A Stitch In Time Vol. 2

I finally got my copy of A Stitch in Time Vol. 2 and I have surprisingly mixed feelings about it. It’s a beautiful book with gorgeous photography, but that’s one of its major flaws. The photography creates a beautiful ambiance, but, like in Vol. 1, there is a handful of patterns with lovely photos where you can’t really see the garment well.

asit2

I was also pretty disappointed with the 50s patterns. Very few of them screamed 50s to me which isn’t the end of the world because 50s patterns are still easy to find, but that was the time period I was most looking forward to seeing in this book. The 1950s over view references the idealized hour glass shape, lower necklines, and the Sweater Girl look, but very few of the 50s sweaters in the book reflect that. Some of them are incredibly dowdy.

I feel like A Stitch in Time Vol. 1 was a much better book and the patterns better represented the styles of the periods they were from. It was easy to crack open that book and know what decade the section I was looking at was from. It’s hard to do that with Vol. 2. It doesn’t seem as deliberately curated and edited.

Complaints aside, there are a lot of patterns that I love and want to knit. They’re just not the patterns I expected to love and want to knit. This is kind of a weird review for a book that I’m happy with overall, but most of the reviews I’ve seen have gushed about the beautiful patterns (there are quite a few of them) without really going into other details.

I’d love to hear other thoughts on the book.


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6 responses to “A Stitch In Time Vol. 2”

  1. I haven’t looked through either of the books, but I do get what you’re saying in your review. I’m glad you still like the patterns, even if you find yourself liking different ones than you expected!

    Sequels usually don’t live up to the originals. 😉

  2. I’m pretty pleased with it, but I’m more of a 40s girl… I think this book had a much better selection of “typical 40s” patterns than ones from the 50s. Only two or three of them really screamed 50s! to me. (Or maybe some of them were just late 50s? I know I have some old leaflets/magazines from the latter half of the decade that look more like what I expect from the 60s — boxy, bulkier yarns, etc. Not really my thing.) Overall, I really like it too, but I know what you mean.

    I’m not yet sure if I like it more/less than Vol. 1… I’ve only knit one jumper from it, but I love going through it and there are still loads that I want to do. I need more time to see if I feel the same about Vol. 2.

  3. Lisa S.

    If you ever get up here with time to spend looking, I have some historical patterns copied from the library that you might like.

    Seaboe

  4. I always find it hard to be critical when I initially get something, because I’m so excited. And I don’t know the first thing about vintage fashion beyond the “oh pretty!” factor. But you’re right, of course.

    It doesn’t seem as deliberately curated and edited.

    Especially about that.

    That said, I’m glad you like some of it, even if it wasn’t what you expected to like.

  5. I had read something similar elsewhere and became a bit weary of the book. I had it on pre order and arrived today and totally see what you’re saying. I still like it, there’s lots of gorgeous things to knit but there is a lot of boxy/ late 50s knits and matron like items. It might well be the models and styling used. With saying that, I’m still thrilled to look at it.

  6. Anna

    Funny you should post about this book, I just recently read about it in a knitting magazine of my mum’s (the same I found your website address in!) I can tell you the first thought that went through my mind at seeing the book was ‘I must have that!’ but now thanks to your review I may save my pennies and go searching for Vol. 1
    🙂

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