In the 19th century published knitting patterns often included patterns described as ‘Shetland’ or ‘Shetland lace’. This project was designed to determine whether these patterns could be described as ‘authentic’; that is if they resembled or reproduced the motifs found in Shetland lace garments known to be produced in the islands.
Shetland fine lace knitting refers to the practice of knitting by hand with lace-weight Shetland wool on fine needles or wires to produce a garment, usually a shawl, stole or scarf, featuring open-worked motifs somewhat resembling bobbin lace. The earliest fine lace shawls were produced in the mid 1830s using the exceptionally fine hand-spun woollen yarn from Shetland sheep. Knitters of lace garments did not use patterns or charts but employed their skills and experience to produce intricately worked items, the most famous being the fine shawls that could be passed through a wedding ring.
In 2015 a collaboration between the University of Glasgow and Shetland Museum and Archives, which holds an unparalleled collection of lace items, employed 136 volunteers to knit almost 300 samples from a selection of the original printed patterns. The call for knitters for our project shows details of the instructions provided to our knitters.
36 patterns labelled as ‘Shetland’ in knitting pattern books by a range of authors published between 1840 and 1880 were selected for investigation. These included the relatively well-known Jane Gaugain and Frances Lambert but also others whose work is largely unresearched. The knitting instructions tended not to include images. By knitting up samples from the patterns we aimed to reproduce the motifs.
An exhibition at Shetland Museum showcased some of the initial findings as well as providing details of the authors and the patterns chosen for this project.
The exhibition coincided with a study day about Authenticity in Culturally-Based Knitting, as part of the ‘Knitting in the Round: Hand-Knitted Textiles and the Economy of Craft in Scotland’ project, organised by Lynn Abrams and Marina Moskowitz, University of Glasgow. A recording of the study day includes Carol Christiansen speaking about the Authenticity project.
Our project reading guide offers further insight into the work of nineteenth century pattern authors.
The knitted samples and written feedback from our Volunteer Research Knitters provided valuable insight into the challenges of knitting a lace design from a 19th-century printed pattern.
The examples chosen here illustrate a few of the project’s findings. Some of the printed patterns do bear a close resemblance to motifs found in knitted lace garments in the Shetland Museum and Archives Textile collection though others, while openwork in style, are more generic. It is unclear from where the pattern authors gained their inspiration and knowledge of Shetland lace motifs. While some may have seen Shetland lace for sale, others may have been more familiar with the machine-knitted lace produced in factories in Nottingham.
Original samples knitted for this project are part of Shetland Museum’s Textile Collection. Please contact info@shetlandamenity.org for more information.
We are indebted to the Volunteer Research Knitters without whom this project would not have been possible.