Swimwear special

All that glitters ain't gold but is possibly Lurex

Now summer has finally come to London, and the Olympic Games are in full swing (almost literally on my doorstep), my thoughts turn to swimming – it's all I want to do when it's hot, and probably the only Olympic sport I'll bother watching. Wouldn't it be wonderful if the synchronised swimming team took to the Aquatics Centre pool sporting gold crochet one-pieces like this?

Or the bikini this Cybill Shepherd lookalike (who was out of focus on a deckchair at the back, above) is wearing on her own page:

Both of these beautiful bathing costumes are taken from one of my trusty favourites, The Home Pattern Book of Needlecraft by Joan Fisher:

Published by New English Library, 1979

Fancy yourself in a hand-crocheted metallic bathing suit? Here are your (free, printable) instructions.

Not put off by its unseasonal cover image, I had a flick through The Ladies' Home Journal book of Crochet...

Published by Mason Charter, New York, 1976

...and discovered a pattern for this pretty white one-piece with flower-shaped cutaway (shame about the dodgy shell-tasselled shawl). If you'd like to make yourself one (a swimsuit, not a shall-shawl), click here for all you need to know.

This is the daisy age

If you're not a crocheter, I've also dug out this lovely 1930s 'Simple bathing costume' pattern for your knitting pleasure:

How very daring

This must have been rather risqué at the time. Not many people wore two-piece swimsuits back in 1939 when The Pictorial Guide to Modern Home Knitting was published – after all, the word 'bikini' wasn't coined until 1946.

Edited by Catherine Franks (Odhams Press, 1939)

The book has a textured cloth cover and particularly nice endpapers:

Caught red-handed

For your ahead-of-its-time 1930s knitted bikini instructions, click here.

All the above swimsuits are probably better for lounging around by the pool or at the beach than actually swimming in – imagine how heavy and uncomfortable they'd get when wet!

Well, I promised a swimwear special – and I haven't finished yet, I love the illustrations on old sewing patterns and I can't help slipping the odd one in now and again, even though I can't share the actual patterns. This cute beachwear collection is from New Zealand from 1969:

Still the daisy age: see toes, left

And last but not least... this one's not makeable, but what a fantastic image. Jackie magazine had THE BEST fashion illustrations EVER:

Jackie magazine, 12 June 1976

Highland fling

Last week, I was indulging in my favourite holiday pastime of trawling local charity shops, when Patricia Roberts Knitting Patterns book (1977) caught my eye. Because I was on a chilly island in the north of Scotland, this woolly cape looked like exactly what I wanted to be wearing, despite it being the middle of July:

Poor-quality image but you get the picture

Not just a knitted green cape (or perhaps more of a cloak) but a balaclava hat and floral maxi skirt, pulled together with a Scottie dog brooch. Now this was an outfit I could work with.

The junk-lovers' paradise I'd found myself in was the Blue Door in Kirkwall, Orkney, which changes hands every few months to allow different charities to raise cash.

I don't think it's meant to be rude

As promised on the cover, there really is a design for all the family, including a Fair Isle cardie with teapot motifs for the chain-smokin' man in your life:

You light up my life

And I love these gardeners in neckerchiefs and tricoleur bobbly jumpers posing with their tools:

Hoe, hoe, hoe

The book's back cover has a little picture of each pattern, mainly alternative views to the ones used inside. I particularly like Hodge, middle row left, and Walking the Dog just above it:

Published by Book Club Associates, 1977

These days, Patricia Roberts has a posh shop in London's Belgravia selling lovely ladies' and kids' knits – and DIY kits.

If you're heading for cold climes, don't get caught without a cosy cape. Click here for your free knitting pattern.

(All designs © Patricia Roberts, 1977)

Painting & decorating '70s style

That's one way to bring home a roll of lino

OK, so Your Beautiful Home on a Budget is not about craft as such, but when you open a book on the contents page to see a laughing couple in earth shoes and hotpants cycling home from the DIY store on a tandem complete with Donald Duck skirt guard, you know you're onto a winner.

The book is packed with eye-popping ideas for revamping your home on a shoestring, 1974-style. Do It Yourself and you could, for instance, be the proud owner of a psychedelic chest of drawers:

Swoon

Love the drawers (obviously) and the matchy-matchy lampshade, and adore the little mini chest of drawers at the back there (just imagine if that had been given the spray paint treatment too...)

Careful of the fumes, mate

The majority of the jazzing up of furniture seems to be achieved with masking tape and spray paint – here's one of the DIYers busy pimping his kitchen cabinets.

Not sure what the budget aspect of this pink shag-pile carpet is, and pink's a colour I'm not crazy about, but this works – even though this woman looks like she's emanating some kind of Ready Brek glow:

Shag hairstyle, shag-pile carpet

Next, a couple of music lovers listen to Universal Soldier by Donovan on their hifi system, having lined up Simon & Garfunkel's Bookends to play next (both records were released a good five years before this book came out).

Great taste you guys

Last but not least, a smiling foursome unpack their Texas Homecare booty from the hatchback of their Austin Maxi. No wonder they look so happy – what's not to like about this set-up?

Communal living

And that's just a fraction of the interiors eye candy in this book:

Laurie Larson Publications (1974). Part of the Young Color series

I bought Your Beautiful Home on a Budget in a junk shop in Hastings in 2003, along with, and I hesitate to make such a wild claim, an even better one in the series, Planning Colour for your Home, which has a chapter on every colour in all it's 1970s glory. I am planning a post on that, too, so do stay tuned.

Colourful crochet bags

Three bags full (of what though?)

It's not the bag trio itself so much as the illustration and the layout of the page that made me want to post this. Notice the middle girl's stance, her watch strap, patchwork skirt and the white frilly cuff emerging from the sleeve of her friend's brown leather (or maybe it's meant to be suede) jacket. I live for stuff like this!

The page in all its glory (including corner stainage)

This was once the back cover of an issue of Golden Hands magazine. No idea which issue because I'm ashamed to admit I tore it out... I bought the entire back catalogue in special ring binders from eBay a decade or so ago (I remember the postage costing a fortune). But then I had to move flats several times in quick succession and didn't have room to store my mags or the strength to keep lugging them up and down stairs so, in a fit of recklessness, I went through ripping out the pages I particularly liked and recycled the rest*. HOW COULD I?

Moving swiftly on... the drawings are very similar in style to the fashion illustrations in Jackie magazine (future blog post alert) I wonder if they were done by the same artist – I'd love to find out who it was.

Lets have a closer look at the striking headline:

Ta-dah

Nice. If you'd like a go at making one (or all) of the bags, click here for free, printable instructions. All measurements in inches.

*I have been trying to replace them issue-by-issue ever since. Still regret chucking the ring binders though

Crazy-cute kids' sweaters

How do you like them apples?

Ah it's June... just around the time I planned on busting out the hotpants, crochet bikinis and cutaway one-pieces (to write about, not wear, I hasten to add). But then I came across these adorable little dudes (with added Labrador) modelling mini fishermen-style sweaters while gatherin' apples, and just had to share the pics and knitting patterns with you...

Anchorman

This little bruiser must be in his 30s by now and is probably mortified by these photos, but I'd love to go back in time and give his cheeks a squeeze. I bet you were eyeing up his cords-and-wellies ensemble in the first picture (I certainly was). And as for his mate's little gingham shirt, what is there to say? Nothing weird about looking to three-to-four-year-old boys for style tips, is there?

Sitting on the fence

As you may have gathered, I think these jumpers are pretty darned sweet, but the other great thing about them is that, being a basic T-shape, they're really simple to make (scroll down for links to the free patterns).

The book I found them in, Stitch by Stitch (part 3) was published in 1986, and I can see that year all over the peachy quilted bathroom accessories on the cover – but much of the content, including these dinky sweaters, looks a good few years older than that. I mean collars of this size were not de rigueur in the mid-to-late-80s, even for kids, as far as I remember.

Torstar Books, 1986 (so it says)

I snapped up this, and several other delightful old craft books, on a visit to the National Trust property Felbrigg Hall in Norfolk, where a well-stocked secondhand bookshop adjoining the ticket hall was  doing a roaring trade. (I wasn't more interested in buying books than looking round the house, honest.)

Anyway, if you have a young man in your life (of course a little girl could work these jumpers just as well, dare I say even better), dig out your needles, click here followed by here for the free pattern and GO. These sweet sweaters are so quick to make and I would love to see any finished results.

Knit your own crown jewels

Happy Jubilee time, Liz!

Apparently the country has gone Jubilee crazeee and, while Union Jacks adorning everybloodything as far as the eye can see is getting a tad tiring on the eyes, at least we, Liz's subjects, get to enjoy a four-day weekend.

Hmm, well you know what they say, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em... so how about getting out the Lurex yarn and knocking up a posh tiara, sash, choker and ring, fit for the Queen? 

This priceless crown jewellery is taken from the 1983 St Michael Fun Knitting book – hideous of cover, wacky of content – which I stumbled upon in a second-hand book tent during the Apple Festival in the village of Appledore in Kent:

A bit on the '80s side for my liking

'Rubies, sapphires, diamonds and emeralds are displayed to outrageous effect in knitted Lurex settings. Imitate full regalia complete with sash and tiara for a truly devastating effect using simple stitches to construct intricate designs...'

Even the most anti-royalists knitters would find that hard to resist. So what are you waiting for? Here are the instructions (parts one, two and three) for your cuddly crown jewels, all jazzed up with eye-wateringly eighties illustrations. You'll be the belle of your street party in this glitzy ensemble (elbow-length white gloves optional).

Patchwork in the park

Born into a light

People, pack your wicker baskets with cucumber sarnies, cheese and pineapple on sticks, fizzy wine and the mini salt and pepper pots – we're having a picnic. Don't forget the corkscrew! How sweet would it be to head up to Hampstead Heath on a hot afternoon and lounge about on this work of art? Being extremely careful not to drop any crumbs, naturellement.

A patchwork quilt this size can take years to stitch by hand. Of course, you can cheat and use a machine to sew the pieces together, but it's a labour of love working out the design, deciding on fabrics and cutting out the shapes nevertheless.

Choosing from endless juxtapositions of colours is so satisfying and can get very addictive. Here's a section of one of mine in progress from a while ago (I'm resting my head on the cushion I made it into as we speak. Lovely):

I took the haphazard approach to design

But my mind literally boggles (if that is possible) at how much planning and work and care and time must have gone into the out-and-out feast for the eyes below, with its ding-dings of pinks and yellows among the various shades of green. And to photograph it lurking in the undergrowth, well that is, as they say, what I'm talking about.

Village green preservation society

Both of these outdoor delights I dug out of Patchwork & Appliqué (Marshall Cavendish, 1979), a veritable goldmine of, well – patchwork and appliqué projects:

Got some scraps of fabric to use up? Click here (and here and here) for the beginners' guide to patchwork. Make do and mend is the latest thing y'know.

Room for one more?

I'm definitely joining a quilting bee when I grow up.