Everyone would expect the Library to have an amazing collection of books and journals, but what a lot of people don’t know is that we also have some really amazing items like knitting patterns.

My colleagues who write the fantastic Untold Lives blog recently wrote a piece on our curator Andy Simon’s work to catalogue our 1930s knitting patterns and some of the weird and wonderful things he has discovered (Carry On themed Barbara Windsor patterns anyone?). 

It reminded me of our knitting event we ran last year for Spring Festival where you could come and see a range of our collections, and have a go at making one of the pieces for yourself (see our video below).

So what exactly is in our knitting collection and how can you access it? These are some of the things you can find in the collection:

• Collections of knitting and crochet patterns from the early 1900s
• Knitting pattern books.
• Knitting and fashion magazines published in the UK

Some of my favourites include Mary Quant patterns, and 1920s glamorous film-style photographs of mittens and hats.

Image: Photo of our curator Tanya Kirk with some of our patterns

If you want to order books or magazines, you need to know the title you are looking for and search for them within our catalogue. To use the Reading Rooms, you just need to come to our building in London and get a Reader Pass.

If you want to see the patterns themselves, we recommend you start by searching in our catalogue using the term ‘knitting patterns’ and then click on ‘journals’ on the left-hand side. It will bring a up a range of records including Lister and Co, Stitchcraft, Jaeger, Rowan and Vogue. 

Although you can’t search by garment type or style (our patterns are currently held in boxes rather than individually catalogued), you can use the links on the left hand side to narrow your search by date or by publisher.

 If you have trouble ordering any of the items, you can get in touch with our Reference teams directly.  Find out more at http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/inrrooms/stp/refteam/refteam.html

Words and meanings are close to our hearts here at the Library and someone who perfectly understands that is The English Tee Shop's Alia Qadir. Alia has used the Library's Business & IP Centre to help her business and collection items in order to be inspired to create her wonderful double entendres. When Alia took part in our Spring Market as part of our Spring Festival, I absolutely loved the feel of her t-shirts - so soft!



Could you tell us a little about The English Tee Shop?

The English Tee Shop fuses the English language with fashion through a range of luxurious printed tees. The prints are thought provoking and fun and encourage people to think more about the English language. Each tee is thoroughly English with production and supplies all made and carried out in England. We have recently extended our range to include bags – aptly named ‘tee bags’ and scarves too.



What made you go into fashion, and specifically clothing?

I started The English Tee Shop in an effort to combine my passion for fashion with my role as an English teacher. I began with t shirts because sometimes I couldn’t quite find ones that I wanted to wear!

Is it important that people understand the irony of the language on your tshirts?

It’s great if people understand the irony of the language on the tees as that is part of the fun! It is most satisfying when I see people curiously reading the prints, scratching their heads a little and then smiling; that’s when I know they’ve got it.



How has the Library influenced/helped you?

The Library has been influential in the research of my business. Last year I attended a session on Key Trends in 2012 at the Business & IP Centre which gave me an insight into trending things that would have an impact on my business. I have also used the reading rooms to access books and journals about the English language to get inspiration for new designs.



Why did you choose a more luxurious fabric to make your t-shirts rather than a cheaper one?

Using a luxurious fabric for my tees was an essential part of the design as it is one of the brand’s signatures. As a designer, one of my main principles is that clothes should not only look beautiful but feel it too. The first time I felt micro modal (the name of the fabric) was in a luxury department store, from then on I was hooked and adamant I had to use it! I had quite a journey finding a UK manufacturer for it but pleased I persevered as I love telling people it is made right here in England.

Related articles

Central Saint Martins' guide to fashion resources at the British Library

Ali Miller: quintessentially English, quirky and Sherlock Holmes

You might not know it because of the snow and cold weather, but apparently Spring started last Wednesday 20 March, and even more startling is that Summer is starting on Sunday 31 March. Despite the Wintry feeling spreading across most of the UK, Spring/Summer fashion trends are hitting the high street. I was reading an article on Vogue.co.uk about one of the biggest trends for this year, as it is every year, florals, but not necessarily as we’re used to. Florals this season are big and bold and feel very sixties inspired. The emphasis this year isn’t just on the print, but how the print has been embellished, with embroidery and 3D materials, as seen at Dolce & Gabbana, Erdem and Moschino. I thought I’d look through some Library collections to see where I could find some floral inspiration, and who knows, you might even see some Library florals hitting the catwalk one season.

All of the images are taken from our Images Online website.

Related articles

It's the start of the Spring Festival!

Central Saint Martins' guide to fashion resources at the British Library

Sarah Marafie of jewellery company Boodi Blu has kindly answered some questions that I asked her about her business and about her experience with the British Library. We love her delicate upcyled jewellery, particularly the stories behind them. We were lucky enough to have Sarah take part in our Spring Market in March as part of our Spring Festival. She used the British Library to help develop her business.



How did Boodi Blu come about?  Where do you find the porcelain that you use?

I have always been fascinated by discarded and disused objects and materials, even buildings. Finding them, exploring them or collecting them has been a hobby of mine for as long as I can remember. There’s a sense of mystery and nostalgia and I'm drawn to the connection between the objects and buildings and people from the past. Originally, I discovered a carpet of blue and white shards of porcelain in a secret woodland in London whilst walking my dog and I had to take them home. I collected them for a good couple of years on my dog walks, before I decided to try and make them into wearable objects, rather than hiding them in a drawer.



How did you learn to create jewellery?

I studied Fashion Styling and then Fine Art at university, so although I'd always loved jewellery it was new to start making it! I experimented for about a year, trying out different ways of assembling the porcelain with chains and charms. Every piece has to be sanded of course as the shards are sharp. Drilling was a challenge at first! It didn’t seem to work at all until I discovered the diamond drill bit, used by drilling under water! I researched ways of doing this through YouTube, videos on jewellery tools websites and from other jewellers. I think experimenting is an ongoing process and is all part of the fun. My jewellery is always developing as I find new ways of working.



What's the most interesting story behind one of your pieces?

An interesting piece of porcelain I found right at the beginning of my collecting was a beautiful white porcelain head. It was perfectly broken at the neck to make a necklace with, yet the face was completely undamaged and intact. I haven’t found a head since, so it was sad to see it go but the consolation was that it was purchased by Joseph Corre (Vivienne Westwood's son). That was quite exciting. He clearly takes after his mum and has a good eye for fashion!



What's been the biggest business challenge you've faced so far?

Funding! There are costs involved in every area of a business from the website to having great images and marketing materials, doing markets and shows, props for the markets and shows, travelling to meet people, even getting lunch when you’re meeting people and the list goes on and on. Looking for and applying for funding seems to be a whole other business, which I am yet to get stuck into.

The other challenge is becoming an accountant! Numbers have never been my strong point yet it is one of the most vital things to the business. I manage to keep most receipts but they end up all over the place, which then leaves me with piles to go through and put into a very boring spreadsheet. I am still trying to master it and my goal is to have an efficient and up to date cash flow at all times. Hopefully with a new 'Finance Friday' put in place, it will become second nature one day.



How has the Library influenced/helped you?

The Business and IP Centre at the British Library has so much to offer for all stages of your business, but especially start ups, which is when you need it the most! It was great to find out how to use the business resources and to actually find out how much information there was available for market research purposes. Even the leaflets displayed in the centre give you detailed information on patents, copyrights, particular industries and give you lots of starting points and links for retrieving more information. The 'Make It, Sell It' workshop is next on my list. The British Library was a real help with market stall tips as well for the Spring Market. Some invaluable one to one advice was given. Thanks!

Insider Trends is currently getting ready for its ‘Trendsetters: the Future of Retail’ event on Monday 25th March 2013. We’ll have 4 amazing speakers who are each shaping the future of retail. One of the biggest trends they’ll be focusing on is “omnichannel”.



What exactly does “omnichannel” mean though? I hear you shout at your computer. It means connecting every experience, be it purchasing, reviewing or browsing, in every channel (online, in stores, on smartphones etc) – and it’s the next major move for the mainstream retailers. Some companies, for example, Tesco and Domino’s have recently been experimenting with their print and billboard adverts. When a user points a smartphone at the ad, it comes to life, letting them click on links to find out more.

Net-A-Porter now has a free iPad magazine that not only has great editorial and pictures but you can also buy the items direct. New technology, such as 72 Lux, is a platform that allows anyone to incorporate buying and selling on their website. Chirpify is a platform that lets customers buy items using a tweet or any social media, enabling any brand to turn its Twitter feed into an ecommerce channel.

Although online retail is the channel du jour, and you can even see some statistics that prove this on a previous blog, offline retail is much healthier than you’d think. Most data companies predict that even by 2020, ecommerce sales will still only be 20% of the size of offline sales.

Customers who research and buy through more than one channel have been shown to spend around 15-30% more than shoppers who use just one. This is one of the reasons why 12 of the UK’s top 20 retailers (as listed by IMRG) are run by brands who have a physical presence on the high street. It’s no surprise that online brands such as eBay, Etsy, Made.com and Net-A-Porter are now dipping a toe in the real-world water.




Overall, it’s important to utilise all the channels and see them as helping you achieve the same thing. We know it’s common sense but really, the more you allow customers to make purchases on their favourite channels, whichever they may be, the more you’ll sell and the more profitable and successful you’ll be.

If you’re looking for more retail insights, do be sure to check out the Trendsetters event. Hope to see you there!

Many thanks to Cate Trotter, founder of Insider Trends, for helping to put together this article.

During the months that it took to create the LATE at the Library: Fashion Flashback, Fashion History and Theory students from Central Saint Martins’ thoroughly researched all the fashion related items in our collections. Not just for their fast approaching dissertations, but also to create a guide that other fashion designers and researchers could use as a starting point to exploring the varied collections. The Library has an amazing collection of materials for fashion researchers, including magazines, photobooks and photographs.


Christopher Kane - 'Araki: Tokyo Lucky Hole' by Nobuyoshi Araki

The students separated their findings into ten different categories, ranging from a general overview, to photography, to cut and construction and finally to inspiration. It’s not just books in the guide, there are also photo books and knitting patterns.


Bella Freud - 'Claudine' by Colette and 'The Threepenny Opera' by Bertold Brecht


Gareth Pugh - 'Manhood' by Michel Leiris

To add to this great directory, the students contacted notable characters in the fashion world, such as fashion designer, Christopher Kane, Alex Fury - creative consultant for Mary Katrantzou and editor of Love Magazine, designers Bella Freud and Gareth Pugh, to name but a few, and asked them to send us a postcard (vintage of course dahling) telling us what their favourite item was in the Library. The responses we had were unbelievably varied; the Magna Carta to Araki: Tokyo Lucky Hole, the latter caused quite a stir here at the Library! You’ll have to download the guide below to see the full list of favourite items and the fashionistas who picked them.

Download British Library and Central Saint Martins fashion collection guide 2013


Alex Fury - 'The Fashion Conspiracy' by Nicholas Coleridge

The highlight of the year for us in the creative industries here at the Library has just finished. Our Spring Festival was a massive success, seeing over 1,400 creatives excitedly running through the Library to our crazy (for us at least!) events.

Our biggest and boldest event was LATE at the Library: Fashion Flashback. For months we’ve been organising this with some very talented Central Saint Martins students on the Fashion History and Theory BA course. The event was unlike anything the Library has ever done or seen before and involved many-a famous fashion industry experts, such as Dylan Jones, the editor of GQ, Giles Deacon, fashion designer and Julie Verhoeven, fashion illustrator.



If you missed it, you will have missed the chance to have a make over by Chantecaille make up brand for women, hair styling for men by Pall Mall Barbers, having your portrait drawn by talented fashion illustrators from Central Saint Martins, being able to record your memorable night in our photo booth and many more really fun activities. Fashion print students from Central Saint Martins also created a fantastic paper fashion show inspired by the Library’s collections, including the Russian and Japanese ones. The striking models were played in and out by DJs Princess Julia and Jeffrey Hinton.





We wanted to say a huge thank you to everyone from Central Saint Martins and the Library who made it all possible and we’re already looking forward to seeing what new ideas we can come up with for next year!



Take a look at and feel free to share our video and pictures of the night and check out our blog on how the Library can help fashion designers and researchers.

Earlier this week (as part of Spring Festival 2013) Julie Verhoeven came to the Library to talk about what inspires her, her creative process and to show us some of her latest work.

This was a real treat for me, as Julie is one of my favourite illustrators and she created some new artwork inspired by our collections specially for the Festival (below). It was inspired by our magazines collection and wildlife sounds.

She talked about how she is quite shy and prefers to communicate through her work; to express this, she started the event by spreading magazine covers, comics, pieces of fabric, clothing and photographs across the floor for everyone to see. Her favourites were Misty comics and Smash Hits. It was a fantastic beginning to a talk and made it much more creative and fun.

Her work is incredibly brightly coloured and bold – she said that colour makes her happy. But often it is contrasted with more macabre themes when you look more closely.

She works very intuitively and loves imperfections – she’s not a fan of Photoshop. She’s also moved on from her well known illustrations to film and installation. You can see one of her commissions for Chloé below:

One thing that came across strongly in the talk is that she thrives on being set business briefs and is definitely business minded. She’s worked with some amazing clients including M.A.C, Chloé, Dazed and Confused and Louis Vuitton. She’s also a very hard worker – she’s not afraid of working long hours and has gained huge amounts of experience in the fashion industry.

She mentioned her love of libraries as a place for inspiration – to find serendipity and visual stimuli at a fast pace. It’s interesting when you think of somewhere like the British Library which has so much to choose from, how we can help artists like Julie with this.