Antique Pattern Library

A link was posted by Cynthia Quilici that sent me down a rabbithole of LOVELY old things!  
Antique Pattern Library
It's PDF scans of old books (most seem to be 1890-1925) about things like crochet patterns, and how to make lace, and wax flowers!! (Hey beekeepers, something neat to do with wax!) All KINDS of neat stuff!

I have a thing about hating to see old skills lost to modern tech, so I try to save things like this when I can. There are at least two generations that have lost not only most of these skills, but the concept they exist at all. The idea of "this is current fashion, I'll make one! Is SO much different than "this is current fashion, I'll go to the mall and buy one made in factory that looks like the other 8,652,386 that were made that month.

Come down this rabbithole, learn things, teach them to your kids, share the link around. This is WAY too cool to be lost to the modern madness.

A picture to be the thumbnail for this thread, a stained glass design from a random PDF on that site.

Old books & old maps are so much fun.

D/L'd the pdf files of the wax fruit & flowers. My pdf reader said there was a problem with the format & would not open them. Readable online though. Forwarded the link to some beekeepers with artistic talent.

Hm. I just checked the wax flowers PDF I downloaded, opened fine here, as read only, looks like this laptop runs Adobe Reader v 11.0.12
Pass them on! the world needs more pretty things!! :D

That is one HECKIN' HUGE rabbit hole! Wow! Thank you, Pearl!

Diving in - wheeeeeeee! Thank you Pearl for posting and R and Carla for bumping the post up!

Actually I had forgotten it too  :D
I checked in my files, oooh I have a lot of it downloaded!!

I also tend to pick up books like that at thrift stores, not as old as these, but 60s-70s crochet, knit, doily and etc craft books. There are lots of designs in those that you don't see on the net. The net is often an echo chamber, once a design gets around, everyone does that one, not something different, older, weirder, more complex.. I like more options.

So many options that differ from the usual generic images people seem to follow online.

This was definitely worth bumping up. Thank you Pearl.

Nooooooooooooooo! Me falling down the rabbit hole...

Judith Pi wrote:Nooooooooooooooo! Me falling down the rabbit hole...

Come down the rabbit hole, you KNOW you want to!

Pearl Sutton wrote:...The net is often an echo chamber, once a design gets around, everyone does that one, not something different, older, weirder, more complex.. I like more options.

This! If it isn't this month's style and colour, forget it.

This is what has turned the entire fashion industry into the worst source of pollution on the planet. I love it that when #2Son got married, he wore the suit his father had worn at our wedding 35 years earlier. That's *history* to me, but at least one person used the word, "retro."  At least they didn't accuse him of it being "out of style" - it looked gorgeous on him, and that's all I cared about.

With a pattern library available, people can take ideas and parts from one pattern, then a second pattern, then a third, then their own brains and imagination and come up with a one of a kind item which will still look wonderful 20 years down the road. I rearranged some needlework roses close to 40 years ago to fit the shape of a chair back and a cutout in a wooden chest. They both still look wonderful to me today.

Pearl Sutton wrote:A link was posted by Cynthia Quilici that sent me down a rabbithole of LOVELY old things!  
Antique Pattern Library
It's PDF scans of old books (most seem to be 1890-1925) about things like crochet patterns, and how to make lace, and wax flowers!! (Hey beekeepers, something neat to do with wax!) All KINDS of neat stuff!

I have a thing about hating to see old skills lost to modern tech, so I try to save things like this when I can. There are at least two generations that have lost not only most of these skills, but the concept they exist at all. The idea of "this is current fashion, I'll make one! Is SO much different than "this is current fashion, I'll go to the mall and buy one made in factory that looks like the other 8,652,386 that were made that month.

Come down this rabbithole, learn things, teach them to your kids, share the link around. This is WAY too cool to be lost to the modern madness.

A picture to be the thumbnail for this thread, a stained glass design from a random PDF on that site.

I also like to look for old schemes and instructions, sometimes there are unexpected and useful ideas that you will not find in modern books. I have tried to repeat such patterns for glass and noticed that the quality and attention to detail in old works is often higher than today. Thanks for the link, I will look at this archive, maybe take something for my projects.