also a former cotton mill that now spins the most lovely yarn on-site (there may have been some yarn browsing during the wedding..).

The wedding was very much a handmade wedding. Elaine and her mother Shirley had made the bridal gown themselves over the last five months. It was a stunning dress: it had an empire waist with a subtle A-line skirt and an elegant little train. The fabric did most of the talking with its beaded Chantilly lace. Its clear lines and unfussiness suited Elaine so very well - I think there is often a tendency to smother brides' personalities with ruffles, fake tan, rhinestones and silly hairstyles - but tellingly one of our mutual friends told her: "you look bridal and yet you still look like Elaine!".

But wait! What is that she is wearing over her shoulders? Let us get a better look at that!

The shawl was a wedding present from Lilith of Old Maiden Aunt. In the words of Lilith: "She knew I was knitting her a shawl, but not which shawl it was - and all the secrecy was totally worth it when she, her mum, & her gran all burst into tears when the shawl was presented! " The shawl is the Brora Black Shawl knitted in Jamieson & Smith undyed 1ply cobweb. I am sure Lilith is going to blog extensively about this shawl (I know I would if I were her!) so all I will say is that it took her three months' intense knitting, several members of GKS knitted a few stitches on it, and that Lilith got a special thank you during the speeches. Photo was taken by my very patient partner who had been informed to take as many knitterly photos as possible!

And there he is! No, David is not wearing anything knitted but surely half a metric tonne of woolly tartan counts as being of interest to knitters, right? Also: that's my man in a kilt. Whoop!

Back to the knitting..

That is Ms Lilith wearing her cashmere Laminaria. I love the colour combo she is wearing, incidentally. You cannot see her kick-arse red shoes, but believe me when I say they were awesome.

Lynette is also wearing a stunning shawl - brilliantly it is my Karise pattern knitted in Old Maiden Aunt yarn. How wonderful is that? I think that is a great snapshot of the spirit permeating the entire wedding: everything was made by family and friends for family and friends. I'm going to share a heart-tugging example a bit later on but first back to the shawl parade..

And to the right is the fabulous Paula wearing an equally fabulous shawl (and my second favourite frock of the day - my favourite obviously being Elaine's wedding dress). The shawl is my Elsinore pattern(!) knitted in Wollmeise. The original pattern is a cute shoulder-sized shawl but Paula made sure she got good use out of her yarn and upsized the shawl. You cannot tell but Paula is also wearing handmade jewellery and she made her bag too.

And to the left it's me. I'm not wearing anything knitted or handmade. Awkward.

And that brings me to something I just loved so much about the wedding: the personal touches.

I love this photo which I snapped during the dinner. The wedding cake was made by Elaine's mother and the cake decoration was made by Elaine's talented dad (who had also made all the table decorations). It is placed on a crochet table cloth made by Elaine's great-grandmother. Elaine and Steve had placed family wedding photos on every window sill together with small, pretty flowers. Sitting there I felt surrounded by love and friendship.

And I think that was why this wedding felt so special and why I will look back at it in years to come with such fond memories. The wedding was as quirky, personal, and friendly as the couple themselves. I think that is really what a wedding should be all about (and not feeding an industry of glitz, glamour and fake tans).

Next time I'll wear a handknitted shawl, though.