Knit sweaters?

The question of if and what kind of knit clothing was used in the 18th century has generated a lot of discussion on these boards over the years. I noticed early in my involvement the mention of "knit pattern" items, and it took me a long time to find any explanation of what they meant by the term. Here are a few examples:

The Pennsylvania Gazette
September 26, 1765
...womens cloth coloured and scarlet cloaks, silver watches, best London pewter in casks, knit waistcoat and breeches patterns, Leghorn and chip hats...

The Pennsylvania Gazette
September 15, 1768
....27 years of age, about 6 feet high, of a black complexion, short black
hair, but perhaps may wear a wig, a brown cloth coat and jacket, and knit
pattern breeches, much worn ..."

The Pennsylvania Gazette
September 4, 1776
... other striped linen much worn, a light blue coat mixt with red, a
snuff coloured coat, velvet jacket, with clear buttons, a pair of light
coloured knit pattern breeches; he is remarkably full eyed,...

The Pennsylvania Gazette
February 21, 1781
... French & English threads, Tully gartering, Black knit breeches
patterns, Womens silk mitts ...

The Brigade Dispatch is a quarterly publication of The Brigade of the American Revolution. The journal ran a query concerning the term "knit pattern breeches", which got this detailed response:  

Knit Patterns (Brigade Dispatch Vol. XXVI, No. 3):

According to Mark Hutter, who portrays the tailor at Colonial Williamsburg,
both knit and woven breeches and waistcoat patterns were sold
during our period.  These "patterns" were essentially kits from
which the purchaser could assemble the item in question.
  
The woven patterns were similar to the embroidered
waistcoat panels with which we are all familiar. The lines
for cutting the pieces were drawn or printed on the fabric
so that all the purchaser had to do was cut them out and
sew them together.  Presumably proper fit was achieved
by adjusting the amount of fabric left in the seam allowance.
One can imagine that this was a great convenience to
those who could not afford the services of a tailor, but
had to make their clothing at home.
  
The knit patterns (which apparently were much less
abundant) were flat pieces, frame knit to shape, with
extra fabric for the waistband, knee bands, etc.  The
pieces were, as in the case of woven patterns, sewn
together to yield a finished garment.
  
This interpretation is borne out by documentary
evidence.  Several items demonstrate the use of the
term "Patterns" to mean pre-made pieces/panels from
which the purchaser could cut and assemble breeche s
and waistcoats of knitted fabric, rather than something
"...cut out in paper to direct the cutting of cloth." 1
  
In an advertisement which appeared in the
September 27, 1787 issue of the New York
Independent Journal; or the General Advertiser,
Thomas Roberts, importer, offered the following
items, among many others: "... Fancy Waistcoat
patterns for the winter..."2
  
In The Daily Advertiser of October 18, 1787,
Mr. Roberts advertises that he "... has received
by the London Packet, Capt. Woolsey, just
arrived from England, an assortment of the new
invented Vegetable Waistcoat Patterns, vastly
elegant, warm, and immediately adapted to
Gentleman's wear in the winter season." 3
  
In the April 4, 1798 issue of the Carlisle
Gazette, an advertisement for a runaway
apprentice states that he took with him
"... a pattern for a jacket [waistcoat] and
overalls of goslin green velvet..."4
  
When one looks at the context and wording,
it is clear that these "patterns" were almost
certainly made from the fabric itself, rather than
just being guides for cutting the cloth; guides
would hardly have been described as "fancy",
"vastly elegant, warm, and immediately adapted
to Gentleman's wear in the winter season", or
"of goslin green velvet." These terms would,
however, be consistent with pre-made pieces/panels
from which the purchaser could cut and assemble
a garment.
  
The concept of a knitted fabric in the 18th- Century
may be unfamiliar; there is, however, evidence that
some 18th-Century clothing was made from knitted fabric.
  
The book Eighteenth-Century Fashion Plates In Full
Color 5 contains reproductions of 64 of 325 fashion
plates 6, together with translations of the accompanying
captions, from the Galerie des Modes published in
France by Jacques Esnauts and Michel Rapilly over
the ten year period 1778 to 1787. Two of those
plates are relevant to this discussion. The translation
of the caption for Plate 15 (Plate 85 of the original
series, dated 1778) reads:

Tailor-designer fitting a lady into a fashionable
whale-bone corset. He is wearing a hazel coat
with a black velvet collar and gold buttons and
button holes. His waistcoat is of cerise tricot with
gold braid, his trousers of black velvet and his
stockings of gray silk.  The young woman has a
simple skirt and white stockings. Her corset is
covered with yellow-died batiste.

The translation of the caption for Plate 19
(Plate 99 of the original series, dated 1779),
which shows a gentleman in a suit, reads:

Fraque a coqueluchon of red silk plush with a
gold filigree hook instead of buttons in front,
faced with black silk plush; the sleeves have
black cuffs. The Tricot of the waistcoat is Chine.
The breeches are of red calamanco; the stocking s
are ribbed; the hat is plush.

The author defines Tricot as "Knitted Fabric."7
  
Other contemporary references exist for Knit
Breeches that appear from context and wording
to be outer garments, that is, breeches in the
commonly accepted sense of the term. However,
they are so few and infrequent among the vast
number of other clothing references as to suggest
that knit breeches, or indeed other knit clothing items
(except for stockings, caps and the like) were at
best unusual, and possibly rare.
  
A 1738 list of various kinds of woolen and
worsted fabrics then being manufactured in
Northampton enumerates 62 different kinds of
woolen and worsted goods in addition to "divers
sorts of different stuffs too tedious to mention." One
of the 62 entries is "Knit Breeches..." 8
  
The Oxford English Dictionary 9 cites a 1693
advertisement in the London Gazette for "One fine
Knit Jersey Night Gown" and "3 pair of Knit Jersey
Breeches." The knitting of stockings and other
worsted articles was long a staple industry of Jersey,
one of the Channel Islands.10
  
A survey of over 1,200 probate inventories in
Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, filed between
1750 and 1800 identified 673 coats, waistcoats
and breeches among the items inventoried. Among
them is only a single item described by the inventory
takers "Knit" - a pair of knit breeches - which is
further described as being of local manufacture.11
  
However, there is some evidence to suggest that
knit breeches and waistcoats might have been more
widely made as undergarments, worn under street
clothes, especially in winter, in much the same
manner as "long johns."
  
In an advertisement that appeared in the January
27, 1787 issue of the New York Independent Journal;
or the General Advertiser, Francis Panton offered the
following items, among many others: "... Aberdeen knit
under waistcoats, without a seam,..."12  Could these
have been based on knit tubes manufactured with
machinery and techniques similar to those used
extensively to manufacture knit stockings?  If so,
were these the 18th-Century equivalent of the
modem tee shirt?
  
On January 3, 1795 the Fleecy Hosiery Manufactory
of L. F. Levallain (a knitting mill?) advertised a wide
variety of stockings, socks, gloves, mitts, etc. as being
manufactured by them, including "For gentlemen's
under-clothing, from No 1 to 3, fleec'd Shirts with
and without sleeves, drawers, pantaloons, bosom
friends, night caps, ... " and "Lady's under-clothing
from No 1 to No 3, fleec'd Under vests with and
without sleeves, sliders under coats, night caps, bosom
friends,..."13  On November 2, 1795, the Fleecy
Hosiery Manufactory advertised in the French and
American Gazette "...For men, undershirts, stockings,
socks, ... For women, Vests, stockings, under
stockings,..."14
  
Finally, among the 1,672 samples of commercial
textiles assembled by Anders Berch (1711 - 1774)
to use as teaching aids while he was Professor of
economics at Upsalla University, Sweden (1741 -
1771) are six examples of flat "Frame-work knitting,"
2 silk and 4 woolen.15  These examples are described
as being "... in stocking stitch," and therefore may
represent samples of stocking materials.  However,
they also provide evidence of flat, machine made knit
fabrics such as would have been required for pre-made
pieces from which the purchaser could assemble
breeches and waistcoats of knitted fabric.

1.  Johnson, Samuel, LL.D.  Dictionary of the English Language, (Rev. W.
J. Todd, ed.), Vol. III, London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme and Brown.
1818.
2.  Gottesman, Rita Susswein, Compiler.  The Arts and Crafts in New
York: 1777 - 1799; Advertisements and News Items from New York City
Newspapers, New York, The New York Historical Society, 1954, p. 326.
3.  Ibid.
4.  Hersh, Tandy and Charles.  Cloth and Costume: 1750 to 1800,
Cumberland County, Pennsylvania.  Carlisle, Cumberland County Historical
Society, 1995, p. 113.
5.  Blum, Stella (Curator, Costume Institute, The Metropolitan Museum of
Art), Eighteenth-Century French Fashion Plates in Full Color - 64
Engravings from the "Galerie des Modes," 1778-1787, New York, Dover
Publications, 1982.
6.  Ibid, Bibliographical Note, p. v.  325 of the more than 400 original
plates were reproduced and published by Emile Levy in Paris between 1911
and 1914.  For this "... Levy edition, the original plates were
reengraved, but with extreme fidelity, and the coloring was done by hand
just as it had been in the eighteenth century." The plates in the Blum
work were reproduced from a copy of the Levy reproduction.
7.  Blum, Glossary, p. xv.
8.  James, John.  History of the Worsted Manufacture in England: With
Introductory Notices of the Manufacturer among the Ancient Nations, and
during the Middle Ages.  London: Bradford, 1857.  Reprint ed., London:
Frank Cass, 1968.  Cited in Montgomery, Florence M.  Textiles in
America: 1650-1870.  New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1984; p. 376.
9.  Oxford English Dictionary: Being a Corrected Reissue ... of a New
English Dictionary on Historical Principles. 13 vols.  Oxford: at the
Clarendon Press, 1933.  Cited in Montogmery, op. cit., p. 271.
10.  Montogmery, op. cit., p. 271.
11.  Hersh, Tandy and Charles.  Op. cit., p. 112.
12.  Gottesman; op. cit., p. 325.
13.  Ibid., p. 335.
14.  Ibid., p. 335 - 336.
15.  Stavenow-Hidemark, Elisabet (ed.), 18th Century Textiles: the
Anders Berch Collection at the Nordiska Museet.  Stockholm, Nordiska
Museet forlag, 1990, p. 152-153

Norm Fuss
2nd New York Regiment

Don N. Hagist, 22d. Regt. F.

My takeaway for all this is that anything resembling a modern sweater is probably not appropriate, but that knit underclothing, both waistcoat and breeches, worn for warmth is acceptable. Outer clothing, also waistcoat and breeches, of the knit pattern type seems to be documented.

If course that begs the question of the Guernsey sweater or Gansey which is apparently documented as having been made in the channel islands since late 15th century. And it looks like a sweater.

Spence