My History Bounding Land Girl Era

Lately, I was introduced to the term "history bounding" aka: the act of incorporating historical or history-inspired clothing into your day-to-day fashion choices. Apparently it's now a "thing". Or rather it has been for some time and I am just now catching up.

And I've been doing it since I was a teen and never knew. Does that mean I'm now one of the cool kids? Somehow I doubt it.

A number of years ago I read a book about the Women's Land Army movement in my general region of Australia that was appropriately titled Girls with Grit by Jean Scott. I will admit to becoming slightly obsessed with the topic and doing reams of very passionate historical research when I was possibly meant to be working on other things.

The book that started it all....

Since then, I have been quietly in love with the green and brown uniform from the Women's Land Army in the online display from the Imperial War Museum  and in one Australian collection.  I love it.  The pieces look halfway decent on every body type and appear, unlike a lot of other uniform items from the 1940s, to allow for freedom of movement.  Big bonus that the jumper is a V-neck, oh, and did I mention it's pine forest green?

1943 Woman magazine cover showing the shoulders and neckline of the WLA uniform jumper

I could buy a fairly close reproduction version here, but after working out the conversion rate plus postage from the UK to Australia, I did what any yarn blooded crafter does and decided I could make it myself. So I did.

Well, I started but quickly found there isn't really a pattern out there that matches. Certainly not in any Australian archives and those available from British, American and Canadian sources didn't match as closely as I'd like. I read this blog post which confirmed my suspicions. The vintage patterns that are available for sale online all appear to be the same two or three scanned and repackaged.

I did manage to find an original one for sale (of course it was already sold) but there were some really great listing photos that I used for reference. At the time of writing this , you can still view the listing here.

So armed with lots of reference photos, some appropriately green 1970s 5ply yarn and a few of the available free resources I quietly cast on.

My version in progress with some of my reference materials.

And then, poof, my motivation vanished like socks in a dryer. Was it the never ending one by one rib that did me in? Or perhaps my own inner critic whispering, "Are you sure you can pull this off?" I picked it up, put it down, played a game of mathletics, knitted, frogged, and knitted again. Back piece? Check. Front piece? Check. First sleeve? Check. And then, like a magician's assistant, it disappeared into the cupboard.

It got pulled out from time to time, thought about, my reams of notes and calculations reviewed and revised. Then back into the cupboard it went...... until.......... a little post about an Unfinished Objects Knit Along (UFO KAL) popped into my feed. So I clicked the link and lurked a while and thought, what the heck and joined in. At first I thought it was just to finish off a sleeveless vest I'd started for Mr VIntage a year ago. But then my focus changed a little, oh I'm still working on the vest but watching the others actually finish things off, I felt like I needed a "win" so started digging through the cupboard to find all those personal knitting projects that were so very close to finished. Sadly there are lots to choose from.

Apparently, I'm a pro at wrapping up projects for others when it's a special request or my "job", but when it comes to stuff for myself or those under my roof, well, let's just say I'm not winning any speed knitting contests. Honestly, isn't that why a lot of us pick up those needles in the first place? To swaddle ourselves and our nearest and dearest in cozy, woolly affection.

So, to cut to the chase, thanks to a friendly nudge in the rear from my UFO KAL buddies, I finally finished it! I'm now proudly sporting my completed jumper as I type this. I even jazzed it up with a Women's Land Army and Timber Corps badge I stumbled upon online. Probably eBay, but I bought it ages ago and it's now lost to the digital ether. I'm sure there are others out there somewhere.

Right now, I've got notes for the jumper in one size only (measuring a cozy 43 inches around the bust and 23.5 inches from the back of the neck to the hem), and I'm gearing up to work some magic and grade it to fit a whole parade of sizes using yarn you can actually find in a store. You know, just in case anyone else wants to play out their own Land Girl dream. But maybe don't hold your breath—it's not happening today or even this week. Fingers crossed, it'll be soon. I'll make sure to pop back in and spill the beans once I do!

Update: Since completing this project I have located an original 1940s pattern online that is very similar to what I have made. It is knit in 4ply yarn in two sizes (32-33 inch and 34-36 inch bust) with notes on upsizing to fit a 37-38 inch bust. You can check it out here.

The finished jumper with added WLA& Timber Corps badge. I made the sleeves long so the can be rolled up at the cuff and pulled down over the hands between tasks outside when its really cold. I saw this talked about in an interview with some of our army veterans who mentioned the benefits and pitfalls of recieving clothing that had arms that were either too long or too short.