The Collection

The 1900s

With the advent of Leavers and Raschel lace machines in the Midlands, braids and edgings became more affordable. Weldon's magazines from about 1910-12 show a few patterns that combine crochet with lengths of bought braid.

Lengths of this braid can still be bought from specialist dealers, and items such as this petticoat [detail shown here] are not uncommon.

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The 1910s

This Irish Crochet Dress must be the 'Jewel in the Crown' of The Guild Collection – The V&A Museum, which has the largest costume collection in the UK, did not have a wedding dress made entirely of Irish Crochet when we acquired this one in the early 1990s.

It was sold through Harrods Made-up Lace Department some time between 1900 and 1914. Their records are disappointingly sparse with more information about the food hall than other departments

The dress seems to be a hybrid of styles: from 1900-1906/7 bodices and sleeves were very luxurious with suitably shaped underwear. The dress's neckline and shorter sleeves date it to 1912-14, but by then day dresses had hobble skirts. The skirt is more in keeping with 1904 styles, although in 1904 the top would probably have had something over it. Wedding dress styles, it must be remembered, tend to be more traditional and there is a possibility that the dress could be to a client's own design

There are no fastenings in the back of the dress, so we know it has never been worn – maybe the bridegroom-to-be never returned from the trenches of the First World War?

The original price, on the label that was still attached to the dress when we acquired it, was 50 guineas …

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The 1920s

In the early Twenties jumpers were designed to conceal the figure. They ignored the bosom and the hips by hanging from the neck to just below the hips. Colours were mainly pale pastel, white and beige. Garments were often made in one piece, from hem to hem, casting on and off stitches for the sleeves. Rayon or 'Art(ificial) Silk' became widely available in the 1920s.

In 1922 the Prince of Wales wore a Fair Isle jumper to play golf in and started a fashion that lasted at least two decades. Traditional Fair Isle jumpers had bands of pattern that had subtle variations in each 'repeat'. The Fair Isle jumpers in the Guild Collection date from the 1940s and later.

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1930s

The Collection does not include many items that can be reliably dated to the 1930s. But it does include a small collection of children's dresses, knitted in rayon and trimmed with angora, which are thought to date from this period. This dress, in yellow and white, has an interesting and unusual bodice. Other dresses in this collection have lacy skirts and mock smocking in the bodice.

These two children's Fair Isle jumpers were bought in Jenners in Edinburgh in the mid 1930s, and were worn by three generations before finding their way to the Collection.

This adult jumper is a tennis sweater, worn in 1936.

As the decade ended in war, with consequent shortages and rationing which included wool, woollen garments were often pulled back and re-made, and/or passed on till they fell apart. During the war years, fashion as such came to a standstill. With nothing new available it did not matter what one wore. If anything women's clothes became more masculine; sweaters had square padded shoulders. Wool was scarce, expensive and rationed. The emphasis was on making blankets, gloves and balaclavas for the troops.

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