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In 1982 the feminist magazine Spare Rib published a knitting pattern for a ‘Woman’s Woolly’, a jumper featuring a decorative band of female symbols around the chest and arms. This was the last knitting pattern ever published by Spare Rib. After a copy of the pattern was recently donated to Glasgow Women’s Library, volunteer Becky Male embarked on a project to knit not only this jumper, but also her own version, an ‘intersectional jumper’, reflecting the cultural, social, and economic changes since the Spare Rib pattern was published.

In conversation with The National Archives, Becky Male will reflect on how her creative response to the archive drew out some of the complex histories of feminism, fashion, capitalism, and creativity implicated in this knitting pattern and its afterlives. Her project also demonstrates the valuable insights that volunteers can bring to collections.

Becky Male is an independent researcher who has volunteered with Glasgow Women’s Library for over 5 years, focusing on knitting patterns and their place in women’s histories. She has given several the talks on the topic, including ‘Life On and Off the Needle in the 20th Century’ about GWL’s patterns and ‘Women’s Countercultural Creativity’ in conjunction with the Royal Society of Edinburgh. She has also presented her work at the Making Historical Fashion conference.

Image: Female walking hands engaged in knitting, Muybridge, 1887 (COPY 1/383 pt2 (39))

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