Vintage patterns and making

Redesigned Vintage Visage website

We just wanted you to know that we have redesigned our website and so it now is reponsive to whatever you are accessing it form- a pc, or a tablet or your phone- it will be clearer now to see all the patterns, many of which we will be offering as print outs by post as well as instant downloads. 

We are also offering downlaodable vintag eimages for your use- its a small collection at the moment but growing each week- you can use them for scrapbooking, jewellery and many other crafts too.

We also have our new vintage fashion postcards available as can be seen here- do pop over and see us and enjoy your browsing by taking a look at the differetn areas...theres lots to see to inspire you.

Find our website by clicking here

How to make a Downton Abbey era 1920s flapper style hat- sewing pattern

We have just listed 4 sets of sewing patterns for making stylish 1920s flapper hats.  Each pack has 2 different flapper hat patterns so they are very good value. We have included step by step instructions and full size paper pattern pieces to help you make these lovely hats. The pattern also includes the decorations on each hat. These are available through our Amazon and Ebay stores as they are not downloads, due to the actual paper pattern pieces being included.

They are deceptively simple to make and we think that each one could be made in an evening.....they are excellent for 1920s revival and re-enacting but also look very elegant today with modern fashions too.

Those of you who are following the TV drama Downton Abbey will see that the new series 4 is set in the early 1920s and the ladies are wearing styles very much like these...so this is your chance for a little Downton Abbey elegance and style.....

Here are the 4 sets of 2 hats available

2 lovely and slightly unusual shapes with floral decorations- click here

2 slightly more traditional flapper shapes with leaf and flower decorations - click here

A turn down brim and a turn up brim with decorations are in this pack- click here 

And finally 2 elegant deep crowned floral trimmed flapper hats- you can find these here-

All of these are really such fun to make- and here at Vintage Visage we take our patterns seriously and so you know that you can always reach us for email back up so that you can enjoy our patterns fully. 

Have fun- and enjoy making them

How to make fabric flowers from ribbons- vintage 1920s instructions

This is such a wonderful booklet which is crammed full of ideas of how to make  bows, rosettes and flowers from ribbons and pretty fabrics. It dates from the 1920s flapper era and will give you lots of inspiration for making pins, brooches, corsage as well as using the flowers to decorate hair bands, hats and clothing. 

These pretty flowers and rosettes would also be beautiful for bridal wear - they would look so sweet on hair decorations, veils and head dresses. Not to mention decorating little bags and capes too.

We have digitalised the booklet which has 48 pages crammed with illustrations and instructions of how to make all of these pretty flowers and so many more. You will also find fruits such as raisins and apples in there too.

There are roses, wild roses, rose buds, chrysanthemum, violets- and so many more. There are also ideas and instructions for making pleated and plaited trimmings.

Plus ideas for flowers made from chiffons and sheer fabrics too

There is so much in this ebooklet that you will have hours of fun making these wonderful flowers and trimming- find it on our Vintage Visage website here as a digitised pdf file 

 

Vintage 1920s,1930s fair isle jumper patterns pdf

Today we have digitalised these very pretty little fair isle design jumpers which date from the late 1920s, early 1930s. There are 2 designs with fair isle patterned bands and fair isle design collars with a 2 button neck detail. They are made with the usual yarn for fair isle at the time, which was a 2 ply shetland wool, and old size 8 and 10 needles- we give you the modern equivalent charts for needles in the pattern.

These have such pretty details such as a moss stitch waistband and collar band trim. Today they could be made in really soft merino or cashmere yarns and gorgeous colour schemes to make quite upmarket jumpers.

As you see, if you are looking for a period late 1920s, early 1930s look for a little girl for a TV drama or film then these will give you that look instantly. (add in the lovely bob hairstyle too though!)

They will fit aged around 8 and measure 28 and 26 around the chest, just to give you an idea of size. Of course, this will depend on your tension and if you decide to use a thicker yarn for a bigger size too- they would look lovely on grown ups too. You could even make them simpler by not shaping at the sleeves and having a more modern drop sleeve shoulder if you are more comfortable with sewing in straight sleeves .

We can imagine these in all sorts of really pretty pastel colours- pinks, lilacs, primrose, bluebell, soft turquioises - or with lots of leftover or odds and ends of yarn....the backgrounds could be pastel too, or the more normal grey, black , faun cream.....

Have fun making these-the patterns can be found on the Vintage Visage website and purchased as instant downloads. Click here to go straight there

 

1920s fabric flower corsages sewing pattern-Lady Crawley, Downton Abbey

You may be watching the new series of Downton Abbey TV series  which is set in the early 1920s. The series is full of lovely costumes and in the last programme it showed the ladies of the manor getting ready for the wedding of Lady Mary. We have already shown some patterns very much like the long lean dresses they were wearing- but did you see Lady Crawleys corsage and hat?

She had the most lovely fabric rose chiffon or organza flower as a corsage and the same flowers on her hat. Now can make your own beautiful fabric rose corsages from our instructions which are downloadable from the website (links below the pictures)

Now here at Vintage Visage we have mentioned how much we love sewing fabric flowers- they look so pretty and are useful as they use up lots of scraps of beautiful fabrics. We have a selection of very pretty genuine 1920s sewing instructions for these pretty flowers below. The first one, the wild rose, is very like Lady Crawleys corsage on Downton Abbey....

its so pretty- imagine lots of these set together on a hat too- gorgeous!

This one is smaller but still so pretty- its been made here with a spotty dotty fabric but you can of course use plain or printed fabrics- vintage floral fabrics would look lovely...

This one for instance is made from plaid or tartan fabric- you also get the instructions for the wonderful bunch of grapes too

These fabric flowers were made from black velvet for a very luxurious feel

And if you are looking for something pretty but slightly less fancy, then these little 1920s fruit and leaf clusters made from tiny scraps of silk would fit the bill nicely.

All of these could be made as gifts, or to sell- try presenting them on pretty cards for a cute touch.

As always, the patterns can be purchased and instantly downloaded from our Vintage Visage website by clicking here- it will take you straight to the correct page in a new window.

Downton Abbey era 1920s flapper dress easy sewing pattern

We watched the new series of Downton Abbey which started here last night and were pleased to see it enter the era of the early 1920s. Downton Abbey is such a popular programme and so we are sure that it will influence a lot of fashion and accessories. We are looking closely at the costumes featured as it is an era that we do very much like here at Vintage Visage.

The fashions of the 1920s (for the well off, admittedly) were lean and elegant. We searched around for some comparable patterns in our archives and came up with this lovely and very easy to make flapper dress diagram sewing pattern. Apparantly you can make this in one hour! 

We did see a rather elegant knitted long top worn by the actress penelope Wilton- it has a long sailor collar at the front with a bow, and we know we have a similar one in the archives somewhere so we will be looking for it asap!

We noticed that Lady Mary had a long lean look for her 'going away outfit'. We have found a similar look, not sewn but knitted, which is quite fun 

You can find the pattern for the flapper dress here by clicking here, and the pattern for the knitted suit here by clicking here. Both are pdf downloads so no waiting for the postman-Enjoy!

1920s flapper hat patterns

Here at Vintage Visage we love hats- and we love the roaring twenties when flappers started to make fashion waves and release women from the tyranny of corsets once and for all! (more about corsets soon in a future blog item- keep an eye out!)

So patterns for 1920s flapper hats are something we actively seek out- we have several to choose from for both women and little girls- all of which look very chic and make excellent gifts or items to sell. Take a look at the pics here and then follow the link at the bottom of the page to find the patterns on the website- all instantly downloadable and very reasonable prices 

This is a crocheted 1920s 'helmet hat' all the rage in the mid 1920s 

This is a flapper hat from the early 1920s which is the era  where the new season of  Downton Abbey is set. Expect to see the ladies of the manor in very chic hats like this one and the one below

This one below is lovely and easy to make, and has a plaited trim

The one below is striped- great for using small bits of left over yarns and is , unusually, knitted not crocheted....

All of these make wonderful items if you are in the business of making to sell- and these cute childrens hats below too- how could anyone resist these!

Hats can be made even prettier by adding embellishments such as crocheted or fabric flowers, ribbon bows and all sorts of beads, sequins and feathers......

Have fun making these hats- the patterns can be found here on the website

Vintage bridal garter patterns

We have a lovely range of really easy to make vintage bridal garter patterns. Some are sewn, some are crocheted and all can be enhanced even further with beads , crystals or sequins added. 

This one even has a tiny pocket for secret hidden goodies- 

With its lace trim its soo pretty- it was originally for a tiny compact so that the bride could retouch her make up but today it could hold all sorts of sweet (or saucy...) secrets.

Here at Vintage Visage we like to give you ideas for items to make for gifts of to sell- garters are a great item for both as you can use odds and ends of silks and laces from your workbox and so they do not have to cost a lot to make. Bridal garters are a huge market nowadays and you could sell them at gift fairs yourself or even get wedding planners and bridal wedding shops to stock your pretty garters. If they are pretty and you charge a reasonable price then they should sell.

These ones have tiny little flowers added- the instructions are given in the pattern-but you could also sew on ready made tiny flowers or butterflies too.

This one is crocheted with ribbon threaded through it- it could be made in whites and creams as a bridal garter, but also you could make it in bright sultry colours for the growing burlesque market too. If you enjoy burlesque, then you might like to crochet our bra brassiere and suspenders  pattern too!

You can find these patterns and more underwear items to make as instant downloads here

Vintage corsage and fabric flower patterns

Here at Vintage Visage we love making all types of flower corsages and pins. Today we are looking at some of the vintage sewing patterns on our website for corsages and fabric flowers, and soon we will look at knitted and crocheted flowers too. Check out our categories for those posts. 

These first flowers date from the 1940s wartime and were particularly designed to be made from little scraps of fabric as fabric was rationed at the time and in very short supply.

They are made from tiny little pieces- one of the lovely period things about this wartime pattern is that it states ' please do not write to us if you cannot get any felt. We are very sorry about it , but we are not a shop and cannot help you.Try something else instead-scraps of woollen materials or leather'

These next ones are from the 1920s- they are very pretty little bunches of flowers, again made from scraps of material- with added wire stamens and ribbbons

We have a second volume of 1920s flower patterns which also includes some fruits too

Fabric flowers are so useful- you can make them as corsages or pins or brooches, and as they use so little fabric are very economical to sell, and very wantable as gifts or to sell. Pop them onto a pretty card for a professional look. This one is from the 1950s and is part of a series of 1950s party patterns which we sell as one pattern- there is also a circular skirt, a smaller flower and a bag. 

This next photo is of one of our most popular patterns- this set of vintage flower patterns are so pretty and look so beautiful yet are quite easy to make once you understand the instructions and follow the process.

We always encourage our customers to have a bit of confidence and 'have a go'. Sometimes it is easy to think, 'oh, I couldn't do that' when in fact, once you have read the instructions carefully and take each step one at a time, its easy....the key is the one step at a time bit! We also offer a email service for any queries and try t get back to you as soon as we can so that you can get on with your project. We find this works very well, as we can very often see where a misunderstanding has occurred and set you back on the right track.

Fabric flower patterns on the website

If you are convinced that you are not a sewer but still love fabric flowers, then keep an eye out for our special packs of ready made fabric flowers which are left over from our making projects, as in the picture below, which are occasionally in the website supplies shop

Vintage knitting patterns for mens swimming trunks and bathing suits

We love the range of old vintage mens swimming trunks knitting patterns. We have lots of different versions from the one pieces of the 1920s and 30s (I guess nowadays they would be called a 'onesie')

to the more dashing trunks of the later 1930s, 1940s and 1950s

What we especially like are the photos which show dashing and well honed chaps in an array of knitted swimming trunks which, as we have stated in the former blog about womens and children's knitted swimming costumes, look  great for posing on the beach but may not stand up to inspection after they have actually been in the water...... Vintage knitted swimming trunks and beach shorts really need to have the tension pretty tight on the stitching as otherwise they can stretch as the wool can absorb the water and become heavy. But they can look fab- as can be seen by these pics 

All of these and more can be found on our website- heres the link

Vintage mens swimming trunk patterns

- have fun browsing!