Fab knitwear and textiles in the Kit Kittredge movie

If you haven't seen Kit Kittredge: An American Girl, the movie based on one of the American Girl dolls, it may be out of the theaters now, but it's still showing at the second-run theater pub in our town (I waited to see it there 'cause it seemed like such a good dinner-and-movie kind of film), or wait for it to come out on DVD.

Set in the Great Depression, the movie has themes in it that are startlingly relevant today. Sure, they do paint a rather rosy picture of hobo life, but the persecution of hobos as "people not like us and clearly criminal" echoes sentiments directed against Hispanic immigants, legal and illegal, today. Foreclosure signs springing up around neighborhoods like toadstools -- all too familiar. The film doesn't shy away from the darkness that went with the Depression, but as you'd expect from a film aimed primarily at kids, it does have a happy ending.

But oh, that knitwear! Kit lives in the golden age of knitting, when practically every woman knit or crocheted or tatted or embroidered or did it all. Kit first appears in her trademark crocheted cloche and pink sweater that appear on the cover of her first book. It's almost enough to make one wish cloches would come back into style.

Sweaters are ubiquitous throughout the movie, since it's fall and there's a nip in the air. Check out Ruthie's highly-textured cardigan in a delicious plum:


Someone spent a whole lot of time getting the colors and textiles right in this film. I'm rather hoping the movie inspires a demand for 30's fabrics and styles. I've got a few vintage patterns I'm just itching to use if I can find the right fabric for them.