The Fair Isle knitting collection at National Museums Scotland: history, craft and identity
Resource type
Lecture
Creator (person)
Wyld, Helen
Abstract
Fair Isle knitting, with its brightly coloured geometric patterns, is one of Scotland’s most recognisable exports. A constant presence in global fashion since the 1920s, it is still produced by hand knitters in Shetland today. But despite its omnipresence, the origins of Fair Isle are not well understood. This is a result of the poor survival of early examples, a lack of documentary evidence, and a focus on the role of Fair Isle in 20th century fashion in the literature.
The collection at National Museums Scotland, which has never been the subject of serious study, has the potential to change the interpretation of the early history of the craft. Three groups of objects, which are dated to the 1850s, 1870s and 1880s, thanks to their documented museum history, provide a concrete starting point for dating and assessing early Fair Isle knitting.
These objects also provide a unique insight into the ways that Fair Isle was described, marketed and consumed in its early decades. Drawing on internal museum documentation, donor records, the catalogues and reviews of international exhibitions, publications by Shetland residents, and contemporary trade material, Helen Wyld will explore the mythology that surrounded Fair Isle knitting from its first ‘public’ appearance, at the 1851 Great Exhibition. She will show that the qualities of authenticity, hand craft and local specificity that are today embedded in the Fair Isle brand have their origins in the mid-19th century, and were both a reaction against, and a product of, the rapid industrialisation of the period.
Event title
Knitting History Forum annual online conference 2026
Publisher
Knitting History Forum
Rights statement
In Copyright