In our last blog, we delved into Cornwall's rich history with the Gansey Sweater and discussed how my family is interlinked with the knitting and sailing communities here in Falmouth.
Today, we are taking a deep dive into the history of how the Gansey Sweater was constructed so we can better understand why we consider it a classic favourite today.
As workwear forms a substantial part of this year’s fashion catwalks with Barn Jackets making a statement in Saint Laurent’s stores, and Carhartt's cargo trousers becoming Spring’s go to weekend look, it’s hard to ignore the trend that is supporting fashion that stands the test of time. Cornwall’s very own clothing company, Finisterre, made the Fisherman’s Sweater their statement wool jumper this season , and so, in today’s blog we are going to start to look at the construction of the Gansey Sweater; the traditional workwear of fisherman and sailors who herald from the west coast of England, and the families who made them.
To understand the construction of the Gansey is to understand why we return to it over the centuries as the sweater of choice; it just works!
The Yarn And The Needles - A Uniquely Historic Pairing
Choosing the correct yarn is vital for a good outcome for any knitted project. A traditional Gansey sweater is knitted in worsted wool in navy, which was historically produced by dying the fibres in indigo.
A worsted yarn is produced by ensuring that the fibres of the wool are aligned after being combed, allowing them to sit well together in a parallel formation. This forms yarn that is strong, durable and offers the knitted stitches a crisp finish.
The sheep that often produce wool for worsted fibre are usually the Romney breed, with the Romney Guernsey offering the most authentic wool for the Gansey sweater. Worsted wool is fine and is spun with fibres that are around 4 inches long. Coupled with a tight spin and combined with its natural lightness, worsted wool is often used for outerwear clothing, such as jackets, coats, and suits.
These unique properties make wool highly sought after by knitters and tailors alike, which is why it is seen on catwalk runways as well as on fishermen out at sea. High-quality worsted wool is far from ‘itchy’, but because of its inherent ability to be knitted and woven with a tight twist, which helps keep the wearer warm and less wet in the winter months, it is seen as a fibre that would not be worn directly next to the skin.
It has often been believed that the wool was additionally oiled to help the mariners stay dry; however, there is little evidence for this. Instead, it is generally thought, and evidently seen, that weatherproofing comes by combining the wool and the use of correct needle sizes.
Ganseys are typically knitted on 2.25mm/US 1 needles, and the yarn weight is a 5ply.
When the yarn's natural durability is knitted on such small needles, the wool's fibres unify and create a lightweight but dense fabric.
Although both men and women knitted the sweaters, it was the women who made it into a booming cottage industry, selling their sweaters in markets and to third-party traders. The speed of their knitting was aided by their needles, which would have been originally wood, but in 1901, there is evidence of steel Double-Pointed Needles (DPNs) being used. DPNs allowed the structure of the sweaters to be knit in the round, eliminating the need for seams.
It wasn’t just the women who knitted them; the bottom of a Gansey sweater was often knitted up by the children of the communities. As the sweaters are simple rib and stocking stitches until the gusset increases start to be formed, the children learned how to knit quickly and efficiently before more proficient knitters took the project on to form the gussets, as well as the seed and bar patterns that make the sweaters so iconic.
The Iconic Colour
Indigo was the plant dye of choice to create the blue of the Gansey Sweater, and in the past, it was exported from many places, including Portugal .
With Falmouth being the main port for ‘The Packet Service’ from the 17th to 19th centuries, it can easily be surmised how indigo came to give the gansey sweater its traditional blue colour. Indigo offers a rich colour when yarn is first dyed, but as the wearer exposed it to the salt waters of the sea and the general Cornish weather, the sweaters would fade into different hues of grey, green, and sometimes purple.
It is useful to note that there is a subtle difference between a Cornish Gansey and a Jersey. A Jersey has main differences: It would be knit in finer wool, which is less hard-wearing or weatherproof, and it would be knit in a colour other than dark blue.
The Fit And Construction
The fit of the ganseys were classically around an 8-10 inch ease, giving room for shirts and vests to be worn underneath as layering pieces and offering space to move when on the boats when hauling and sailing.
In older photos, the sweaters can be seen as close fitting, but on close inspection, they are the outerwear over a shirt and most probably a vest, giving at least three layers of insulation to help the wearer keep warm. On top of the sweater would be either an oilskin jacket or a wool jacket made of woven worsted wool. Now, we see these sweaters still being given a generous ease at around 6 inches, but due to modern styling, as the sweater is now mainly a fashion statement, they are not as generous in their proportions as they used to be.
With the knowledge, we have today about how to adapt the fit of our knits to suit different body shapes, the traditional gansey box shape can now be adapted to suit all shapes and sizes for comfort and style.
The underarm gusset is a particular feature of the gansey sweater; a distinctive diamond shape where the underarm meets the body created by increases and decreases. This allows the sweater to be entirely free of seams, which both increases the ease of movement when wearing it, as well as making the construction itself easy and productive. The gusset also provides a way of stress-relieving a place on the sweater that would get a lot of friction and tension. By placing a diamond here, rather than a simple knitted join, the stress along the join between the body and arm is dissipated. (It also mimics our underarm, the ‘axilla’, which is diamond in shape, and allows our arm to enjoy full range of movement without stressing our bodies.)
The sleeves were knitted to be shorter than we are used to today. This is a simple way of keeping the hands and wrists free to work; manually hauling in nets, working rigging, and gutting fish are not chores you want to be doing with sleeves in the way. It was also a safety issue as longer sleeves could get caught in the nets and drag the mariner into the water never to be seen again. The sleeves were traditionally finished like the neck, with around 12 stocking stitch rows allowing a rolled edge. These were easily ripped back to the ribbed section and replaced as they were the first to suffer from wear and tear.
Noticeably, there is often no shaping at the back, meaning that there is no distinguishing between the front and back. This offered a fantastic way to wear the sweater; any way you liked! If the ‘front’ was wearing a bit thin or had a stain on, you could wear it the other way around until it was fixed. Fishermen would have known how to repair the sweaters when out at sea, but larger projects may have been saved for the homecoming.
The bottom half of the Gansey wasn’t just a plain knit to keep the project simple for the children who were learning, but as it received a lot of wear and tear, it was easy to darn or even rip back completely and re-knit. In photographs, the sweaters are often relatively short, but again, this is due to the work carried out by the men wearing them. Not only was it a more comfortable fit under an oilskin, but it would be less likely to get caught in the nets and ropes on the boats.
(The Sheringham Museum )
(YouTube Video - The Melancholic History (And Knitting Technique) Of The Gansey )
Traditional Patterns ‘seeds and bars’
Nets and ropes formed the part of the gansey that we have grown to love: the patterns known as seeds and bars.
‘Seeds’ are created through knit and purl stitch patterns, with bars being rows of garter stitches.
Created through knits and purls, along with cables, the patterns of the Ganseys have been long associated with the villages where the sailors were from. Mary Wright wrote the definitive book on Cornish Ganseys, recording the patterns vocally handed down through the generations rather than written. It is thanks to historians who thought to record the last generation of traditional gansey knitters who showed their patterns, as well as early photographers who took the many images that we use today to piece together the ropes, waves, anchors and fish that were knitted into the top half of the sweaters.
This is why it is so hard to find patterns today. A Cornish Gansey traditionally had patterning starting at the midway point and sometimes had a central pattern panel starting from the bottom of the sweater to distinguish it from other regions.
Dates and initials were often sewn in after the sweater was completed, denoting the individual wearing it. Although patterns from villages and towns such as Polperro, St Ives, Porthleven, and Bude have been identified, among others, no historical documents show that each family had its own distinctive pattern.
The patterns that we use in designs now are a personal choice, however I would always advocate for a story to be told through the selection of stitches. Fish and waves at the bottom can remind us of watching small fish close to the shore on holiday visits to the coast, with chevrons representing the lighthouses that help us navigate through the storms of life
The Gansey Knitting Source book is where you can find 150 stitch patterns. When combined with historical references and personal memories, the Gansey you choose to design can become your personal storybook.
Planning Your Own Gansey Design:
The Gansey offers you a fantastic opportunity to design your own pattern, and with any well thought out project, it starts with an accurate gauge swatch; typically 32 sts per 10cm and 44 rows.
Due to the tighter fabric your Gansey project will eat yarn at an alarming rate! I would order more yarn than you would normally use for your sweater knitting. I would allow about 500 metres extra to your normal meterage as a minimum. You will need 2.25mm - 3mm needles (depending on your gauge) with a variety of cable lengths to knit in the round , or you can use the magic loop technique if you prefer. And of course stitch markers are handy for those pattern repeats.
Check how much ease you would like and plan any adjustments to the traditional pattern. Do you want bust darts or waist shaping for example? Or a split hem for a looser hip fitting? Using gauge work out how many stitches you will need to cast on for your size, then use some graph paper to plan out your design for the pattern stitches. This preparation will help you get the Gansey you want at the end of your knitting.
On the Cornish Knitter’s Flock we taking a deeper dive into knitting and designing our own unique gansey, and then supporting each other through the long days of knitting one. If you are interested in joining us here is the link
The Gansey is synonymous with my home here in Cornwall, and I am always grateful for the history that the sweater reminds me of. For such a simple piece of workwear to have travelled through centuries of fashion, no matter what the political and economic situations were, it is a wonder of the textile heritage that we still wear today. I am really excited about creating my own version.
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