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I Heart Vintage Patterns

June 15, 2011 By Spoonful of Sugar - 27 Comments

I love vintage sewing patterns and inherited a stack from my Nan, who was an avid sewer. She made some of my most favourite childhood outfits, and made my kids a lot of track suits to play in when they were toddlers.  I have framed a few of her patterns and they are on display in our sewing/craft room (as shown here and here).

Today I scanned a few of the patterns and then printed them out on cardstock to make some cards. They will be the  perfect cards to have in my stash! Now I just have to come up with some sewing related verses to add on the inside. Any ideas?

These cards will go perfectly with gifts wrapped in pattern tissue.

Filed Under: Crafts, Miscellaneous Tagged With: card making

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Comments

  1. Dmarie says

    June 15, 2011 at 6:15 am

    I heart them too! thanks for the blast from the past!

    Reply
  2. Nancy-Jane says

    June 15, 2011 at 6:25 am

    I LOVE this idea! I am a new card maker and also a sewist and quilter among many other hobbies. I, too, love vintage patterns and have a few from my grandmother. I wish we would have thought to save all of them. She made many an outfit for me and my siblings growing up. I just Googled “sewing poems” and came up with this one:

    http://www.quotegarden.com/needlework.html

    There are also quite a few other websites to check out.
    Happy crafting!

    Reply
  3. shez says

    June 15, 2011 at 6:52 am

    what a fantastic idea Lisa i love it and its great for the environment,recycling,well done

    Reply
  4. nest full of eggs says

    June 15, 2011 at 6:57 am

    “Thank you sew much!”

    Reply
  5. NeverBored says

    June 15, 2011 at 6:59 am

    Love the idea! Thanks for the inspiration!

    Reply
  6. suzitee says

    June 15, 2011 at 7:01 am

    Have a look at the Stampin Up Autumn mini-catalogue… 😉

    Reply
  7. Lisa says

    June 15, 2011 at 8:07 am

    I have a couple sewing sayings I love:

    1. Live Life Simply
    Eat, Sleep, Stitch

    2. Princess of Perpetual Projects

    3. I got a sewing Machine for my husband! Good trade, Huh!!

    4. Keep Calm and Sew Stuff

    5. You Sew girl!

    Lisa

    Reply
  8. Nancy says

    June 15, 2011 at 8:27 am

    Those patterns look fantastic! I really like the one with the yellow dress.

    Nancy

    Reply
  9. Anne Heidi says

    June 15, 2011 at 11:04 am

    What a great way to use those wonderful vintage patterns! The cards are adorable!

    Reply
  10. Anita says

    June 15, 2011 at 1:06 pm

    What a great idea. Here are some of my favorite sewing quotes.

    Hem your blessings with thankfulness so they don’t unravel. ~Author Unknown
    Memories are stitched with love. ~Author Unknown
    Chains do not hold a marriage together. It is threads, hundreds of tiny threads which sew people together through the years. ~Simone Signoret
    Love is the thread that binds us. ~Author Unknown

    Reply
  11. Bela says

    June 15, 2011 at 2:30 pm

    They are so beaautiful, Lisa! I love this idea and your story too!
    Much love!!
    Bela

    Reply
  12. Leanne says

    June 15, 2011 at 4:11 pm

    As always another lovely idea.

    Reply
  13. Fiona says

    June 15, 2011 at 5:17 pm

    A wonderful idea – Thanks. Here are some of my favourites :-

    “A home is built of peace and love … and not of wood and stone, A place where happiness lives and memories are sewn”

    “Love Sews a Bond that time can never tear”

    “A family stitched together with love seldom unravels”

    Hugs – Fee X

    Reply
  14. Katie says

    June 15, 2011 at 6:27 pm

    What a great idea!!!

    Reply
  15. Happy Cottage Quilter says

    June 15, 2011 at 7:17 pm

    I think this is a fabulous idea!

    Reply
  16. Taylor Made says

    June 16, 2011 at 3:58 am

    Such a lovely idea thanks for sharing it.

    Reply
  17. Happy in red says

    June 16, 2011 at 4:34 am

    I love these! I love those drawings more than anything! Same as those old ‘Vogue’ covers, so great!
    Esther.

    Reply
  18. Beth says

    June 16, 2011 at 8:05 am

    This a such a great idea! And, it gives a reason to send a handwritten card in the mail.

    Reply
  19. mamas kram says

    June 16, 2011 at 11:05 am

    I love vintage patterns too! I have decorated my craftroom with some of them… Great idea to make some cards out of them!
    Warm hugs from Switzerland
    Doris

    Reply
  20. Talin's Corner says

    June 16, 2011 at 2:00 pm

    Very clever. Several months ago, I cleaned out my sewing room and threw out all my old patterns. Now I wish I had saved them.

    Reply
  21. Janellybelly says

    June 17, 2011 at 1:08 am

    Another clever idea – I especially love the hairstyles of the models!

    Reply
  22. Kelly G says

    June 17, 2011 at 3:58 am

    Hi Lisa & Sarah.

    I know I am only one follower of your many – but I just wanted to say how I find your blog so inspirational. Lisa you have inspired to start sewing again and Sarah those yummies that you make all my family love you for.

    That is why I have decided to award you both with the Irresistibly Sweet Blog Award – you both deserve it.

    Please hop over to my blog – http://kelskaszazzkaleidoscope.blogspot.com/ to see what you have to do. I am not trying to rouse up more followers – I’m just trying to give you both a little blog love for a job well done. Hugs Kel

    Reply
  23. Paola says

    June 17, 2011 at 9:57 pm

    I understand, now that I have some of my granmother stuff for sewing I´m doing some projects to use them and share with my family

    Reply
  24. Kris says

    June 18, 2011 at 3:19 am

    Vintage patterns can transport you to another time! I was at my local Salvos this week thumbing through their patterns when I discovered one my Mum had many years ago!

    Reply
  25. Katherine says

    June 18, 2011 at 9:50 am

    Clever! I adore vintage patterns and just happen to have some passed on from my great-grandmother. This would be a wonderful way to share their beauty.

    Reply
  26. Jodi says

    June 19, 2016 at 8:40 am

    Do you think there’s any issues with copyright with scanning? I’ve been fussy cutting images to use in cards but it would be good to scan some to use over and over.

    Reply
    • A Spoonful of Sugar says

      June 19, 2016 at 12:00 pm

      Hi Jodi – You have raised an interesting point. I did scan a couple of old patterns to use in greeting cards for my friends (for personal use not for sale) as shown in this old post. I have just looked up Australian copyright law
      http://www.copyright.org.au/acc_prod/ACC/Information_Sheets/Sewing___Knitting_Patterns.aspx
      and it looks like the artwork would be copyrighted for 70 years so my patterns are not old enough yet to reproduce. So I would imagine scanning them for your own personal use would most likely be acceptable, however if you are selling your cards, it would be best to use really old patterns from the early 1900’s.
      I love my vintage patterns 🙂

      Reply

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