'Vintage' bedroom set

Here's my latest knitting pattern, a vintage-inspired bedroom set for the current issue of Simply Knitting magazine. (My editor's given me permission to use the photo.) It's for the Quick & Easy Knits section, which is always a challenge to design for as the patterns for all four items have to fit onto one A4 page, so the trick is to make things elaborate enough to look nice, without writing a 50-line pattern. A reader had suggested a bedroom set, and as the person in the office who's fondest of vintage things, I volunteered to do it. I do all my designing in my spare time, and this is what was occupying my weekends before Christmas.

The stitch pattern on the nightdress case is a vintage classic – I've seen it used on bedjackets, cardigans and all sorts of ladies garments. Traditionally none of these items would have been knitted or used knitted elements; all the designs for nightdress cases and sachets that I've seen have been embroidered or worked in cutwork, and edges for mats would've been crocheted or tatted. I have seen a knitting pattern for hanger covers in the past, but that was from the 1970s. While none of these items would've been found in a mid-20th century bedroom, I have tried to make them look as though they could have been. I started with the nightdress case pattern and adapted the stitch pattern to become a motif for the sachet and a zigzag design for the mat edging. There's not a lot you can do with covered hangers, but I did a ridged pattern as it would help skirt loops cling to the hanger better.