Needle-Art and the Transfer Book, Butterick Publishing, 1927

This is a great old Art Deco catalog, advertising needlework patterns and transfers for sale in 1927.

Because the illustrations are so small, I have scanned portions of the pages at a higher resolution than usual. Clicking twice on any of the images will allow you to view them full size (and read the text on the page below).

The transfers in #142 “for handkerchiefs, Covers, Boxes and Evening Slippers” are my favorites, so I scanned them at a crazy high resolution in an attempt to replicate the motif sizes on the original transfer sheet (between 1 1/4″ and 3 3/4″). Of course, the detail is probably not as nice as it would have been on the original transfers, but I think they are definitely traceable when you click twice to enlarge.

Numbers 138 and 139 contain one basic design in a bunch of sizes “for Stamping Vanity Sets, Scarfs or Runners and Curtain Motifs to match Bedspread Design.” Even though the fan girl is cute, stitching her on every item in the bedroom above is pretty weird. I enlarged her quite a bit, though, because I thought she might look sweet on a pillow.

Number 141 is an all-over transfer pattern “for Braiding, Quilting, Chain-stitching, Couching, Outlining, Running-Stitch, French Knots or Beading.” It’s unclear to me how you would execute this design using french knots or beading, but I think it would be wonderful as a quilting pattern.