Vintage patterns and making

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 1940s utility apron sewing patterns

Here at Vintage Visage we love patterns which show us how to use up scraps and odds and ends of fabrics. The wartime 1940s are such a great source of designs for exactly that! These 1940s utility aprons were designed to fulfil 2 functions- number one they used up scraps of material which was so precious during the wartime years, and number 2,  the aprons themselves were worm to protect the day to day clothing underneath. If you were wearing an apron, chances were that your clothing underneath wold not get dirty or stained and so would last longer.....and in some cases would need washing less times than we might do today for our clothing...don't forget, detergent wasn't easy to get either. The stripey one at the end we offer as a free pattern- please read on for how to receive it

This first apron is so lovely- we love the tag line underneath were it says- 'for britain s unsung heroes' 

Its one of our most popular patterns- and here is one that one of our customers made from recycled duvet covers

With the pretty addition of the lace at the bust line, its good enough to wear on its own as a dress.

We also have these aprons patterns from the same era- made from scraps too

This is a lovely classic 1940s apron with a frill

This is a very simple shape and made with tiny crazy patchwork pieces- we also have a pretty waisted apron (or pinafore -pinny for short- as they are sometimes called) with stripes

As with all our patterns- they are deceptively easy to make and we also offer a full email backup service for all you beginners out there who might be a bit nervous! You can find these apron patterns and more by clicking here to purchase and download- however, we do offer the stripey one as a free pattern- just leave a comment and we will send it to your email address as a pdf- enjoy!

Free Vintage 1940s 2 colour snood crochet pattern

This is a such a pretty snood which dates from the 1940s wartime - its really what we in the UK would call a half snood as it covers only the bottom part of the hair, and has a band to keep it in place whereas a full snood starts much further up on the head. This is perfect for wedding though as it can be worn beneath a hat or short veil- especially if you are having a vintage wedding, or wearing a white silk top hat......its a free pattern as a gift from us for reading our blog and visiting our website- enjoy!

The instructions were originally in USA crochet terms- but for our UK users, please note that a sc here is a dc for you, and a dc here is a treble for you- its quite simple to translate once you realise that!

It was originally made in red and white- which is quite bright- so you might like to make it in creams and whites, or in autumnal colours to match your autumn outfits.....

The hooks used are equivalent to a 1.5mm (no 7 steel) or a 1mm ( no 9 steel) so your yarn needs to be quite thin to make this snood- thin enough to work with these size hooks (unless you are a very experienced crocheter, in which case you may be able to work out the pattern for a thicker yarn by using less stitches.) Enjoy!

MATERIALS:

American Thread Company "Sillateen Sansil" or yarn to fit a 1.5mm and 1mm hook

6 60-yd Balls Red

2 60-yd Balls White

1/2 yd of round Elastic

Steel Crochet Hook 7 and 9

INSTRUCTIONS:

With 7 hook and Red thread, chain 14 inches and work 1sc in 12 st from hook, *ch 7, skip 4 sts of ch, 1 sc in next st, repeat from * to end of row, (ch 10 to turn each row).

ROW 2: 2 sc over the 7 ch loop, * ch 7, 2 sc over next 7 ch loop, repeat from * to end of row.

Repeat the 2nd row for the entire snood, working 5 rows Red, 6 rows White, 5 rows Red, 6 rows White, 20 rows Red, 6 rows White, 5 rows Red, 6 rows White, 5 rows Red, without breaking thread, ch 4, sc over 7 ch loop * ch 4, sc over next 7 ch loop, repeat from * to end of row. Break thread.

HEAD BAND:

With 2 strands of Red and 7 hook, ch 19, 3 dc in 4th st from hook, * skip 2 sts of ch, sc in next st, ch 3, skip 2 sts of ch, 4 dc in next st, repeat from * once. Skip 2 sts of ch, sc in next st.

ROW 2: Ch 3, turn, 3 dc in same space with ch 3, skip 3 dc of shell, sc in last dc of shell, ch 3, 4 dc in sc between shells, skip 3 dc of shell, sc in last dc of shell, ch 3, 4 dc in sc between shells, skip 3 dc of last shell, sc in the ch 3, repeat 2nd row until work measures about 15 inches, break thread

ROSETTES:

With single thread of Red and #9 hook, ch 4, join and work 15 dc in ring.

ROW 2: Ch 5, sc in first dc, * ch 5, sc in next dc, repeat from * all around.

ROW 3: * Ch 9, sc in next 5 ch loop, ch 9, sc in same loop, ch 9, sc in same loop, repeat from * all around.

ROW 4: Work same as 3rd row, then work 1 row of 9 ch loops even. Break thread.

TO MAKE SNOOD:

Sew elastic together at ends. Join 2 strands of Red in first row of snood over the ch 4 between the sc. Working over the elastic, work 6 sc over each 4 ch loop of first row. Continue over last row in same manner, break thread. Gather both sides to about 1 inch from top, sew head band in position and sew Rosettes to head band.

 

Have fun making this- and find more vintage snood patterns on our website by clicking here

Free eco friendly wartime 1940s crochet shopping bag pattern

This is a picture of the pattern that Vintage Visage give away as a free gift to all of our purchasers  and visitors to our website to show them how our patterns are written , and what they look like, so that you can asses the quality of our patterns. Not only does it have the written pattern, but it gives you needles size and hook size comparison charts too for USA, UK and vintage sizes. It also gives you the comparison/translation from USA crochet terms to UK crochet terms-. Theres only a small difference, but if you are not familiar with it then it can make your crochet a nightmare! Basically, the stitches are exactly the same, its just the names that are different. Where the USA start with a 'single' crochet and move up to a double , then a treble etc, the UK terms start with a 'double' - not calling it a 'single'-, then move to a treble then a long treble etc.

Its actually much simpler and very easy to understand when you see the chart!

We like to give this one away as not only is it a lovely bag with a great history, being from the wartime 1940s, but also increasingly today we are all very eco conscious and so we feel that this is our little contribution by reducing the use of plastic bags for shopping. Make these for yourself and your friends, and lets really reduce the scourge of the landfill and plastic bags!

Find it on the front page of our website here-click here and then click go on the free pattern square on the right hand side about halfway down and you will see it instantly appear....

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vintage 1940s hat sewing patterns

Here at Vintage Visage we have lots of wonderful vintage 1940s wartime sewing patterns to make all sorts of chic hats- from half hats, to jellybag hats, to bow hats and sewn snood hats.

Our patterns come in a diagram form which means that you can instantly download them from our website after payment. A diagram means that we do not provide the actual sized pattern pieces, but give you a very simple diagram with measurements which you can then easily transfer onto newspaper or A4 paper taped together. They are very simple to do, and just in case you are new to diagrams, or a little nervous, we always offer a full email backup service from the website so that you can contact us with any queries. We have tutored for many years, and so are used to helping our learners.

Anyway- enough writing for now- I am sure you would rather see the wonderful pics of the chic hats that we offer- keep scrolling down for the free draped hat pattern at the end.....

This is a really simple, and deceptively easy to make double bow hat- to give a contemporary twist we think that you could make it in 2 types of printed fabrics for a fun bright look, or 2 tyes of cream fabrics for a more bridal look too. The possibilities are quite open for experimentation with bits of left over fabrics with this one.

This hat is fabulously chic with a wonderful sculpted hat and a matching muff. 

This one is based on the old 'jelly bags' which were used to make jelly desserts by straining in the 1940s. Its is again very simple to cut ut and make, and can be worn 2 ways as seen here

Bonnets were popular too- this one could be worn with the brim back or forward- and could also be decorated with ribbons, fabric flowers made from scraps, and beads and brooches.....

All of these hats are easily made and work very well for reenactments of the 1940s wartime era, or to make with a contemporary twist for todays fashion market. Here at Vintage Visage we sell not only to sewers who wish to recreate period looks, but also to well known designers on both sides of the atlantic who use vintage patterns as inspiration for their new collections.

This 1940s draped hat is so very chic- and so easy to use that we are giving you the instructions as one of our free giveaways........

See?- its very easy- we weren't exaggerating! We thik that if you lined this with stiff iron on interlining then it would tie beautifully, and enable ou to use all sorts of lovely fabrics, silks, vintage prints etc....

Find our other hat patterns on the website here... 

 

Enjoy!- and send us some pictures when you have made them.....x