Vintage sewing collectible are a relatively new addition to my collectibles. Hopefully some of the things I have learned will be useful for someone just getting started in collecting vintage sewing patterns. For me it’s been rather exciting learning about sewing notions, patterns, buttons, accessories, and some of the people who collect and sell them.
Collecting Vintage sewing patterns is the topic of this article, in particular, what to look for, and how to preserve what you find. My mother, Eunie Mae, left me with many of her handmade knickknacks, among them the vintage patters that got me started down the collecting trail. She enjoyed working with her hands putting together funny looking winter hats and scarves that would actually fend off the cold of a chilly San Francisco winter weather. She used present her handmade pieces of love as Christmas, or on birthday gifts.
Over the years I have watch sewing technology blossom way beyond the simple needle-N- thread sewing machine, my mother use to sew, stitch, and mend all-seven of her children’s clothing on. In fact modern day swing machines have been equipped with an electronic brain, that I personally feel can become impatient with beginners, leaving a newbie to swing (like me) longing for the good old simple days of the machine sewing.
You might say I have developed a real love and appreciation for the simplicity and efficiency of the past. Don’t get me wrong though, I appreciate modern day sewing technology too, and in some ways the fact that new sewing technology has contributed to making life, for those who love to sew, easier. When it comes to preserving sewing methods and techniques from long ago I’m an even bigger fan of sewing antiques, and somewhere near the top of my, sewing things from the past, list are vintage sewing patterns.
Vintage sewing patterns are still in demand even though the average price for patterns has gone up above the original .25 to .75 cents sewing pattern price, from days-of-old. There are still deals to be found at the garage and estate sales listed in the local newspaper. If you get lucky and come across someone, closing, or getting rid of their old sewing business or dress shop, the way one of my friends did, vintage sewing patterns can usually be found in those collections.
If you find yourself on the buying side of the vintage pattern equation make sure that the seller you’re dealing with has checked the pattern you’re about to spend your money on. Don’t want any unpleasant surprise once you get the pattern home, like missing pieces, or pieces that don’t belong to that pattern. Most vintage patterns prior to the early 50’s came with precut pieces. So don’t assume, or be afraid to ask questions. Make sure you’re getting what you think you’re offering your money for, (a complete pattern) or at least to be forewarned if a pattern piece is missing.
If you find yourself on the seller’s side, when it comes to vintage patterns, the most serious problem I’ve heard of so far in the collecting and selling vintage sewing patterns is summing up the courage to part with some of your collection. Especially if the pattern is one of the rare ones, like the old Hollywood patterns; one of the most popular Hollywood vintage sewing patterns is the Lucille Ball sewing patterns. I list some sources that will be helpful in determining the value of collectible patters, at the bottom of this post.
That way if you find one, or if you already have a truly vintage pattern in your collection of vintage patterns you’ll have a little help figuring out just how rare the vintage pattern you are holding on to is, and perhaps whether or not you actually have the last copy of that pattern in the known universe. You see, in my imagination, nothing would be worse than waking up in the middle of the night with a horrifying look on your face and screaming—NO! Into the camera (of course I dream in motion picture form) because I parted with a rare pattern, believing that I would replace it with another one day only to have my nightmare tell me I was wrong!
Okay that might be a little too dramatic, the idea I’m trying to get across is, if you’re on the collecting and selling side you might want to be a little careful about what you put up for sale from your collection. With collectible or vintage sewing pattern, condition of the pattern, is import. However, if a pattern you’re scoping out is in the rare category, say like an early-day-1930-1950’s Hollywood pattern variety, I might be inclined to be a little forgiving on the condition side. Of course that means you might not come away with the entire pattern, and since most patterns were not really meant to last forever, perhaps some missing, faded, or degraded pattern parts. On the other hand I think being able to add a truly vintage collectible pattern to your collection will make the problems listed above worth it.
If you’re the buyer vintage sewing patterns it also pays to have a few duck-in-a-row before you buy, hopefully you have weighed other factors, before you buy like, how trustworthy the seller is, and whether or not you feel like you’re getting a good deal. At the end of this article you will find some information on how to De-Acidify (remove the acid content from) vintage pattern paper.
Unlike patterns from Canada that came with the date stamped on them, making it easy to know what time period a pattern was from, the same was not true for all of the U.S. issued patterns. At one time all you needed to do to solve this problem was refer to the handy countertop pattern catalogs to bring yourself up to date about a vintage sewing pattern. While rare these days, vintage pattern catalogs still exist they are also a lot more expensive these days, just checkout what counter pattern catalogs are selling for on E-Bay. I still consider the store counter pattern catalog a tool for the vintage pattern collector, and something that could be worth its approximate weight in gold, to the vintage pattern collector.
Hollywood patterns were usually associated with a motion picture, which in turn could be associated with a specific year making the Hollywood vintage pattern relatively easy to determine an origination time. I’m sure there are other CSI methods for tracking down and determining the birth year of a particular pattern, I’ll share any others I learn about. Major collectible patterns like Marian Martin, Spadea, and Anne Adams were helpful when it came to establishing their pattern’s origination time period. These pattern makers used date stamping on the patterns they shipped in the U.S.
Maybe I should just think about collecting vintage counter pattern catalogs since they seem to be just as out-of-date as some of the old-fashioned patterns I’m keeping an eye open for. To me a lot of the fun in collecting is the education I usually get while researching or looking up information about a particular pattern; here’s hoping your collecting brings you the same learning and joy.
How to help preserve your vintage sewing pattern collection.
