For the love of knitting: unravelling the story of Bev Boag
Her jumpers appeared on TV and were sold around the world. One of famed Adelaide designer Liz Newman’s original knitters shares her own story from behind the scenes.
Bev Boag became interested in knitting as a teenager, having grown up wearing jumpers and cardigans her mum made.
It wasn’t until her thirties, with two children of her own, Stewart and Fiona, that Bev first heard of South Australian fashion designer Liz Newman.
The designer found fame in the 1980s with her iconic knitted jumpers, her remarkable legacy saved and recently on show at FABRIK during SALA Festival.
“There used to be a paper called The Messenger in Port Adelaide, delivered to everyone in that area. In there, there were classified ads,” Bev says.
“I rang up the phone number, and it was Liz. She said, “Would I be interested in knitting for her, and could we meet?”
Bev agreed to go to the Twin Street building to look at some patterns.
The shop, reached by a staircase in a side lane, was like stepping into Alice in Wonderland. Its interior featured floor-to-ceiling shelves stocked with high-quality pure wool in “every colour imaginable.”
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Liz’s bright, bubbly personality felt like meeting a friend, and from there, Bev began working.
Back at home, her life was less than ideal. Bev lived in emergency housing on a widow’s pension and supported her kids.
“There won’t be any photos from back then. Money was so tight that you wouldn’t even [have] had a camera,” her daughter-in-law, Yolanda Boag, says.
“It’s a sad situation, but she’s strong, and got through it.”
Bev’s perseverance shone in her creations — she never missed the 21-day turnaround and enjoyed the challenge.
The ‘bat wing’ styles stood out, with wide, deep-set armholes tapering to narrow cuffs. While other employees hated knitting this piece, Bev asked to make them.
“You had to be really focused because the stitches and things would change row by row. And if you weren’t paying attention and you lost your spot, you’d have to unravel them and start again,” Yolanda says.
During her career, Bev’s knitting went where she did — to her children’s gymnastics classes, her mum’s house, and even while out for a coffee.
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She was a “huge surprise” to discover that one of her jumpers had made its TV debut in a 1987 sitcom “Hey Dad…!”, worn by the character Betty Wilson.
“She found out when it was on air… and was tickled pink!” Yolanda says.
Her accomplishments only grew, with Princess Dianna and Olivia Newton-John wearing her knitted creations.
“Liz was very particular and asked Bev to do these jumpers and many of the international orders because of her attention to detail and work quality,” she says.
Bev wears it as an honour, and she offers high praise for Liz’s creativity, entrepreneurship and friendliness.
Now in her eighties, she still enjoys knitting and contributes to a local community centre project by making blankets for premature babies.
“What I’m doing at the moment, I’m just knitting eight-inch squares, and they’re all in different vivid colours,” Bev says.
“I take them over to the local area where I drop them off, and they sew them into blankets.”
Looking back, after all this time, Bev’s motivation for her life’s work — knitting — remains simple: “I love doing it.”
Read more about the remarkable designer Liz Newman who opened her first store, Mod Image, on King William Road in 1980 in SALife.
Newman won global recognition with her designs worn by Jacki MacDonald (Hey Hey! It’s Saturday), performer Rhonda Burchmore and comedian Garry McDonald.
High-profile international customers included American country singer John Denver and his wife Cassandra, and Olympic ice-skating stars Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean.
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