I recently bought some vintage patterns that I would like to sew. (Not the bell bottoms I mentioned in another post.) Some of them I purchased w/ full intention of making the garment. Others are just for the collection, which is enormous. The Q is, should I cut them? Seems vintage uncut patterns can be valuable, and I feel guilty cutting a pattern that has survived for so many yrs uncut. I am thinking of tracing the patterns, though I have never bothered w. this before. Advice on this dilemma?
I received several vintage patterns from a friend. She had cut them for her children and they had been in her stash. I recently decided to reuse one for my DD...had to cut it down. I guess, my feeling is if it is something that you would actually wear, why not cut it? Or you could always tape tissue paper together and trace over the pattern pieces, thus keeping the pattern intact yet giving you workable pieces.
If you bought the patterns with the intention of sewing then sew, that is my opinion. If you think there is the remotest possibility the pattern may appreciate (and there is no promise that it will), go back and purchase another to keep in your stash for future. One quick look on eBay will show there is no rhyme or reason to sewing pattern prices, vintage or otherwise, and why put yourself through all the trouble of finding work around solutions for some thing you do not even know has a market?
Speaking of vintage patterns, have bags full, some from "Past Patterns", many from when Vogue Patterns was running "buy one get one free" offers. All sit unused and uncut, really should sort them out.
I have no problem w/ the ones that are already cut. I'm actually happy about the ones that are cut, b/c it removes the question of "cut or not?". I might do some tracing though.
All good points. I have watched some patterns on ebay. Some are ridiculously priced to begin w/, hence my desire to draft my own bell bottom pattern out of a modern pattern I can get for $1 at Joanne's. I will probably cut some of them unless *I* decide I want the pattern for my collection in new condition.
Trace! They won't fit straight out of the packet anyway, and will need to be altered, so you might as well trace. Then you still have the original to go back to should you need to. I do this all the time when using vintage patterns.
I have found over the years most patterns do not fit "straight out of the envelope" anyway, so most of mine are traced off on doctor's examing table paper. I asked the nurse about the ends of rolls of it, and she gave me one and I've gotten several since, all for free(mind you the doctor's fees are not free). It is stronger than tissue paper and afterwards, I fold and keep in a manila envelope with the directions. Sometimes, I scan & copy the pattern envelope to glue on the manila, but often I just mark the name of co. & number on it. They are stored in a file cabinet drawer where I have them sorted by name of co., then by adult or children. Emily
You might want to do a bit of research on ephemera collections. I never cut vintage patterns because they are already delicate and yes, they have a value if properly maintained. And, of course, that's the problem with all ephemera. I trace mine off, carefully refold them, and store them in zippered polypropylene bags with the pattern envelope. Pattern sizing has changed a great deal so they almost always have to be altered anyway.
I've found my sliding glass door to be the best light box ever for tracing a pattern. You can hang the entire piece on a flat surface and then tape whatever you are tracing on over the top. The window is flat and smooth and you don't have to move anything while you are working on a piece. I've even used the window at night by placing the floor lamp outside to throw light through the pattern pieces. Works great!
I use either the exam table paper or the Swedish tracing paper that has a grid printed on it and is sort of like medium weight interfacing stuff. Be careful what you use to trace. Some felt marker ink NEVER dry and can cause problems later. Some papers have a wax or silicone on them so whatever you are using can rub off........this usually only happens if you are sewing something white and not washable.
I use tracing paper ("canary yellow") that comes on a large roll and trace the pattern off freehand using indelible pens (they don't bleed thru canary yellow). That is the standard tracing paper used in every architectural and engineering office and it come in various widths from
12" to 36". It's cheap and makes a decent pattern paper. I often do it right on my gridded cutting table mat so I also can make any necessary alterations. Flatten out the pattern piece or carefully press it with a warm iron and then tear off a length of tracing paper, cover the pattern piece, and secure it with small pieces of drafting tape (not masking or scotch tape which will adhere too much). You can use a straightedge for straight lines.
Sometimes. Sometimes I use a miniature tracing wheel called a "roulette". Sometimes I use a high-quality ball-point pen that is absolutely positootly empty. Sometimes I use a stylus left over from when the Bikeabout was typed on stencils. Sometimes I grab a knitting needle. Sometimes I use a #2 pencil. Sometimes I trace around the pattern and mark dashes outside the cutting line, to use later with a ruler. If I'm duplicating a pattern I've used a lot, there will be holes -- sometimes cut, sometimes worn -- where the interior marks are.
Way back when, I used a lot of "copysets". Whenever I spoiled one, I peeled off the almost-untouched sheet of carbon paper and threw it back into the box. I'm still using those to copy my patterns. They were meant for a single use, but for sewing, the only limitation on the life of a sheet is that eventually it gets rumpled.
(laughing) I had forgotten about copysets... They used to come in all sorts of colours.... You are more brave than I .. I would fear getting that carbon on the fabric, and not being able to get it all back out..
The things we used to go through to get multiple copies.... I found a box of unused mimeograph sheets a few days ago (left over from who knows how many years ago when I used to mimeograph nursing exams..) ... But the really frightening fact is that this box has survived many a house move..
The kind I'm speaking of came only in black. The paper came in white or yellow. The carbon is a very thin coat on tissue paper, and the marks don't rub off any more than pencil marks do.
"All sorts of colors" sounds like ditto masters -- like a copyset in construction, but thick high-quality paper and a carbon with a thick layer of color. I don't recall seeing any black, but I think it existed. Only the purple would give you a reasonable run. I remember using blue and red when I made ditto masters for the covers for the school paper.
(An honor I earned by being lousy at typing: the teacher assigned me a page with almost no typing on it. The school paper was part of the lessons then; the content was generated under the supervision of various teachers (or, in the case of reports on the first six grades, by the teachers) and the second-year typing class laid it out and copied it on office machines.) (We also addressed a bunch of envelopes for the school board once. A valuable lesson: we had been taught to use "R.D." as an abbreviation for "Rural Route" -- but the recipients of the letters would have thought that an insulting typo, so when typing real envelopes, we used "R.R.")
I remember writing on those bloody things... Type? Coo, there's posh! We could never get the office staff to type them for us! I thought it was dead posh when I got to a school where the office would type up your worksheets, and the Gstetner machine was ELECTRIC! No more tennis elbow and strained wrists from producing 500 exam papers!
Gstetner sheets came in lots of colours: I remember producing multi-coloured sheets and drawings for worksheets by mix and match playing with those things. And the copy stuff would get on your clothes and stain FOREVER.
And then we got computers and the world was a whole nother shape... Didn't smell the same, though.
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