Help Dating Tyrolean Cardigans

Liz Glover

Liz Glover

Registered Guest
I recently acquired a job lot of Tyrolean cardigans that someone had purchased from a car boot where they were told they'd belonged to an elderly lady. I'm guessing she made them as they're all in the same/similar designs and colour variations but I'm not sure on the era of them. I feel they might be from the 80s due to their chunky knit. I've taken photos of two of them - the yellow has painted plastic bead buttons and the white has clear glass buttons.

If anyone has any thoughts on when they could have been made, I'd love to know!

Thanks,

Liz
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I think I’ve found the pattern yours were knitted from!

It looks to me like your edgings (eg button bands, cuffs and neck etc) are crocheted rather knitted, which is also the case for this pattern. The bell stitches and embroidery placement also identical. It looks like maybe she adapted the sleeve heads to make them less puffy.

The pattern is much older, 30s or 40s, but I do think yours were knitted later than that. The colours aren’t right for back then, and I would expect them to be pure wool not acrylic, and finer yarn, if they were made at that time.

they’ve been in fashion on and off since then, but I think the very earliest yours could be is 60s as that’s when acrylic became common. The pastels do look right for 80s.

Interestingly the pattern calls it Viennese rather than Tyrolean.

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retro ruth said:
I think I’ve found the pattern yours were knitted from!

It looks to me like your edgings (eg button bands, cuffs and neck etc) are crocheted rather knitted, which is also the case for this pattern. The bell stitches and embroidery placement also identical. It looks like maybe she adapted the sleeve heads to make them less puffy.

The pattern is much older, 30s or 40s, but I do think yours were knitted later than that. The colours aren’t right for back then, and I would expect them to be pure wool not acrylic, and finer yarn, if they were made at that time.

they’ve been in fashion on and off since then, but I think the very earliest yours could be is 60s as that’s when acrylic became common. The pastels do look right for 80s.

Interestingly the pattern calls it Viennese rather than Tyrolean.

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Thanks ever so much Ruth for all your help and information! I do think it's acrylic (isn't itchy for a start!) and that would make sense being 60s-80s. I speculated around that time but it's so hard to know! It's fantastic to see what's likely the original pattern too, thank you.

I have a similar cardigan from the batch which has faux pearls in place of the flowers (from memory) and one that's the same as these but in a "thinner" knit. Perhaps she was using that as a template? I think that ones damaged. There's also a lime green one which very much seemed later in colour ha!

On another post, I've asked about dating the age of a Bairns-Wear jumper but I'm not sure if you'd be able to help with that?

Thanks again, I truly appreciate it!

Liz x
 
Liz Glover said:
Thanks Cin, that does seem to back up the general consensus. 60s-80s is a rough idea. I appreciate your help! Liz x
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As a knitter, I know well how popular those sweaters were in the 80s AND that yarn is totally a typical 80s choice. People were using it then so they could 'wash and wear' more effortlessly. But whomever knitted these knew they stuff!!
 
bycinbyhand said:
As a knitter, I know well how popular those sweaters were in the 80s AND that yarn is totally a typical 80s choice. People were using it then so they could 'wash and wear' more effortlessly. But whomever knitted these knew they stuff!!
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That makes total sense then. They have that chuckier 80s feel as opposed to the neater early 20th century ones. Always good to get info from someone who made things from the same era!
 
Liz Glover said:
That makes total sense then. They have that chuckier 80s feel as opposed to the neater early 20th century ones. Always good to get info from someone who made things from the same era!
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I will take a spin through my old Vogue Knitting patterns so to narrow down which end of the 80s but I think it's mid.
 
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