19th century craft books

There are some old craft books to be found among Project Gutenberg free ebooks. Unfortunately, most of these are available without images, so one could practice a lot of blind knitting, for example, and wait for the surprise outcome.
Here are a couple of books that have many inspiring pictures along with instructions, though.




Beeton's Book of Needlework by Isabella Beeton, 1870

This book contains patterns for tatting, crochet, knitting, netting, embroidery, point lace, guipure d'art, Berlin work, monograms, initials and names, pillow lace, and lace stitches. And 600 engraved illustrations.




The knitting chapter looks very interesting. Some patterns, e.g. this knitted neckerchief(!) in black Shetland wool, have been added to Ravelry and the project notes can be very helpful for working the shawl.




Another lovely example, a knitted border with pleats:





Cycling and Shooting Knickerbocker Stockings by H. P. Ryder, 1896



The stockings are worked in ribbing for the most part and decorated with fancy tops. There are many options to choose from for making the top and the stitch patterns come with photos.

Antique finds from the closet

My great aunt was making an inventory in the closets and I asked her, if there were any old needlework pieces survived that were handmade by the women of our family. And here are the results.

This round framed cross stitch flower picture was made by my great grandma in the 1930s. Just love the colour scheme.






The blue and white decorative kitchen towel is also embroidered and crocheted by my great grandmother, probably in the 1920s or 1930s.




The oval shaped lizard doily was embroidered by the sister of my great grandfather possibly around 1900, when she was in her twenties. Pure art nouveau!

Knitwear trends from the thirties

There is a 'new' magazine issue in my library: Eesti Naine (Estonian Woman) from January 1933. This is the oldest monthly women's magazine of Estonia, published almost continuously since 1924.
There are articles, essays and poetry in the magazine, but about a half of the contents is dedicated to home, fashion and crafts.

These lovely fitted and draped dresses are only a few examples from the collection of 60 outfits in the issue. There was no pattern sheet included, but anyone could order sewing patterns by mail, made to fit exactly to their size. Just send in your measurements and the money: 20-50 cents plus delivery costs 10 cents per pattern. Add a sketch, if you'd rather have a pattern for something that was not in the magazine. This system is probably not working anymore...







For knitting, there are some interesting designs, like this lace sweater in two colours:




Colourful striped sports sweater with matching scarf and hat:




Wool sweater to be knitted using two different stitch patterns or colours:



The schematics for this sweater looks like this (measurements in centimeters), that and the two explaining text sentences is all the pattern includes:




Crochet vest variations for him and for her with schematics (no stitch pattern, seam neckline and armholes with a single crochet row):






There was also an article about washing woollen garments that might contain some useful evergreen tips for us today:

How to wash a wool sweater without colour bleeds
To determine if a knitted garment is colourfast, wet a part of it in an unnoticeable place with cold water and then squeeze with white towel. When towel gets coloured, it is recommendable to only dry clean the garment. However, with care it can be washed at home as well.



Wet the sweater in cool rainwater, take it out and press out water. Then put the sweater quickly into cool soap foam and squeeze throughout. Use as many quick soap water baths as necessary to clean the sweater - until foam will not disappear.
Rinse in soft cool water. Add vinegar to the last rinse to fasten the colours. Squeeze dry and lay flat on a towel or sheet.



Drying is the most important part, garments get ruined mostly while drying. Insert clean towels in the pockets, under the sleeves and between front and back parts of the sweater. Roll it and press water firmly into the towel. Remove the wet towels, add new dry ones, and repeat the rolling for two more times.



Then lay the sweater flat and let dry on a new dry towel on a table or bed. It will dry fast now and excess water cannot make the colours bleed along the fibres. Do not dry in a too hot place like next to stove, that will make the sweater shrink. Do not hang the garment, as the water will flow to the bottom and make the colours bleed on the edges; besides, it will not dry evenly. When dry, the sweater can be ironed with cool temperatures.

Old craft book finds online

I discovered recently that the Book Depository offers many digitised old books as free downloads, among those some about arts and crafts. Here is a short overview of my favourite finds.



The Ladies' Work-book
Patterns for knitting, crochet, point-lace, etc.




Point collar in crochet:




Crochet purse with beads:





The Lady’s Album of Fancy Work for 1850,
'consisting of novel, elegant, and useful designs in knitting, netting, crochet, braiding, and embroidery with clear and explicit directions for working the patterns.'

Knitting bags and fingerless gloves were already discovered:





The Art of Modern Lace-Making, 1891
History and techniques for making various types of lace, for example, a darned-net edging with overwrought stitch:





Art in Needlework: A Book About Embroidery, 1900
Many illustrations and embroidery stitch examples.

Darning designed by William Morris:




Embroidered renaissance ornament:





Handbook of Wool Knitting and Crochet, 1918
Knitting and crochet patterns for the entire family.




This pattern for ladies' gloves with fancy backs is certainly worth trying out someday:

What women crafted 107 years ago

Came across an antique German craft magazin called Frauen-Fleiss (Women's Diligence) from 1904 and I just have to share some of those fabulous art nouveau style designs and patterns.
It appears to be a tabloid size magazine on four pages, published quarterly since 1893, possibly a supplement of some newspaper.



Bin seit kurzem in den Besitz einer alten Handarbeitszeitung "Frauen-Fleiß" von 1904 bekommen und einfach muß einige von diesen wunderbaren Handarbeiten im Jugendstil vorstellen.
Diese Zeitung auf vier Seiten wurde offensichtlich seit 1893 von Verlag John Henry Schwerin veröffentlicht, möglicherweise als eine Beilage zu irgendeiner größeren Zeitung.

Die Zeitung hat insgesamt 53 Anleitungen, meistens für Stickereien, Näh- und Häkelarbeiten, aber ebenso für einen Behälter für Postkarten in "modernem Kerbschnitt" und für einen Palmenkübel als Tiefbrand-Modellierarbeit.
Es gab noch einen Extra-Bogen mit Musterzeichnungen für größeren Arbeiten, den mußte man von der Redaktion zusätzlich kaufen.


There are 53 instructions for sewing, embroidery, crochet and other needlework, but also for a wooden postcard storage box and a decorated flower pot to be made of clay.













This last crochet lace edging seemed the easiest piece in the collection and the pattern quite understandable to my surprise, so this is my small sample with one motif:



Not sure, if everything turned out the way it was supposed to, but it looks art nouveau enough to me. The only thing missing now is a dress on where to sew it.