Lately I Love: 1930's Embroidered Ladies

Something I've been completely enamored with as of late, are these adorable embroidered and often hand-tinted or appliqued ladies.

Recently, I was at an antique shop and saw some lovely embroidered and embellished pillows with faces or silhouettes of beautiful ladies on them. I have always enjoyed sketching female faces and portraits. Add that to my love of embroidery and you have extreme inspiration! I have started one of my own, which is pictured first.

I wanted to my girl to be very elegant with an element of flora or nature. Her soft green headband has a small bouquet of lilies-of-the-valley and violets. I also made her be a redhead, of course.

Whether they are depicted as Southern Belles in a garden, a flapper with her modern bobbed hair and expressive face, or a mademoiselle of the late 18th century, I absolutely adore them. Here are some photos for inspiration.

These photos are from Pinterest, see this board for more

amazing embroidery featuring these delicate dames.

I hope embroidering becomes a favorite pastime again.
Things always come and go, old trends resurface, so I think this would too.

Ivy

SWEETHEART SALE!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Check out the

Sweetheart Sale at

Ruby & Mathilda on Etsy

Vintage Patterns: To Tape or Not to Tape

I wonder, when you see old sewing patterns that have tears and are dangling in pieces like a well-loved rag doll, do you wish they had been taped to prevent further wear? Or should they be left alone, kept pure, even if it means an unusable pattern?

As an owner of an Etsy shop, selling vintage patterns, in rough shape or not, I am not sure what to do when it comes to this issue. What do you prefer? Personally, I don't mind them being taped if it means saving a pattern from a DIY project or trash bin. But there are some tape jobs that are quite repulsive, however. I believe, if done tastefully, taping should happen.

Recently, when checking over patterns for completeness, I came across a pattern for a beachy ensemble. This pattern's envelope had the front detached from the back, with numerous rips, one being on the cover, starting from the top left to down right, about 3" long, about a third of the pattern. When looking at the pattern pieces, one of the shorts pieces had been folded and pinned together, not neatly mind you, and upon unpinning, I discovered that this shorts piece had been ripped across the hip, from one end to the other. Like a rogue amputation.

There is a bit of the tape coming through here, but has lost its stick.

From that point on, I decided to pull the pattern from my possible inventory, grabbed my iron and some tape (Most will advise you to use acid free tape, to prevent the yellowing that comes from most household tape), and began trying to perform pattern CPR. I also got the envelope carefully taped back together from the inside. The rips are still visible on the outside, but are secured from behind to prevent any more wear.

So, have you struggled with this or had this predicament? Please share your thoughts.

Ivy