Knitting, Sewing and Such - Part Three

                                                                   

I left Westleigh College when I completed grade 6. It seemed a good idea to start the high school levels from form 1.

My sister and I both left in 1960: by then she was already in the high school levels which possibly stopped at form 3, or maybe even 4.

Miss Clarice did not hide her displeasure when my mother informed her we would be leaving the school.

In fact, many of my original classmates had been leaving during my time there. The numbers were diminishing slowly as mentioned here.

This decision was also influenced by the fact that my family had moved from Preston to Hawthorn, and the commuting was not as easy as it had been when we lived closer to the school.

Fortunately there was another family who lived in Hawthorn and they were able to drive us to and from Westleigh most of the time.

One appreciates a good turn, but one doesn't often like to be beholden to anyone either.

Sometimes we went on public transport and that involved two trams and a bus. It seemed like an incredibly long trip!

I am quite sure Miss Clarice played a large role in organising this arrangement with the other family.

She really tried so hard to keep the school going and also to keep it relevant in such changing times. The '60's were fast approaching.

Possibly my biggest regret with regard to leaving was missing out on weaving, and not seeing my friends any more.

The school had several 4-shaft looms and this was something I was really looking forward to attempting.

I had seen the senior girls weave some very beautiful tartan scarves. This was not a very simple skill, but it was very rewarding as well as being an unusal craft in those days and it still is, although a lot of old crafts are enjoying a resurgence nowadays.

It also looked like a lot of fun to me!

I was very impressed with some of the efforts which were not unlike the one here.

My sister made a scarf on the loom. Her's was not exactly tartan but a plaid pattern of light blue and white. Many of the other girls also did a two-colour scarf, rather than a complicated tartan pattern.


Setting up the loom was time-consuming and very frustrating, especially if the yarn broke. I saw this happen several times. It makes one appreciate just how difficult, and expensive, a hand-woven item can be, and why it sometimes has knots in it.


Overall, in hindsight, I was lucky to have left when I did for quite a variety of reasons.

The video clip above shows a similar loom.

Knitting, Sewing and Such - Part Two

One of the things Matron taught us to do that I really enjoyed was simple tapestries.

These were generally small, and we used embroidery thread, not wool.


They were done with a single slanted stitch, but the more senior girls made a tapestry evening bag using the cross, or double, stitch.

These were then sent off to a finisher who added a gusset, and the frame with the clasp, although some people finished their own.

I think my sister still has her unfinished bag but we haven't found it as yet! It was too nice to get rid of.

Surprisingly I still have two tapestries I made and I think I was in grade 3 at the time.

(One of them is above).

They should have been placed in a picture frame but that never happened. Maybe, one day,,,,,

I still like doing tapestries, but have not done one for many years.

Knitting, Sewing and Such - Part One

Matron's main teaching task at Westleigh College was to teach us knitting, sewing and weaving.

Each grade knew what they would be doing each year as the tasks required progressed as we advanced through the levels. They were the same for all the years I spent there. Nothing changed much in the entire curriculum.


The very first thing we learned was how to make what Matron called a "pigtail" using a cotton reel.

This is technically called a Knitting Nancy. We started off with a reasonably sized cotton reel that had four nails hammered in at the top. Matron would cast on four stitches and do a couple of rows and then we would continue until she said we had done enough.

These were done with colour changes as well as it helped use up scraps of yarn. When they were long enough they were stitched onto a piece of felt, in a coil shape, and became a not-so-safe pot holder. I doubt any of them were ever used: at least not for holding pots!

In any case we enjoyed making them and certainly felt a sense of achievement.


Usually the next task was knitting a pair of bed socks which essentially amounted to using one knitting stitch to produce two squares, sew them up, and thread a draw-string near the top so that they could be tightened around the foot. Pom-poms were added to the draw-string as they looked a lot better with them.

This was simple enough for most of us to do and it paved the way for knitting more complex things like a baby's singlet, booties, a tea cosy and eventually a jumper. Many of the more complex items were finished by my mother or my aunt, thankfully.

I don't think I had very much success with any of the later tasks, but I still knit simple things.
I haven't made a "Knitting Nancy" item since way back then!

We also learned simple embroidery stitches and plain hand-sewing stitches like how to sew a hem. These were used to complete a tea-towel. The linen was bought by the yard, hemmed and then we embroidered a tea-cup motif on it.

As we improved we handled harder items like doylies. Most were simpler than the one pictured. I have made a few since then so I suppose Matron taught the basics well.


Of course it would be remiss of me to not mention the fact that some similar projects were tackled later when I went to High School.


We also used our embroidery and sewing skills to make a stuffed felt toy. The one pictured is a good example.

This was very definitely not my favourite project!