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Mining my vintage craft and sewing pattern book collection resulted in this neat smocking tutorial find.  This wonderful tutorial explains how to prepare your fabric for smocking without the need of a smocking pleater or iron on transfers. In addition, there is an explanation of how to modify your pattern for smocking  and a diagram of several smocking stitches.  Loads of information in just a few short pages! Nice information on how to modify your pattern to allow for smocked gathers: How to create the gathers using your sewing machine: Information and diagram of a few smocking stitches: I love the can do attitude of this author.  She shows you how to tackle a project that looks complicated by breaking it down into manageable steps using tools you already have on hand.  The result?  An adorable little girl's dress.  And these techniques could be used on any article of clothing -- a special accent on a blouse  or on a lovely nightgown  f...

Well this is cool!  I'm a  featured Etsy seller  today on Pattern Marketplace!  What a wonderful thing to wake up to this morning! Please check out the site  here  where you'll find a fantastic group of shops featuring vintage patterns and supplies for the sewing and crafting enthusiasts. <a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/4616255/?claim=akg4uv88f7n">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

These adorable baby pillow filet crochet patterns come from a vintage 1920 pattern book devoted to baby and small children's clothing and accessories.  These lovely pillows would be beautiful in the nursery, maybe used for back support for mom in a rocking chair or as a boudoir pillow. Butterfly filet pattern: Duck filet pattern: Bunny rabbit filet pattern: Instructions for all three pillows: The lace edging for the duck pillow is at the bottom of this illustration: You could also adapt these patterns to other uses such as for a yoke to a pretty little dress -- the butterfly or roses would be so pretty for that.   And naturally, as with other filet crochet patterns, these images can be worked in cross stitch too.   Have fun stitching up something delightful with these beautiful vintage patterns!

Happy New Year everyone!  Every New Year brings with it renewed hope, dreams and ambitions.  One of my ambitions this year includes de-cluttering and what would be helpful in that department?  How about a fresh apron to keep my clothes clean!   Whatever your ambitions are this year, a nice, new apron is always a delight.  So today I'm sharing  a couple more lovely vintage apron patterns from the World War II era.   They come from a vintage sewing book and you will need to draft pattern pieces before you begin sewing. Previous sewing experience will be helpful when using these patterns and following the original directions. Utility Apron Instructions as they were originally printed: The pattern pieces (additional instructions for how to draft your pattern are found at the end of this post): Taffeta Party Apron Now, of course, after the hard work is done it's time to celebrate! And what better way to celebrate than to doll up in a new taffeta party apron...

Just a little show-and-tell today….. something I made for my favorite Eagle Scout, a memory quilt wall hanging or banner. The center fabric panel is a reprint of a Norman Rockwell painting that I just love.  To the right of it I stitched a tan panel to display his rank patches as he advanced.  Included is the Arrow of Light patch at the bottom that carried over from Webelos. The badges around the edges of the quilt are the badges that he earned while a Scout.  I left a little space on the upper left to add three additional badges that he's earned but not received quite yet. Also represented are his Conservation Award (the panda patch), the 100 year anniversary patch and a patch he got while hiking and camping at Philmont Scout Ranch this past summer. Accented with red and a scouty green, the quilt is backed with another Boy Scout themed fabric shown below. quilt back To finish the memory quilt wall hanging I stitched a tube to the back so that a dowel could be inserted an...

This morning I was browsing Pinterest (which is one of my favorite things to do!) and found a wonderful site for vintage embroidery patterns.  It's a Flickr site called Hoop Love Vintage Transfers and it's loaded with vintage transfer embroidery patterns!  You can find it  here .  It's a member site and you need to have a Flickr account but it's easy to join and worth it if embroidery is your thing. The site is specific to vintage patterns from companies that are no longer in business.  So patterns from Aunt Martha and Vogart are not allowed but there are so many -- over 7,600! -- patterns that are absolutely adorable.  Here is small a sampling:  You can see where my heart lies with these images, but there are so many patterns to choose from:  floral, folk, alphabets, cross stitch, borders and more! These patterns are perfect for baby blankets and clothes, bibs and aprons, tea towels, pillowcases and sheets, hankies, tablecloths and hot pads...

As promised, here is another great apron pattern from the same vintage World War II pattern book as the last pattern.  This pattern is a bit more challenging but the end result is worth it.  What a classic, lovely style! Previous sewing experience will be helpful when using this pattern and following the original directions. The instructions as originally printed: You will need to draft your pattern using the following scale.  Each square represents an inch. Back view of the finished apron: For additional helpful information, check my previous post. You can find it  here.   It includes information about how to scale your pattern and how to gather your fabric by machine.  I've got a couple more of these gems so check back soon!