Vintage patterns and making

Vintage handbag sewing patterns now available on kindle

We are adding to our range of patterns available on kindle all the time. Kindle is fast becoming a convenient way of storing lots of patterns at once- and is very handy to keep in your craft bag!

You may wonder how we can sell a sewing pattern on the kindle- well, of course we can't give you actual paper pattern pieces- but what we do give you are very very simple instructions of the shapes to cut for making our ingeniously simple yet stylish handbags.......

Here are a few available- the links to get you to the kindle store are at the bottom of each picture- just click and it will take you straight there......

This is a gathered 1940s clutch bag- very simple to make- find it here

Heres what the cover of all our patterns on kindle look like- this is a very sweet little petal trim bag- perfect for evening, bridal or flower girls.....find it here

And this is the stylish bandbox handbag-its great as it looks like a mini hat box...find it here

We have many more knitting and crochet patterns on kindle , as pdf downloads from the Vintage Visage website, pdfs via email from our Etsy shop and also as printouts in our Ebay shop 

 

Vintage 1940 flower loom patterns- hat, bag and vestee

Making flowers on a flower loom is a craft which is gaining in popularity. Many make the flowers as individual items and make pins, brooches and embellishments for decorating hats. We have even seen a bridal bouquet made form flower loom flowers!

However, you can also use lots of flowers and join them together to make bigger items. The usual way of doing this is to use crochet, but if you are an adept sewer or patchworker then you could use those methods too. You can make throws, shawls, bedspreads by just joining them together in stripes and squares, or you can use  chic  vintage 1940s patterns  such as the one below to make hats, bags and vestees

We think these are just wonderful- that handbag is so chic and would not look out of place with todays modern fashions. This does show a huge potential for flower loom flowers....as usual you can find this pattern and other flower loom patterns on the Vintage Visage website to purchase and download by clicking here

Vintage 1940s Hand bag crochet patterns

We  sourced a lovely selection of very chic crochet handbag patterns which date from the wartime 1940s. These use really interesting shapes, and are very simple to make. The key to some of these patterns is to add stiff lining so that the wonderful shapes are kept - you can use buckram or stiff interlining fused onto a crisp cotton or linen. You could of course use a vintage print on the fabric which would make the lining very pretty and unusual.

Take a look at some of these fab pictures of the bags, and imagine them made in modern yarns, textures and colours- you could make some in stripes- the semi circle would look wonderful in stripes of colour, and/or texture, and the ones made from motifs could be fantastic in a huge range of bright colours- a wonderful way to use left over yarns....

As always with our blogs, if you scroll down to the bottom of the page you will find a link to click to take you instantly to the downloadable patterns on the website. Have fun browsing the pictures first and imagining the yarns already in your stash that you are going to use to make them with......

This semi circle bag is so chic and wantable- it could be made in plain colours too- think of pale pastels or whites and creams.....

This 1940s clutch bag has a ripple effect in the pattern, which means  that if you change colour every row or couple of rows then you get a very pretty up and down ripple effect stripe....black, gray and white would be very chic, and lots of bright colours would be very boho and fun too.

This one is very easy to make- its just made from one simple motif repeated over and over again and then sewn together with sides and handles.Once you have made this one once, then you will easily be able to understand how to make similar shaped bags but ones bigger and smaller just by using more or less motifs....

Similar to make as the one above, but this time a different motif an bag shape- we like the idea somehow of this one made in autumnal colours such as golds, greens and rusts......

and another one made from motifs- we so love the angular shape of this one....

This one would make a great evening or daytime clutch bag- we love the shape and would you believe it is made in one piece only? We know some of you are reluctant sewers out there, and yes, we do understand that bad sewing up can make or break an item which you have so loving made- but this one we reckon you could get away without sewing by crocheting the sides together....just a thought!

This one too- we love the shape of this,its so cute and could be made for kiddies as well as for grown ups-

Another ripple worked crochet handbag pattern-you can see quite clearly the pretty undulating pattern- we think ripply stripes of black mohair inbetween black aran weight yarn would look fab for this one

heres another really chic yet simple bag to make- some of you we know worry about making handbags but these are ideal to try out whether you are a beginner or experienced as the will make great bags quite simply,e easily and uncomplicatedly! Actually, we are not even sure if 'uncomplicatedly' is an actual word, but it does go quite well in describing our attitude at Vintage Visage to making- we like to demystify vintage patterns as much as we can so that you can have a very positive making experience- remember- we offer an email backup service for all our patterns where we will answer any query you have. We are experienced tutors and so understand the worries and little mistakes that can crop up....

Find the 1940s crochet hand bag patterns here on our website- just click here and it will take you there direct by opening a new window....  there are several pages of them, more that we have shown here so do have fun browsing through....

Vintage 1940s handbag sewing patterns

A while back we found a rare publication dating from 1940s wartime Britain with the most wonderful selection of vintage diagram sewing patterns for  bags and handbags. Diagram patterns are wonderful for the modern world of instant downloads as ,rather than rely on actual paper pieces, the instructions give you a squared grid chart where every square represents an inch, and a very simple shape drawn inside. You can then draw a squared grid of one inch squares and draw that simple shape onto the grid, following where the drawn lines cross the squares lines and corners. I may have made it sound a bit complicated, but believe me, its actually very simple and very liberating when you realise how easy it is....

Some of the shapes that they ask you to cut are so simple that they merely give you the measurements of the squares, rectangles or triangles needed to make the bags....

Anyway- thats probably enough info for the introduction as you may want to see the lovely pictures of the bags that you could be making. As always, the link to the patterns to purchase and download are at the bottm of the page- enjoy!

Thi sis a really pretty little bag, so easy to make, with just instructions of how to cut out the simple shapes and no grid. We think that it would be really pretty made in silks, satins, vintage floral prints, layers of organzas sewn together and lots of other pretty fabrics. You could make the petals from a contrasting colour to the main part of the bag too. 

Made in creams and whites with beads, crystals and sequins , it would be really pretty for a bride and weddings.

This is a very chic 1940s roll top handbag sewing pattern- very simple to make yet very stylish as the bag top rolls down and is kept in place by the strap threaded through as in the picture. Imagine this made in jewel coloured taffetas or vintage floral prints or faux suedes and leathers......

This one is fun- its a handbag based on collar boxes- in the 'olden days', mens shirts had detatchable extemely stiff collars which were removed after wearing, and after cleaning were starched and kept in round collar boxes. Collar boxes are quite collectable now, and are often used as small storage boxes in bedrooms for jewellery etc. This one is very easy to make- has a stiff bottom with a soft drawstring top.

This is a good take on the ever popular tote bag. Its again very simple to make, and when you have followed the instructions once then you should be able to understand quite easily how to make it in different sizes. As you can see, theres a seam down the front and back in the centre, so you could use contrasting colurs or textures to make the bag really interesting  and wantable.

This is a vintage sewing pattern for a bandbox bag- you could also use this as a storage box or even a hat box if you make it the correct size for your hats!

This is one of our most popular 1940s handbag patterns- it is a softly gathered bag which was originally made form very soft suede but today could be made from silks and satins and lots of other pretty fabrics.

We love the potential of vintage sewing patterns- firstly we ladies can never have too many bags and handbags, secondly they can be made from small pieces of left over fabrics, thirdly, if made for others they do not have 'to fit sizes precisely ' like hats or clothes, and lastly they make excellent gifts or items to sell as they are wantable items......many people worry about making bags as they think that they must have solid handles or very specific methods to be successful- fear not, try these and you will be very surprised how successful they are when made up.

Find the patterns for these bags and more on the website by clicking here

Vintage Handbag Crochet Patterns

We have a wide selection of handbag and evening bag crochet patterns on the website. We like to source these as we find that we can never have too many handbags! There are tiny evening bags from the very early 1900s, and chic clutch bags from the wartime 1940s as well as many others.

One of the best things about bag patterns is that you can customise the bag to your own design- you might choose to make it in colours to match your outfits, or if you are making them to sell (many of our customers have their own successful  making microfirms- we also sell patterns to top name designers on both sides of the atlantic who come to us for inspiration....) you might make them in the fashion  shades of the season.

You can also make them from lots of bits over left over yarns in your stash- this semi circular 1940s bag for instance- if you make it in stripes then the stripes will be a very pretty semi circle shape....

Many of the bags would look great with added decorations such as crocheted or fabric flowers too

Imagine this one made when all the flowers are different jewel colours...yummy and wantable!

Vintage crochet handbag patterns

More blog posts coming soon about specific eras of bags and handbags....sewn, knitted and crochet....