Vintage Embroidery & Craft Goodies

Over the years, I've built up a nice stash of vintage craft books and magazines. I have a very hard time resisting them when I find them at garage sales and estate sales. I also have a severe weakness for vintage embroidery, crewel and cross-stitch kits and pieces. I've been meaning to share them here on the blog, and was even more motivated after a visit from Diane and Kristin a couple of weeks ago. Having a great stash of vintage craft magazines is fun and all, but it's fun times ten when you get to sit with some of you best crafty pals and read through them together.

Diane already posted about some of the needlework magazines, so I thought I'd share a couple of posts about a particularly awesome book of embroidery transfers I picked up at an estate sale, as well as some other vintage needlework magazines and some of the vintage stationery I've collected as well. Let's kick it off with the embroidery book, shall we?

My daughter actually found this book for me while we were at an estate sale recently. Initially, I almost didn't even thumb through it. It's a thick book of embroidery transfers, but the cover was a little too country kitchen for my taste, and I figured everything inside would be the same. I'm so glad I decided to actually look through it, because while there is a healthy dose of country geese inside, there are also dozens of kooky and cool designs.

The book is called the Keepsake Transfer Collection and boasts more than 1,000 iron on designs. And they aren't kidding - there are loads of great, unique images in this book - not just repeats of things that are slightly modified. You can find it on Amazon used here.

Here are some of my favorites from the book. You can see more over on my Flickr set.

There's a whole lot of win on this page. Giraffe on roller skates? Yes, please! I also love the wacky guy who serves as the test transfer.

 

Some designs are highly complex, while others are charmingly simple. I love this little popsicle dude.

The book is from the mid-80s (wait, can it still classify as "vintage?") so you know there are unicorns.

What up, bunny with a boom box!? Wait ... what's he doing with his other paw there ... ehhhnnn ...

I love this hot-air-balloon-that's-really-a-gumball-machine.

Who can resist this crafty basket? (or that wee raccoon above it)

There are a lot of kooky food designs in this book. Because everyone wants to embroider sardines ...

... and hot dogs with relish.

After copious amounts of country kitchen designs, the book wraps up with pages and pages of really lovely floral designs that would be beautiful if worked in crewel or punch needle. I'm so glad my daughter convinced me to look through this book. In the end, I think I got it for less than a dollar, and have found it hugely inspiring and fun to flip through. I haven't tried ironing on any of the designs yet, but I have used my light box to transfer one and use it for punch needle embroidery (something I'll be sharing soon). Go grab a copy off Amazon and enjoy for yourself. You can also see a few more samples of the designs over on my Flickr set. More vintage craft/embroidery finds soon!

Crafty finds from Portland: Stop 1 - Knitten Kitten

It may have been more than two weeks ago, but I promise, the report on my crafty day with Diane is worth the wait. If you are going to do a crafty day in Portland, you want to do it with Diane. And if you aren't lucky enough to score her as your guide, don't fret. Just pick up a copy of the current issue of Craft magazine, and you can see her report on the crafty highlights of PDX. You can even get a peek at how she put together a comprehensive crafty Google map of Portland. She knows her stuff, and I couldn't have asked for a better, or more fun, tour guide.


We started out with bagels and tea near the Central Library. We chatted non-stop (actually, we did that all day!) and were smiley to the point of being annoying. We also exchanged some crafty gifts.

Here's an awesome bag Diane made for me. It's a partial picture, because - honestly - it's wrinkled from overuse on my part. See that flower fabric there? That's Diane's own design. Yep! I got some of her Spoonflower stash! I was so excited to see it in person, and recognized it instantly. So special. I was blown away by her tiny stitches that secured some adorable ric rac on the outside of the bag, and one of my favorite details of the piece is that she actually added ric rac to the edge of the pocket inside. It's little details like that that make me happy as all get out.

The pin cushion is one of her fantastic steel wool/needle sharpening creations. I can't wait to use it.

Next, we headed off to the Knitten Kitten. I've had Knitten Kitten on my radar since last year's visit to Portland. I tried to go there, and it was closed. I was so disappointed, and knew that if I didn't do anything else on my crafty tour of Portland, I *had* to hit the Knitten Kitten.

Knitten Kitten combines all my favorite things: it's a vintage craft supply thrift store. Those are some of my favorite words. I know that trips to thrift stores of any kind can be hit or miss, so I tried not to get my hopes up. It didn't matter, though, because the Kitten delivered in a big way and exceeded all my expectations. Here's what I found:

Fabric - a lot of these are just scraps, but I don't care. They are scraps of happiness.




I also found a beautiful embroidered table cloth in the "vintage linens" room. I liked it because it uses black in the design, and with most floral embroidered table cloths I've seen, there isn't much black. I lucked out and found four matching napkins in the vintage hankie basket. Score!

The napkins and tablecloth have the sweetest little edging detail.


I also grabbed this hilarious book:

See that big blue one in back? He's actually hollow so you can set him on your bed and use him to hide your PJs. Awww yeah ....

The other big score at Knitten Kitten was vintage embroidery transfers. I'm going to put those up in a separate post - they deserve it. If you are heading to Portland, or are anywhere near Portland, be sure to stop by the Knitten Kitten. It's clean, well-organized and totally worth the trip. Thanks, Diane, for taking me there. :)

Next up: the Embroidery Finds (including one that had me jumping up and down), a Japanese Craft Book Utopia, and Twisted, a fantastic, cozy place that's way more than just a yarn store.

I'd also like to give a huge shout out to some awesome Austin crafters who sent along some of their goods as a special gift for Diane. Diane has already done a great post about her gift, so I'll direct you to her web site to see the beautiful things they sent along.