Browse Exhibits (2 total)

The Knitting & Crochet Guild Collection received a significant donation in 2014 from Coats plc. This was their knitwear archive of around 60 pieces and their pattern archive, consisting of around 10,000 leaflets and their scans.

The knitwear was the archive of the knitting yarn firm, Patons or Patons & Baldwins, which merged with Coats in 1960, hence the name Coats-Patons donation. The knitwear archive forms this online ‘exhibit’ along with a small sample of associated patterns, needles and shade cards, most of which were already in the KCG Collection.

The garments are a varied collection. There are vintage pieces, those bought for design inspiration, historical reproductions and some made for showing at trade events. All are hand knitted and all are wool. Documentation is limited to labels attached to the garments which are shown.

If you would like more information about a particular item please contact the collection team. collection@kcguild.org.uk 

This exhibit is a pilot project, a step towards making the Knitting & Crochet Guild collection more accessible to the public.