Child's knitted jersey, blue with red cats

This homemade knitted jersey was made by Una McRae for one of her grandchildren in the 1970s. She made all of her grandchildren a special jersey, each one with a motif that would appeal specifically to them.

Children's knitwear with motifs, using a vast array of colours and patterns became especially popular in the 1950s and continued until the late 1970s at which point manufactured machined-knit fabrics were cheaper, less time consuming to produce and more readily available.

The 1920s saw a growth in home hobby knitting which grew during the First and Second World Wars when knitted socks and other supplied were in demand for soldiers.  After World War Two, knitting had another boost when large volumes of different colours and styles of yarn were introduced. Many thousands of patterns fed a market hungry for fashionable designs in bright colours. Girls were taught to knit in school, as it was thought to be a useful skill, not just a hobby. A greater volume of patterns of varying difficulty including not just clothes, but also blankets, toys and bags were available. Knitted jerseys like the ones Una McRae made for her grandchildren epitomise the trend to incorporate simple border patterns and bold motifs.