Free 1920's redwork or line art embroidery patterns Part 2

Part 2 :  Drawing the patterns

One of the easiest ways to achieve success with these vintage pictures is to use the picture itself as a basis for your line art.  So, as you saw in part one, you first take a picture of the desired design, using the macro setting on your camera.  This allows you to use even the tiniest of catalog pictures.  And even if they are on quite dark newsprint, you can play a few tricks.  

In this first pic, you can see how I chose to outline  with a very dark ink pen, the very most basic lines, and then, since these were printed on very dark newsprint, I also needed to lighten the pics up.  This is the same pic, lightened.

 

 

And here, you can see the final result.  Unfortunately, I kind of messed up a bit on the final line drawing, & I will redo it later, but for the sake of this post, it stays as is. ;-D

And here are the rest of the patterns for these hats.  If you copy them or use them, please link back to me, & please, I am not charging you to get them, don't you be selling the patterns to others. ;-D

 

 

1920's & 1930's Redwork, or Turkey Red Work Part 1

Part 1 ~ Obtaining the images

If you have ever tried to search for quality, vintage & free embroidery images online ~ truly vintage, you know just how difficult it can be!
Ok, so these aren't actual redwork from the 1920's & 30's, because I couldn't find any that suited my taste exactly  ~  these are my own pictures from my collections of vintage catalogs & magazines, that you can copy & adapt for redwork.  In part 2 of this series, I will show you how to do this. (If you do copy these out or share them, pinterest, etc., please link back to me or mention my blog URL ~ I'd appreciate the courtesy.)


Here is how I did it.  First, I went through my catalogs & photographed in macro the images I thought would adapt well & that interested me ~ then I downloaded them to my computer, printed them out, and did the linework from there.  If you want them  in different sizes, just copy & paste the images to your own computer, print them, and take them to a print shop, where they can adjust the image size accordingly.

 In this post, I will show you a few of the images that I copied. (I actually took over 500 pics, so naturally, I won't be posting them all!) ;-D

I just love the innocence & purity of these old drawings! This selection will make an adorable quilt, wall hanging, or even ~ when sized down ~ really cute motifs for little felt cases or ipad covers or the like.  (Which is what I intend to do with them.)

Here is one where the work is almost done for you.  All that is required id a bit more simplifying, and voila! ~ you have your redwork outline pattern.

As to rest of these pics, a little more effort is required.  As you can see, the pics are a bit grainy when taken in such close proximity & macro-ed.  The original size of the pics are less than 1/2" high!

But, who could resist such adorable little works of art, especially when they look so much like my own daughters! 

 

These little black & white baby bonnets were also quite tiny to begin with, but they were almost a whole inch high, so you can see how that improved the quality of the pic.  However, in many cases, the old newsprint they were on was quite dark.  I suppose, however, that coming from original 1927 & 1932 catalogs, they have all survived remarkably well!

In part two of this series, I will show you the line drawings produced from each of these.  Again, I think a redwork quilt done in either the older girls hats or these precious baby bonnet heads would just be the cutest!  Can you see the colors? for the baby bonnets ~ dark brown binding, with baby pink squares, all handwork done in matching dark brown on top of baby pink, with pink satin rosettes in the bottom right hand corner.  Or, to be very vintage, either pink handwork sewn on blue background, or blue handwork sewn on pink background.

And for the older girl heads ~ wouldn't they just be adorable on bright orange, pink, green, yellow, etc, background fabrics, with all handwork done in black?

By the way, I also took several pics from my vintage catalogs of various fabrics available at the time  which show true vintage prints & colors, & I will post this in part three, along with a finished piece of work for an example.

Some New Felties ~ Soft Toys ~ Sewing Kits, plus RedWork or Turkey Red work

ok! new obsession ~ (Along with the felties, of course!)  I started looking around for some cool 1920's & 30's line art, to be converted into redwork (which is just simple stitch embroidery done in red thread, or blue, or black or green..... but they call it redwork) to add to my felt creations and I suddenly realized something ~ I have all the resources necessary to create MY OWN ~ hahahahahah. Yes, I know, it should not have come as a surprise, and yet it did. So, my next blog entry will probably be a few cute nursery line-art templates for redwork. In the mean time ~ Here are a few pics of a few things I have been working on.

This little "doll" is actually a little sewing kit!

 

 

This pattern is one that I modified from a 1980's Japanese Ondori felt crafting book. 

I just filled it with a few dollar-store sewing kit items as well as some quality needles. 

 

And this little Peacock purse is also a sewing kit, from the same vintage Ondori book, & again, modified.

 

This peacock kit is made of the cheaper eco-friendly felt, whilst the Kimono Doll is made from vintage wool felt.  One of these days, I am going to invest in one of those massive wool felt bundles ~ but it's difficult to admit to oneself that you just dropped $87 on a box of felt squares...(especially when the cheapo-kind is for 37c ea sq.).... so I haven't done it yet.  I guess we'll see how the peacock holds up against the doll,  & purchase accordingly.  If it seems to make a huge difference, it will be worth springing for.

 

I've also been busy with theTabatha Naomi Books ~

 

I truly love her books ~ if you are a felty freak, you might just love them too ~ so I will provide a link so that you can see them as well.  Tabatha Naomi ~ if you google her name (Tabatha Naomi or Naomi Tabatha, either way works) you will get a list of her books.

 

Hello friend!

I wish I had a piece of lettuce!

Frolicking & gamboling about the phone.  Yes, these are perfect key-ring size.

I just love this little boy doll ~ I am going to make three more of him in different colors & use them for ornaments.  He is only 5" from the top of his pompon to his little buns.

 

On a side note, this little boy & his big sister doll are both out of the vintage wool felt.  Yes, I know what you are thinking ~ (Clearly there is a difference already in using the cheapo plastic-y felt as opposed to using the nicer wool felt, you made the dolls, which will be used & abused out of the tougher, better quality wool felt.... so why don't you just go ahead & BUY the wool felt bundle?  Do it ~ SPLURGE ~ clearly it's worth it!!)  Hmm, you may be right, I may be wrong, I just may be lunatic you're talking to.... but I am a cheap (no, PRACTICAL!!!) lunatic, you see.  Alas, you have a point.

Of course, you WOULD justify my splurge, afterall, you are reading this blog, & therefore are very likely as badly addicted to craftiness as I am.  ;-D

This hand-stitched felt doll is actually 2 different patterns meshed ~ I have other clothes cut out for her, but I haven't finished them yet.

 

Still missing her hairbow ~ Did you know that Doll hair via embroidery thread is somewhat tedious?  I also glued down each strand, so that it would stay put, but left the ends free so that they can be braided or put in ponytails or whatever.  And I'm not entirely thrilled with her bangs ~ they aren't long enough, but I don't want to re-do them at this point ~ call me lazy. 

 

Ok, next entry, will be my line-art for redwork ~ which I think I could mesh nicely with my little felty fetish.