My parents have been clearing out the loft before they move house, and my Mum had vaguely mentioned a box of embroidery transfers. Turns out that the box is about the size of a ream of paper, and crammed absolutely full!
Most of the transfers are from the 1930s and 1940s, with a few from the early 50s including a lovely set of Coronation designs for brooches. The earliest dated one I found was from 1915! Most of the transfers aren’t dated, but the majority of them have a company name and a number. Others have the name of a magazine and an issue number, so it should be relatively easy to track them down and date them properly.
There are lots of different crinoline ladies, as you might expect, ranging from the delightfully simple to the impressively large and complicated!
There are also patterns for cross stitch, broderie anglaise and cutwork. Plenty of floral designs, mostly for dressing table sets or chair backs. Lots of designs for brooches too, which surprised me. I hadn’t seen those in any of my 1930s & 40s sewing books, so I wasn’t expecting them. I quite fancy making some now though.
At first I thought the kiwi (the bird, not the fruit) was the most unexpected design, but on reflection I think that award might have to go to the chicken with the soda syphon…
Who knew that chickens could have so much fun at a cocktail party?!
I have some vague plans for using the transfers to actually embroider things, and I also have plans to scan them so that I can use the designs without destroying the originals. A couple of people have suggested that I sell the copies, but I’d need to double check the copyright situation. I do want to research them first though, to date them properly, and to put all the matching transfers together. Once I have a bit of Spare Time, I can feel a lovely project coming on.
Those are fantastic! What treasures.
I haven’t got any designs for brooches either – might they have been a wartime thing, and so not as fashionable either side of the make-do-and-mend era?
ooh, my Nan had one of the Crinoline lady designs on a set of china, it only came out on Sundays, high days and holidays. What a great discovery.
You’re such a museum person! ” research them, date them and put the matching transfers together”… (smiles to self knowingly) As if you could ever doubt that you’ve found your vocation. 🙂
How wonderful! In sorting through some things today I came across some pre-printed dish towels I embroidered as a kid–and I remember the transfers,too–nothing as wonderfully dizzy as the chicken with the soda siphon, though–they were probably meant for cocktail napkins:). That design would inspire me to ditch the paper ones.:)
Thought you might like to know the party chickens are from Needle Woman and Needlecraft, Pattern No. 53.
Oh, that’s brilliant, thank you Vickie!