Knitting Measurements

Measurements in knitting instructions in the first pattern books, published during the last century, were vague, to say the least.

Gauge and tension are the two measurements used in knitting. Unfortunately they were often used interchangeably in knitting instructions.

Gauge is the number of stitches and the number of rows to the inch. It varies with the thickness of the yarn, the size of the needles and the tension used by the knitter.

"You should always check your gauge exactly by knitting up a square of the pattern, before starting to knit any garment. If you get fewer stitches than quoted, try needles a size larger." Anonymous

The sizing of knitting needles has traditionally varied from country to country. In Britain, sizing was based on the Steel Wire Gauge with large needles having a small size number. The reverse is true in the United States where large needles have large number sizes. Today many needles are given two sizes, the old number and the actual diameter in millimeters. For example, the long blue needles made by Boye are sizes 10 1/2 and 65 mm.

Early needle gauges, such as Walker's Bell Gauge and Chamber's Gauge, were similar to modern ones with graduated holes for sizing the needles. Despite the availability of these measuring devices, typical instructions suggested "use fine knitting needles," "knit with heavy pins," "work with fine, sharp, ivory needles," or "take large bone or wood pins." No wonder the size of the finished garment was quite haphazard. Instructions were given "for large man" or "for a medium boy." Even expert knitters were at a loss to predict the dimensions of the finished product.

Tension is a force, the stress that the fabric structure puts on the yarn. It is controlled by the type of needle and yarn and the "pull" put on the yarn by the knitter, either by knitting "tightly" or by the way in which the yarn is fed to the working finger. Two unusual ways of keeping the yarn in tension are to pass it behind the neck or to draw it through a hook pinned onto the front of the clothing. Tension is theoretically measurable but in fact it is intuitive and expressed through the fingers. This is where experience counts.

It is interesting that any piece of hand knitting will improve with time, and only wildly irregular stitches will fail to become even. This is why knitters of the past get praised for even stitches.

Dress Patterns in the Nineteenth Century

The home seamstress knew that an attractive garment of good fit required a well-drafted clothing pattern. Those who had money to spare could have a custom pattern drafted, but many more labored over patterns of their own devising.

In 1864, Demorest's Magazine, a fashion periodical, offered paper patterns for jackets and waists "custom fit" to a specific figure if the client mailed in 25 cents and her measurements. Demorest's also mass-produced a wide range of one-size-only patterns which a buyer would alter to fit her figure. Ebenezer Butterick was the first American to successfully mass-produce tissue-paper patterns that were sized according to a system of proportional grading.

By 1868, E. Butterick & Co. offered 15 standard pattern sizes in a variety of styles, and in 1870 James McCall was advertizing mass-produced patterns in his magazine The Queen. These graded patterns were tremendously successful: Butterick, alone, was reported to have sold six million in 1871and by 1900, Butterick and McCall had many competitors.

Measurements and Quilts

One might think of a quilt as a cloth sandwich: fabric on top, often made of small patches, a filling for warmth, and a fabric backing, all held together with rows of quilting stitches.

Accurate measuring is needed in constructing the geometric shapes of the pieced designs and in marking out the quilting patterns. Commercial patterns have been available since the mid-1800s and by the 1920s designs were pictured in many newspapers. They could be ordered for 10 cents but the thrifty women of the depression often clipped the illustrations and measured out their own templates. Thin cards or sandpaper were easy to mark and cut.

Accurately machined metal and plastic templates are now sold, but precise measuring and cutting of patterns at home is made easy with quilters' rulers, plastic graph paper and rotary cutters. When the three layers of the quilt have been prepared' the design for the quilting stitches is marked on the top.

In 1929 Ruth Finley wrote, "Straight quilting, such as cross bars and diamonds, was marked with a yardstick and pencil, or by means of a chalked string, stretched tightly across the quilt top and then snapped against the top."

Also from the depression era when few homes would possess a pair of compasses (which were used for making circular designs), came this quote: "My mother did a lot of quilting. She'd take a string and a piece of chalk and draw arcs on the quilt top." Other circular designs were created with cups, saucers, and plates. A wineglass was a popular marker, the stem and foot making a convenient handle.