Learn a New Old Skill

May 17, 2010 1:15 PM

Do you like vintage needlework? The Antique Pattern Library is a collection of scanned craft books that are in the public domain. They contain patterns for crochet, knitting, tatting, netting, embroidery, needle lace, beading, and other crafts. See also Home Work, a Choice Collection of Useful Designs for the Crochet and Knitting Needle, and Beeton's Book of Needlework. If vintage instructions aren't your thing, try lace edgings from 1846 updated for the modern knitter.
posted by bewilderbeast (12 comments total)

This post is like an old-timey Ravelry. Love it!
posted by piratebowling at 2:24 PM on May 17, 2010

This is great! Thanks!
posted by TooFewShoes at 2:25 PM on May 17, 2010

all the pdf files (from the Library) seem to be password-protected. Just me?
posted by kalimac at 2:26 PM on May 17, 2010

I can't open the PDFs either. I get a message that Adobe can't decrypt them.
posted by interplanetjanet at 2:29 PM on May 17, 2010

Do you like vintage needlework?

Only on octogenarian junkies.
posted by ZenMasterThis at 2:33 PM on May 17, 2010

I can open the Library PDFs in Preview and Acrobat Reader, but not in the browser.
posted by cjorgensen at 2:39 PM on May 17, 2010

385 pages, huh? It's gonna take me a while to work through this! Pretty cool - thanks for posting it bewiderbeast!
posted by garnetgirl at 3:08 PM on May 17, 2010

OK, I figured it out. They have the PDFs encrypted so you can only open them with the newest (9 or over) version of Reader. So I upgraded and now it works.

Come on they're public domain documents. Why is it necessary lock them down like that?

My complaint over with, I'm loving the antique patterns.
posted by interplanetjanet at 4:41 PM on May 17, 2010

I have to say, I love the formatting on display in the second (and some of the subsequent) patterns in this American Red Cross file. The column based stitch counts for the different sizes seems much, much clearer and easier to track than the way patterns are commonly written now.
posted by jacquilynne at 4:52 PM on May 17, 2010

Fascinating. The instructions for "single crotchet" in the 1848 "Winter Gift for Ladies" book read like instructions for slip stitch. I think. I must read more of these, they're great.
posted by asperity at 9:05 PM on May 17, 2010

Needlework isn't my thing but their pointer to this weaving resource makes my day.
posted by rdr at 11:13 PM on May 17, 2010

Oh my gosh there's just so much! What to choose first?!
posted by mosessis at 5:44 AM on May 18, 2010