Customer Reviews

35 Vintage Sweater Knitting Patterns from the 1940's - 1960's KINDLE Ebook Download (knit, knitted, women, clothing, clothes, yarn, crafts, tops, shirts, knitting instruction, make clothes)

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First, I would like to point out that this book has an "unlimited device usage" license -- meaning that if you buy it, or know someone who has bought it, it can be shared with any number of your friends and family -- the only requirement is that y'all would need to download the Kindle software for PC or have a Kindle. But this is a very generous license.

The collection of sweaters in this book are great and many are classic timeless styles that would look great today. Many feature 3/4 length sleeves which I love and are still in style. The sweaters have classic lines which would look good on a wide variety of figure types.

That said, in order to knit any of the sweaters in this book, a fair amount of "re-design" will be needed in order to make the projects practical for "today's woman". As others have pointed out, the measurements for the sweaters given are for women who are much smaller than today's size 12, 14, or 16. So you will need to choose a yarn, do a fair amount of swatching and rewrite the patterns for your size. However, the great thing about many of the projects in this book is that the stitches and patterns aren't so complicated that this is undoable -- it just takes a little time and fairly straight-forward math.

Frankly, I like the patterns in this book better than many of the newer books that have come out recently. For example, there are several patterns for cardigans and I like most of them better than Cardigans Pattern Book by Louisa Harding. You'll have to work harder to bring them to life, but you will have a design which is classic yet unique and flattering.

Just a wonderful collection -- particularly for the money. If you are the kind of knitter that looks at patterns more as "triggers" for your own designs and like adapting to your own purposes, this is the perfect book for you. If you are an intermediate knitter that wants to get started with designing your own sweater, this is also a great reference since you won't be starting from scratch -- you have some structure and between the instructions in this book combined with a good Knitting Design book like Designing Knitwear will give you the tools you need to adapt these patterns for your own purposes.

Having learned to knit in 1946, I am, by definition, a vintage knitter and love making the old patterns in today's beautiful yarns. The kindle formatting is well done but this book is in dire need of an Index or Table of Contents! I think the best "work around" for this is to place a bookmark or Note on the first page of each pattern. I'm looking forward to other vintage finds.

Excellent value, a real find. Many of the sweaters are quite lovely. Once I get a bit more confident in my sweater alterations/design skills, I will definitely give one or more of these a try. I am not sure how to update these to modern yarns and techniques.
The sizes are quite different than modern patterns. For example, size 12 seems to be today's S or XS.
I wish there was a table of contents. I added bookmarks for my favorite patterns but I don't know a way to easily navigate to the next bookmark.

Not all of the patterns have promise, but the majority do & they have LOTS of promise. And if you have imagination you can make most of them work with modern yarns & a few small pattern changes. Definitely a keeper!

My children gave me a Kindle for my birthday this year and since I own several floor to ceiling bookcases of knitting and quilting books, I had to do a search for Kindle based knitting books. This is a nice choice. It is original which means that it assumes, as do most books of that era, that you have basic knowledge of all knitting techniques, including construction and finishing, that you will make a gauge swatch and know how to find currently available yarn and figure out your size. Unlike modern adaptations or books, you cannot rely on schematics and must know the basics. That said, the designs are back in style, and the Kindle renders them faithfully.