Brioche Stitch: Modern Knitters Adopt a Victorian Classic

Brioche knitting has been having a moment—a rather long one—that began when Nancy Marchant’s book Knitting Brioche brought the technique to the attention of modern American knitters in 2010. Nancy described her book as a “reintroduction” to the technique in the United States, as brioche had been quite popular among Victorian knitters. Courtney Kelley’s Columbia Cardigan in Farm & Fiber Knits 2025, inspired by a 1916 pattern published by Columbia Yarns, got us thinking about the origins of this stretchy stitch and its rise in popularity in recent years.

We dug into our to-go knitting resources, which look back to the brioche knitting craze of the Victorian era (from the beginning of Queen Victoria’s reign in 1837 until the outbreak of World War I in 1914). For those knitters, brioche was popular for floor pillows and poufs shaped like the French rounded bread that was in vogue. Knitting historian Richard Rutt’s only mention of brioche in his A History of Handknitting points us toward a Miss Lambert, who stated in her 1843 edition of My Knitting Book that the knitting stitch took its name from the pastry. However, subsequent editions of her popular book omitted this connection.

Eventually, patterns for baby sweaters, mitts, and more using this ribby stitch appeared in popular “lady’s magazines” on both sides of the Atlantic. One of these magazines includes the inspiration for Courtney’s cardigan, which looks just as good today as it did when it came out in 1916.

At left, Design by Anna Schumacker published in The Columbia Book of Yarns (1916); Courtesy of the Library of Congress. At right: Courtney’s version, the Columbia Cardigan; photo by Gale Zucker

Vintage Cardi Made Modern

Courtney, who is co-owner of Philadelphia-based Kelbourne Woolens, admits she was shocked to find a brioche sweater in a vintage pattern book. “I think of brioche knitting as very contemporary,” she says. “I have some older pattern catalogs and have done research at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, which houses the Horstmann and Lippincott papers. (The Horstmann family owned what eventually became Columbia Yarns, a producer of Germantown-style yarns.) I hadn’t seen a vintage brioche garment pattern until I came across this one.” [PAYWALL]

Courtney made only a few modifications to make the cardigan approachable for today’s knitter. She tweaked the gauge, which was originally for a lighter-weight yarn, to suit the revived Germantown Yarn that Kelbourne brought out 2018. (Read about the Germantown saga in the 2025 print issue of Farm & Fiber Knits.) She also reworked the cuff stitch pattern to suit modern knitting styles. ”It was fussy and difficult to work,” she explains. “I could tell that they wanted a vertical, stiff ribbing, but it was calling for you to knit the cuff horizontally, using a complex welted stitch pattern that would create ‘ribs,’ then sew it on. I didn’t think many knitters in 2025 would want to do that. So I made an executive decision, which I like to think would be the same one I’d have made if I were alive in 1916: I opted to knit a dense, twisted-rib cuff. I also simplified the neck shaping using terms we understand now.”

A detail of Courtney's neckline, which she simplified using modern knitting terms and techniques. Photo by Matt Graves

Brioche Today

Nancy Marchant, sometimes called “the Queen of Brioche,” was an American living in Amsterdam in the 1970s when she first became intrigued with the stitch. “I saw a young man wearing a two-color brioche sweater and tried to memorize how the stitch looked,” she says. “I ran back to my apartment and found it in Barbara G. Walker’s [First Treasury of Knitting Patterns]. She called it the Brioche Stitch. I didn’t understand how she explained the construction, so I asked at my LYS here in Amsterdam, and they described it as a very common stitch, the patentsteek, and told me they learned it in grade school.”

Nancy Marchant learned brioche stitch when she moved to the Netherlands in the 1970s. She developed two-color, shaping, and cast-on techniques that made the stitch versatile—and impossible to ignore. Photo courtesy of Nancy Marchant

How did she earn the moniker Queen of Brioche? “I suppose I got that name because I developed the stitch, and came up with the terminology (brk, brp, sl1yo). I researched books, old magazines, and museum archives. I asked seasoned Dutch knitters about this stitch, only to discover that it was a common stitch, loved for its cushiness, but was never really experimented with and mainly worked in one color. I tried all sorts of cast-ons and bind-offs, worked with a lot of different fibers, and added color. I created brioche increases and decreases that led to graphic patterning across a brioche field. I discovered that working these increases and decreases created undulating edges, which also added to its appeal. And I taught brioche knitting all over Europe and the US.”

Brioche knitting gives the Brooklyn Mitts by Olga Putano a wonderful loft and comfort factor. Photo by Gale Zucker

She adds, “I think what first attracted me to brioche is that I recognized it as a stitch pattern that had never really been used by contemporary American knitters.” Well, that has certainly changed, with more and more knitters picking it up and more and more designers adding brioche to their repertoires.

Courtney Kelley confesses she had never done brioche when she took on this project. “Not only is this my first brioche design, it’s the first time I have ever even done it—so there was a bit of a learning curve! I always thought brioche was one of those knitting techniques so fussy and difficult that I avoided it. But once I knit a brioche swatch and took the time to understand the mechanics, I was fully hooked! Brioche is an absolute delight to knit, but you have to have an open mind at the beginning.”

The Queen of Brioche concludes, “I think the brioche stitch will always be in the moment. Learning brioche can be a challenge, but one gets a sense of accomplishment when the technique is finally mastered. Working the stitch has an almost musical cadence that is very comforting. And who doesn’t love the finished fabric?”

Getting Started with Brioche Knitting

Faina Goberstein, who teaches beginning brioche, offers some tips for knitters who have been hesitant to jump on the brioche bandwagon. “Brioche is sometimes tough for beginner knitters who are used to seeing only single stitches on their needles. Even an intermediate-level knitter who is used to lace patterns, for example, can be confused by what they see.”

Faina feels that brioche is easier to learn by watching someone knitting than by following written instructions and charts. “It is actually a two-stitch pattern repeat that has a nice rhythm once you get the knack,” she says. “You will see it is not a difficult stitch pattern, just a different type of slip-stitch pattern that stands on its own.”

Detail of the Columbia Cardigan pocket demonstrates the distinct ribbed texture. Photo by Matt Graves

Faina’s Tips:

1. Watch someone working brioche slowly in your style of knitting. The movements are different for English-style and Continental-style knitters, which can get in the way of understanding what is going on.

2. Accept that one of the stitches looks like it has an extra strand of yarn. Think of this as one stitch.

3. Read your knitting and check it as you go.

4. Start with brioche in one color to get used to the rhythm and the look of stitches.

5. Once you are comfortable with one color, learn the additional steps for two-color brioche. Some are worked the same way in two-color and one-color brioche, making it a smaller leap to a colorful brioche.

6. Learn how to undo brioche one row at a time on a swatch in one-color brioche. It will save you a lot of time and tears.

7. Stay away from increases and decreases for the first project. Start with something with no shaping, such as a scarf.

Courtney’s Advice on Yarn:

“You want something bouncy and forgiving that will amplify the ‘squishiness’ of the stitch,” says Courtney, “a yarn with elasticity, like wool. I would stay away from 100% acrylic or plant fibers like cotton or linen. And I don’t think any kind of rayon is going to do you any favors.”

Brioche knitting is constantly evolving and finding its way into more garments and accessories, but it is also fun to go back to basics. Courtney’s cardi and Olga’s mitts are ready for you to start exploring!

— Karin

Resources

• Try your hand at brioche! Visit the Farm & Fiber Knits Library to find the patterns for the Columbia Cardigan and the Brooklyn Mitts.
• Read about the history—and revival—of Germantown yarns in the Fall 2025 issue of Farm & Fiber Knits.
• Learn about Faina Goberstein’s design process.

• Listen to and Courtney Kelley and Kate Gagnon Osborn of Kelbourne Woolens discuss the revival of Germantown and their other knitting adventures on the Long Thread Podcast.

• Marchant, Nancy. Knitting Brioche. Krause Craft, 2010.

• Miss Lambert. My Knitting Book. John Murray, 1843.
• Rutt, Richard. A History of Handknitting. Interweave Press, 1987.