One of my favourite tasks here at RHE Media is searching for interesting and relevant out-of-copyright titles to add to our Vintage Words of Wisdom list. However, sometimes the books we unearth are not suitable for ebook conversion, often because the illustrations are not of sufficient quality. This is the case with two titles I acquired recently – Needlework and Crafts by Irene Davison, Agnes M. Miall and R.K. & M.I.R. Polkinghorne and Stitch Patterns & Designs for Embroidery by Anne Brandon-Jones. Both of these titles contain a great deal of useful information on embroidery and other crafts. The contents of Needlework and Crafts includes everything from plain sewing and hand embroidery through dressmaking, mending, crochet and knitting, to crafts such as gesso-work, poker-work, leather work and basketry. Sadly, the illustrations are poor and don’t scan well, which is a shame.
On the upside, there was a nice surprise at the back of the Needlework and Crafts book – an envelope containing 10 gift transfers. These are iron-on transfers of a range of designs that were very popular in the 1920s. The designs are pretty, as you can see from the illustration above and the following example, which is the larger of the two transfers for the Lilac design seen on the cushion cover above.
On the upside, there was a nice surprise at the back of the Needlework and Crafts book – an envelope containing 10 gift transfers. These are iron-on transfers of a range of designs that were very popular in the 1920s. The designs are pretty, as you can see from the illustration above and the following example, which is the larger of the two transfers for the Lilac design seen on the cushion cover above.
Our aim with the Vintage Words of Wisdom titles is to make wise words from the past more widely available again as ebooks. Therefore, I have selected some useful and interesting content from Needlework and Crafts and Stitch Patterns & Designs for Embroidery, and added this to a section from our edition of Lillie London’s Needlework Book, to create a Vintage Needlework Gift Pack. The Gift Pack includes scans of some of the transfers I found at the back of Needlework and Crafts as well as the section of the book that relates to these transfers.
To request a copy of the free Gift Pack please register with us by completing the Registration Form and click on ‘Craft’ in the list of topics of interest. The Gift Pack PDF will be sent to you by email.
All those who register with us to receive the free Gift Pack will also be entered into a Free Prize Draw to win our office copy of Needlework and Crafts with the 10 iron-on transfers in the back. One lucky winner will be selected on 29th March 2015 (when British Summer Time begins and we can look forward to longer and warmer days). Register soon to be included in this free prize draw.
In the midst of winter gloom and post-Christmas, my thoughts turn to spring and to the next holiday, which is Easter. My family often come to me for lunch on Easter Sunday and there are gifts and an Easter Egg Hunt for the children. This year I am planning to revive a childhood craft skill, inspired by Project 77 and Lillie London Lesson on creating wool toys for children in our edition of Lillie London’s Needlework Book. When I was at primary school there was a craze for making wool pompoms by winding odd bits of multi-coloured wool around cardboard circles. It was a fad that was probably inspired by the children’s TV programme Blue Peter (I think Lesley Judd made Flumps using pompoms - which will mean nothing to our American readers) and we spent hours winding wool and experimenting with different effects by tying in a variety of colours at intervals during the wind.
I was therefore both amused and pleased to find that Lillie London had included a project in her book to create chicks and bunnies for children using these wool pompoms. It hadn’t occurred to me as a child to trim the pompoms into different shapes and use different sizes of pompom together to create animals. It will be fun to create Easter gifts using this technique and I have included the project and lesson from the book in the free Vintage Needlework Gift Pack so you can have a go too.
For a nostalgic indulgence, here is a link to some clips of children’s TV from the 1970s and 1980s, including Blue Peter. Sadly I couldn’t find a video of Lesley Judd making pompom Flumps but there are several episodes of Blue Peter from the 1970s on YouTube. http://www2.tv-ark.org.uk/childrens/bbc_a-l.html
To request a copy of the free Gift Pack please register with us by completing the Registration Form and click on ‘Craft’ in the list of topics of interest. The Gift Pack PDF will be sent to you by email.
All those who register with us to receive the free Gift Pack will also be entered into a Free Prize Draw to win our office copy of Needlework and Crafts with the 10 iron-on transfers in the back. One lucky winner will be selected on 29th March 2015 (when British Summer Time begins and we can look forward to longer and warmer days). Register soon to be included in this free prize draw.
In the midst of winter gloom and post-Christmas, my thoughts turn to spring and to the next holiday, which is Easter. My family often come to me for lunch on Easter Sunday and there are gifts and an Easter Egg Hunt for the children. This year I am planning to revive a childhood craft skill, inspired by Project 77 and Lillie London Lesson on creating wool toys for children in our edition of Lillie London’s Needlework Book. When I was at primary school there was a craze for making wool pompoms by winding odd bits of multi-coloured wool around cardboard circles. It was a fad that was probably inspired by the children’s TV programme Blue Peter (I think Lesley Judd made Flumps using pompoms - which will mean nothing to our American readers) and we spent hours winding wool and experimenting with different effects by tying in a variety of colours at intervals during the wind.
I was therefore both amused and pleased to find that Lillie London had included a project in her book to create chicks and bunnies for children using these wool pompoms. It hadn’t occurred to me as a child to trim the pompoms into different shapes and use different sizes of pompom together to create animals. It will be fun to create Easter gifts using this technique and I have included the project and lesson from the book in the free Vintage Needlework Gift Pack so you can have a go too.
For a nostalgic indulgence, here is a link to some clips of children’s TV from the 1970s and 1980s, including Blue Peter. Sadly I couldn’t find a video of Lesley Judd making pompom Flumps but there are several episodes of Blue Peter from the 1970s on YouTube. http://www2.tv-ark.org.uk/childrens/bbc_a-l.html
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