hello all, wondering if anyone can help me date when these two beautiful fair isle pullover vests may have been knitted. they are both quite soft/silky feeling? first is light in weight, second one with green edges feels a bit heavier. i have a “bairns wear” fair isle knit sweater made of “new wool” that feels similar. photos of all 3 knits below: any and all input is appreciated! cheers, jess
It looks like Bairns-wear was only in existence from 1953 to 1963, so that narrows the woman's sweater down... http://knitsandbits.blogspot.com/2010/07/little-look-at-bairns-wear-ltd.html The bright turquoise used in the men's sweater vests strike me as the same era too.
i’ve done a uk google search for more examples of clothing they made—couldn’t find much, just a couple of toddler items, but it seems they only made children’s wear. the sweater in my photos could fit a petite woman
'Bairn' means child, so Bairns Wear means childrens wear. It's a scottish dialect word - but fairly commonly known all over the UK. So possibly your sweater was for an older child.
The two V necks are hand knitted probably 1940s but could be 30s or even up to late 60s There's an article about Fair Isle in this magazine, now out of print but available as a Free Download PDF [Link removed by admin]
I've inadvertedly broke forum rules with the link to Fair Isle info, uninterntionally I've removed anything that might be deemed "adverstising" from the text,,,,,,,,,,here's what's left Fair Isle patterns have been knitted for centuries. The style originated on Fair Isle, a small island amongst the Shetland Isles, and gradually found their way, often by word of mouth, throughout the far North of Scotland and eventually to all four corners of the Earth. The earliest examples of “Fair Isle” knitting in the Shetland Museum are two caps that date to the 1860s. The National Museum of Scotland has similar early Fair Isle pieces dating to the 1850s although neither exhibit the subtle elegance of 1920s Fair Isle knitting which was by now widely exported to mainland Scotland and to the rest of Great Britain. It was also around this time that Fair Isle pullovers first became fashionable. In 1921 The Prince of Wales, later to become Edward VIII, was seen wearing a Fair Isle, a pullover that became one of his most celebrated items of clothing depicted in the oil painting “Royal Friends”, a portrait of Edward and his dog by John St Helier Lander. By the 1930s commercial knitting patterns for Fair Isles were widely available and hand knitting became a very popular pastime, especially during the dark days of 1940s, when the craft became an important part of the war effort. Often the womenfolk whiled away the tedious evenings of the ‘black-out’ gathered around a peat fire listening to the radio and knitting sweaters for the family. The “Make-Do-And-Mend” attitude, and the Utility ethos for absolute economy of raw materials, meant that Fair Isle patterns were particular favourites. They used up all sorts of odds and ends of different coloured wool, often unravelled from old sweaters now past wearing while the bright colours became a symbol of hope in a rather “Black & White” World. The popularity of the Fair Isle continued through the 1950s, many US servicemen returning to The States had brought examples back home inspiring a surge in demand from North America while back here in Scotland there were very few schoolboys who didn’t grow up dressed in a Fair Isle, often a hand-me-down from an older brother. During the 1960s Fair Isles became high fashion items “The popularity and relevance of the designs continues to this day” International fashion Bibles such as Vogue magazine regularly featuring examples by influential London boutiques Ruskin and Edina & Lena. This, no doubt, led to the style becoming favoured by rock stars, perhaps most famously Paul McCartney who was often photographed wearing one during his Mull of Kintyre idyll. The popularity and relevance of the designs continues to this day.
The green O shapes and X shapes in the Bairnswear jumper, is a traditional Fair Isle pattern motif, usually known as OXO. That one looks machine knit to me, and is a double knit jacquard, from what I can see of the reverse. Whereas as the two sleeveless ones look hand knitted.
Bairnswear produced machine knitted sweater in Nottinham at least from the early post war days. They were very popular in Scotland when I was growing up most of the junior age kids in the village wore them, I think they were ordered from a calalouge. I remember some of us taking the labels out of our sweaters when we felt we were too old to be considered a Bairn
Interesting that it was in Nottingham, given (I assume) the Scots origins of the company. But I know a lot of knitwear and hosiery was produced in the Midlands (I'm from Leicester myself). Ha! I can imagine that.
thank you, ken! i actually was able to bookmark the link before it was removed. thank you for adding the bit to this thread! my partner is from scotland. we were actually there visiting his family back in march, in ayrshire. i’ve always been a fan of the traditional fair isle knits, so finding these was such a rush! i got a late start in knitting, but when i learned i immediately wanted to try fair isle. funnily enough, i did not find these sweaters in scotland, but from a british vintage collector. i love your story about the bairnswear sweaters, ken, thank you for sharing it.
