Product Description

Vintage clothing has gained enormous fashion credibility over the past few years. Not everyone can afford the expensive price tags often attached to vintage designer clothing, but it is possible to achieve that vintage look without spending a fortune. Vintage Knits presents 30 exquisite knitting patterns for sweaters, cardigans, jackets and tops, all based on original postwar designs, updated and interpreted for today's modern yarns and contemporary colour palette. Extremely wearable and highly desirable garments for women of all ages range from a delicate lace-trimmed cotton camisole to an elegant cotton jacket with chenille edging. The vintage look is set to be popular for seasons to come and Vintage Knits is a collection of the most desirable and accessible of these classic knits.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #234415 in Books
• Published on: 2002-08-01
• Binding: Paperback
• 128 pages

From the Publisher
Sarah Dallas shows you how to create your own hand-made knitwear from a selection of 30 exquisite vintage-inspired patterns – suitable for all levels of knitters.

About the Author
Sarah Dallas is a knitwear designer, freelance consultant and senior tutor on the highly prestigious fashion and textiles course at the Royal College of Art, London. Throughout the 1980s, she ran her own label knitwear company and sold to many major stores worldwide, including the US and UK. She has contributed to many previous knitting books and her patterns are regularly included in Rowan’s biannual magazine.

Customer Reviews

an entire wardrobe of jumpers
Granted the sizes are s,m,l, but as a 5'5", 130 lb person I think they're great. I've made 4 jumpers (though made all of them longer than she calls for) and I wear them constantly. Some of the patterns are quite simple (stocking stitch with k1p1 rib) and suitable for a beginner, though that's not stated.

The foundation patterns she's used (set in sleeves, tapered waist) make it easy to mix and match elements once you get a basic understanding of how she designs. Since I've become a better knitter I refer to this book often when designing my own knits.

While the criticisms of the other reviewers do stand (no level indication and small sizes), I still find it an excellent knitting book that's becoming a foundation of my wardrobe.

Beautiful, but usually requires a size 12 or less
Sarah Dallas has made a great job of updating vintage designs from the 40s and 50s. Her colours and designs are wonderful. However, there are a number of drawbacks to this book.

The first, and most serious, is the sizing: a 'large' is typically a 36" bust, with no extra large. Some designs are for one size only, e.g. 32-35" bust. There are a couple of the less exciting patterns that extend to a 38" bust. Ms Dallas regularly designs items for Rowan that extend to a 40" bust - would it have been so difficult to do this here?

It would also have been helpful to have some kind of indicator of the knitting standard for each pattern, e.g. easy, average, for the experienced knitter. Some visual indication of the shape of the final garment would have been useful too, as used in Rowan magazines.

A little more effort on the designer's part would have made this book much more attractive and useful to the average(-sized) knitter.

vintage knits
The knitting patterns in this book are great to look at. However the sizes for the patterns are small, medium and large, which translate as UK 8-10, 10-12 and 12-14. A more generous range of sizes would make this more than just a picture book for me.