New Embroidery with Vintage Patterns - May

Hello and a big wave to all my fellow stitchers!  I am so honored to be a part of Feeling Stitchy! Toward the end of each month, I'll be writing a re-cap post to showcase some of the beautiful stitcheries being done by the members in the New Embroidery with Vintage Patterns (NEwVP) group on Flickr. Specifically, I'll be sharing the stitcheries from our themed monthly stitch-alongs -- for the month of May we had 4 different themes to choose from!

• Theme 1:  May 25 is National Tap Dance Day! How fun is that?! So find vintage embroidery patterns with a dance theme! 
• Theme 2:  May is National BBQ month! Vintage patterns related to BBQ and grilling out, you could even stretch this theme to incorporate the idea of picnics ;)  
• Theme 3:  May is National Salad month! Vintage patterns related to salads and veggies, and again, you could stretch this theme to incorporate the idea of picnics ;) 
• Theme 4:  May means flowers! Vintage patterns with a floral theme. Please note, the pattern does not have to be 100% flowers, any vintage pattern that happens to have flowers as part of the design would be just fine.

It's hard to put into words, but one of the reasons I like to stitch up vintage embroidery patterns is because I feel a connection to previous stitchers from bygone eras.  And like any piece of ephemera, to have an original vintage embroidery pattern (preferably uncut and in its original envelope) is to have a tiny piece of needlecraft history.  I feel many of the vintage embroidery patterns give us a glimpse into what life was like during the time they were in-print.  (Click here to read a great article online that gives an overview of vintage embroidery transfers.)  I love that there are modern stitchers giving new life to these old patterns!  Plus many vintage patterns are kitschy and humorous or too-cute not to stitch up!  Like my contribution below!  I could not resist stitching up this cute winking kitty, a vintage Kate Marchbanks pattern shared by Flickr member, barncat1.

 


Mom Walds Place, the founder of the NEwVP group, stitched up this beautiful daisy which is part of a bag she made to store her crochet tools.  This pattern was shared by Flickr member, Embroiderist, and is an antique pattern by Briggs.

Cherry & Cinnamon, a first time stitch-along participant, stitched up this Lily of the Valley.  This pattern was found in the Hoop Love group and was shared by Flickr member mmaammbr.  

♥Kimberly♥, another first time stitch-along participant, stitched up this cute kitty toting groceries. ♥Kimberly♥ says it is a vintage Aunt Martha pattern, #3733 Kitten Motifs.




Both Oneplaidaunt and Pammy0026 found the perfect patterns that combined two of our themes -- veggies and dancing -- and stitched them up on tea towels.  Oneplaidaunt chose this pattern from Vogart's "Joyous Jive Set" #260. The original text in the pattern said "Vegetable Walz," but Oneplaidaunt changed the words to  "Everybody Dance Now!"




Pammy0226, a first-time stitch along participant, found this pattern, shared by mmaammbr, in the Hoop Love pool.  mmaammbr simply has the pattern classified as "Design 598b."  Pammy0026 added some fun crayon tinting and a ruffle to her tea towel!  Check-out those lights that are illuminating the stage that the lettuce and tomato are dancing on!   




Please stop by and visit the NEwVP group on Flickr!  There are so many other embroideries to see as our members continue to make new stitcheries with vintage embroidery patterns that are unrelated to our monthly stitch alongs. The details for our June stitch-along will be posted no later than Tuesday, May 29 and I hope many of you will join our group and stitch along with us! If you are like me and don't have a lot of original, vintage embroidery patterns in your stash, don't worry, there are some amazingly generous stitchy people that have shared copyright-free, vintage patterns in the Hoop Love Vintage Transfers group on Flickr.

In addition to our regular monthly stitch-along, our Flickr group will be hosting a contest beginning Wednesday, June 20th with prizes (yay!) donated by the following individuals and companies: Colonial Patterns, Vicki from PatternBee, Emily from The Floss Box, Sublime Stitching, and DMC!  So please check back in with the NEwVP group for all the details on the contest!  This information will also be published here on feelingstitchy at a later date too!