Jumper thumbnail 1
Jumper thumbnail 2
Not currently on display at the V&A

Jumper

ca. 1931 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This V-necked sweater follows the fashion created by the Prince of Wales in the 1920s. He started a craze for knitted jumpers by wearing a Fair Isle sweater to play golf at St Andrews in Scotland.

This sweater is hand-knitted in stocking stitch with fine two-ply wool. The garment is knitted in the round, without seams, up to the armholes and the arms are grafted on.

The grey ground is decorated with a Fair Isle pattern in blue, yellow, red, green, brown and black. However, in traditional knitting of this kind, the knitters use no more than two colours in one row. They use a plain stitch for the ground and a purl stitch for the coloured wools. This gives the overall striped effect to the ribbing that is typical of Shetland and Fair Isle knitting.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Hand-knitted wool
Brief description
Fair Isle jumper, hand-knitted wool, possibly by Tulloch of Shetland, Scotland, ca. 1931
Physical description
V-necked jumper hand-knitted in stocking stitch with two-ply wool. The grey ground is decorated with bands of traditional Fair Isle pattern in yellow and blue with smaller areas of green, red, brown and black. Long sleeves.

The ribbing at the neck, cuffs and bottom edges is a one and one rib. The plain stitches are all in grey wool and the pearl stitches are in the coloured wools for the striped effect. Seamless as it is knitted in the round and grafted at the shoulders, the sleeves are worked from stitches picked up around the armholes. The depth of the ribbing at the bottom edge and cuffs is approximately 1.5 inches and 1 inch at the neck.
Dimensions
  • Neck to waist length: 55.5cm
  • Across chest width: 53cm
  • Back of neck to bottom edge length: 22in
  • Chest circumference: 41in (minimum)
  • Chest circumference: 42in (maximum)
  • Chest circumference: 104cm (minimum)
  • Chest circumference: 107cm (maximum)
Tension: 8 stitches per inch 3.5 stitches per cm
Gallery label
11. PULLOVER Hand-knitted two-ply wool Scottish, Shetland, about 1931 This jersey is in the traditional technique of circular knitting without seams, the shoulders are grafted. It is thought to have come from Tulloch Knitwear, Lerwick, who supplied 'Fair Isles' to such fashionable shops as Liberty's in London. Worn and given by Mr. W.H. Nightingale T.363-1984(1985)
Credit line
Worn and given by Mr W. H. Nightingale
Summary
This V-necked sweater follows the fashion created by the Prince of Wales in the 1920s. He started a craze for knitted jumpers by wearing a Fair Isle sweater to play golf at St Andrews in Scotland.

This sweater is hand-knitted in stocking stitch with fine two-ply wool. The garment is knitted in the round, without seams, up to the armholes and the arms are grafted on.

The grey ground is decorated with a Fair Isle pattern in blue, yellow, red, green, brown and black. However, in traditional knitting of this kind, the knitters use no more than two colours in one row. They use a plain stitch for the ground and a purl stitch for the coloured wools. This gives the overall striped effect to the ribbing that is typical of Shetland and Fair Isle knitting.
Bibliographic reference
Hinchcliffe, Frances (ed.), Knit One, Purl One : Historic and Contemporary Knitting from the V&A's Collection. V&A, London, 1985 p.21
Collection
Accession number
T.363-1984

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Record createdJanuary 6, 2005
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