Vintage patterns and making

How to make a knitted flower necklace- vintage 1940s flower knitting pattern

This is a 1940s vintage knitting pattern for a very sweet and deceptively easy to make knitted flower necklace. The pattern originated in the 1940s when every resource was scarce and every use possible was made of left over and scraps of yarn. 

The flowers are nice and easy to make and once you understand the process they can be made in all sorts of sizes and colours- you can make them as a necklace as shown here, or design your own necklace, or use them as pins and brooches.

You could also make them to decorate hats, bags and other clothing too- its a very versatile pattern.

You can find it here on our Vintage Visage website as a pdf download with lots more knitted and crochet jewellery patterns too

Vintage Flower loom patterns and yarn flower making part 2

We have sourced some more vintage patterns of how to use flower looms to produce not only individual flowers, but also items of clothing for both children and adults.

There are wonderful bags you can make, throws, cushions and a wide variety of the loomed flowers too

There are patterns for mini skirts with loomed flowers...

and for hippy style maxi skirts too.....

The throws and cushions are particularly pretty and would look fantastic with lots of colours used from your stash of left over yarns

All of these patterns are  a on CD- you can buy the CD from our Ebay store - if you click here it will take you straight there- enjoy making the cute little flowers- don't forget they look lovely as pins and brooches on their own too....

Flower loom patterns for making throws and pram covers

We have sourced and digitalised some more vintage patterns for using flowers made from flower looms.

In this pattern they are made and then crocheted into very simple shapes such as throws, afgans and pram covers. Very simple to make and illutrations f how tomake the flowers are given.

We note here at Vintage Visage that the colour schemes are very, what we might call, 'period' or 'vintage'. They use a very limited amount of colours and repeat those colours throughout the items. We think there is great scope for using either an even more limited palette- such as creams and whites and beiges for a very classic neutral look, or black and bright hot pink for example to make a striking throw! 

You could also use the granny square principle and use lots of odds and ends of yarn to make a multicoloured throw by making each flower a different colour! That would make a stunning throw or cover. We do recommend though that if you use lots of colours for the flowers that you use just onecolur such as a black, navy or cream to crochet the flowers together as it will give it just a slightly more unified look.

Enjoy! and as always with our blogs you can find the pattern on our website by clicking here which will take you straight there.

Don't forget that you can also make the individual flower to make pins, brooches and corsages, or make smaller items such as scarves by just crocheting 2 rows of flowers together in as much of a length as you wish.

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 

 

1940s flower corsages made from shoelaces

Today we have been digitalising items from the 1940s and came across these lovely flower corsages which  were made in the wartime 1940s. They were made from old shoe laces as in those days, women had to be inventive about what they could use to embellish and decorate their clothing. 

They decorated their clothing with pins and embellishment to really disguise the fact that they did not have a lot of items in their wardrobe!

Today you may be able to find a fair few spare laces as a lot of the youngsters take out the laces in their trainers and converses, either to add new coloured ones or just wear without them....(its not so many years ago that my daughter got told off for doing that by an older lady, who said she would get a 'claw toe' if she didn't tie her laces properly..... ....scary stuff but her feet seem normal today so it can't have been too bad!)

We have seen corsages made from lots of items, but this is the first time we have seen shoelaces used! I think we are all familiar now with flowers and corsages made from old zips, so maybe these will catch on as well....

here are the instructions

You could of course also add vintage buttons and beads into the centres....enjoy making these and have fun using up old laces....!

Vintage crochet flowers and corsage pattern for pins, embellishments etc

You probably already know that we love instructions to make all sorts of flowers here at Vintage Visage- and these beautiful crocheted flowers are no exception. These are not your usual little 2 or 3 row crochet flowers, these are a lot more fancy and out of the ordinary. yes, they may take a little longer to make but they will be worth the effort as they will look spectacular as pins, brooches, corsage or even bouquets if you are clever enough to put lots and lots together .....

This one has so many petals and looks wonderful in red- and you could also make it in lots of different shades of reds and pinks for the petals-  you could use up lots if left over yarns that way.....this daisy too is fabulous in white- wonderful for brides and wedding,- imagine these on a wedding veil or headress or in a crocheted bouquet..... and they could also be made in pastel colours, or bright colours like gerbera flowers too....

These pretty apple blossom flowers are so sweet and would look wonderful mixed in with the daisies.....I think I would be tempted to add some fragrance too - don't you just sense the lovely smell that apple blossom has.....little lavender or rose petal bags in with the flowers would be so lovely......

Why not use these to embellish hats and bags too? A cluster of apple blossom would look fantastic on a hat

and these carnations are so deceptively easy to make- you could tape them to wire stems, pop them is vases and have them as centre pieces for the wedding or dining table.....or on a napkin ring......

These carnations are rather fab too- personally I 'm not so keen on the yellow colour, but again they are so simple to make and you could have reds, russets, golds and oranges all together....or go pastel with softer colours altogether- lilacs,primrose, bluebell, shades could look lovely.....

As always , all of our patterns can be found on the Vintage Visage website- just click here to go there instantly.....

 

 

Vintage butterfly crochet patterns- for pins, embellishments, jewelry etc

This is one of our favourite vintage publications and we are pleased to let you know that we have now digitalised it and it is available on the website as an ebook.

Butterflies are such a pretty shape in design and colour, and there is so much that you can do with these beautiful little butterfly designs. The original book gives you designs for hats, gloves, light pulls, bedspreads, table decorations etc. All of which are lovely, especially if you after a vintage feel and look. However- we do think that these little beautys would look fantastic today as pins, brooches, hair decorations, in corsages ( in amongst a lot of crocheted flowers...), necklaces- bib necklaces would be fab- , and also to decorate accessories such as hats and bags, and clothes.....

Take a look at some of the pretty butterflies available to make below

This hat and gloves are so pretty and elegant- if the hat was made in whites and creams then it could look fantastic for a bride

We love this idea- lots of tiny wee butterflies made from lots of odds and ends of left over yarns and appliqued to a blouse. These could easily be made into pins or brooches- you could leave them nice and soft, and make lots of different colours and sizes from different thicknesses of yarns. You could also stiffen them with old fashioned starch or modern fabric stiffener- try also backing them with a stiff fabric with fusible interlining/bondaweb. You could use plain fabrics or lovely printed fabrics for a wonderful contrast.....very sellable!

Here is a selection of the butterflies in the ebooklet which have been appliqued onto a bedspread, net/organza curtains and a lampshade....if you ar elooking to make home decor items you could make lots of plain granny squares in plain colours and pop a pretty multicoloured crocheted butterfly on the top of each one.....

These little  chaps (or chapesses ) have been popped onto a doily for the table- but again could just as easily be popped onto bags or hats to give pretty embellishments

These are so pretty- they were originally meant to decorate the ends of light pulls but we think that they are so pretty that they should be found more places than that! How can you se these being used?....let us know your ideas.

As you can see, this is such a useful little ebook and its available on our website which you can get to by just clicking here (it will open in a new window) Enjoy and have fun making these wee beasties- but be careful- making them can be addictive!

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.

Vintage Flower loom patterns and yarn flower making

Very often people get mixed up with flowers made with yarn made on a flower loom, and crocheted flowers. They do look similar at times,and very often loomed flowers are crocheted together to make shawls or afgans or throws, but they are made very differently.

The petals on a crochet flower have to be crocheted or chained and so therefore have a structure, but  a flower loom the flowers are made by wrapping yarns around posts and then securing the yarns in the centre- which means that you can see and feel the soft texture of the yarn you are using. The loops of yarn become the petals and are lifted over the posts at the end of the making.

Loomed flowers can be used for all sorts of things- as said, they can be crocheted together to make lots of pretty items- see some of the photos below- or they can be used on their own or in bunches to embellish accessories such as hats, bags and clothes. They can also be used individually as pins or brooches, or massed together to make corsages or even bouquets!

Take a look here at some of the patterns that we here at vintage visage provide on one of our Vintage flower loom making CDs-

You can make flowers from all types of yarns and they are excellent for using up odds and ends and scraps of yarn- you can even use strips of fabric or we have even seen them made from strips of plastic carrier bags- so they are a great way to recycle or upcycle lots of things...

Here are some of the vintage patterns to make lovely items- there are cushions, shawls, and items to wear- enjoy!

We sell the vintage patterns and the flower looms on the website- and we also sell the big knitting looms- the round ones we we think would be great for making huge flowers form strips of material as well as knitting...what do you think? Find them all by clicking here

 

Vintage Crochet necklace and jewellery patterns

Here at Vintage Visage, one of our passions is using up left over odds and ends of yarns in innovative ways- we think that jewellery and necklaces are a great way to do just that. Each item takes just a few yards of yarn, they can be made in the same colours or lots of different colours- even stripes if you are using up tiny bits of yarn.

Don't forget about different textures of yarn as well as different colours- some of these pretty crochet flowers would be beautiful made up in whites and creams using mohairs, angoras, silks and wool yarns to give pretty contrasting textures. Image them used on brides headbands or as necklaces for weddings- so pretty- and as with an awful lot of our patterns and inspirations- so sellable  or great as gifts. 

If you are selling these for weddings or gifts, don't forget that presentation of your items can be just as important as the items themselves- just presenting them on plain coloured or even hand printed card with your name on can make such a difference as opposed to just having them loose on a table. Shops tend to like them well presented, so do try and add a little bit of prettiness to your presentation.

Here are some pictures of some of the crochet jewellery patterns we have on the website- as usual with all of our blog posts, the link directly to thes eon the website is at the bottom of the page after the last photo. Knitted jewellery patterns will be written about soon too.....

Enjoy the pictures- and have fun making these pretty little things....

These 2 necklaces are one of our most popular patterns- the one on the left s made of very easy to make tiny little flowers which can be used as seen, or made on their own as tiny brooches or hair clips. The one on the right is slightly more intricate and was originally made around tiny buttons to make the beads rigid. You could also make these in thicker yarns for bigger beads or again pins and brooches, and have them softer, or use bigger buttons to base then on....

This is such a cute necklace and dates form the wartime 1940s when there were lots of designs produced to help everyone use up the tiniest of scraps of yarn and embroidery thread. These are sweet little daisies and again could be used individually as pins or brooches. They are very simple to make, and if you make lots in very different bright colours , could be sewn together to make a lovely crocheted corsage too. If you make them in lots of different thicknesses and textures of yarn you can get very unique crochet necklaces and corsages too- 

This vintage crochet necklace pattern has bigger flowers and leaves than the others and is very trendy and fashionable today, even though it was designed over 70 years ago! If you look in the magazines and shops you will find lovely fabric and yarn 'bib' necklaces that are very similar- make these and you are 'on trend' for this season!

This one is made very simply and easily from thick yarns- imagine it with beads, crystals or sequins sewn onto it- suddenly it turns into a much more exotic piece of crochet jewellery which would look lovely.

This crochet necklace pattern so very pretty and again could be used for brides and weddings- its made from crochet motifs and so the motifs could also be made individually as hair or veil decorations and corsages-again- adding pearl buttons or beads could make it so very individual and unique too

Find all of these crochet necklace and jewellery patterns and many more here on the website

Have fun making them and enjoy using your odds and ends of yarn- we have more articles on using them coming soon....