Category: Embroidery Patterns

This is the first of four figures on this small tablecloth.  The two girls and the two boys look like two sets of twins — their outfits, however, have different decorations, and look like fun to stitch.  Although the instructions below mention that the “jaunty Tyrolean peasant man” will be published next week, you’re going to…

Today I am going to share with you one of the more obscure Nancy Page designs. These patterns were published weekly in many newspapers in the US and Canada, and each paper had a particular day that they appeared. This design is meant for a card table and is cut from a piece of linen…

That’s it! This is the last vintage Laura Wheeler peacock embroidery transfer. Thank you Ethel E. Hughes for collecting and preserving these beautiful designs.

This is peacock embroidery transfer number 7. I’ve run out of things to say about them, and there are still three left to scan, clean and post. Below are links to all the previous peacock transfers. Laura Wheeler Designs: 688, 1022, 893, 664, 7107, and 777.

This peacock is different than all the rest because it’s completely done in two sizes of cross stitch. I spent several hours cleaning this one because cross-stitch patterns never scan very clearly. Since the thought of tracing all those tiny Xs freaks me out, an alternative method would be to print the design on water…

This is the transfer where Ethel wrote on the envelope “I think I have another peacock almost like this one.” At first I thought this peacock and #893 were the same bird design with different backgrounds. I was wrong because the birds are slightly different, but I can see why she made the comment.

Getting tired of peacocks?  I hope not because, as I mentioned earlier, Ethel E. Hughes of Elwood, Indiana, loved peacocks a lot. I am going to share her entire collection of vintage peacock transfers, and you haven’t even seen half of them yet.

The third transfer from the Ethel E. Hughes collection is another group of three designs for “cloths, scarfs, pillowcases, towels and pillows.” The recommended fabrics are “linen, chambray, muslin, percale, or some similar material.” Sometimes there is a color key or a stitch guide; other times the instructions merely suggest floss colors and stitches for…

This is the second peacock transfer in the Ethel E. Hughes series (the previous design is here). The peacocks on this sheet were designed for use on “towels, pillowcases, cloths, scarfs and pillows.” By cloths, I guess they mean linens to cover tables or furniture. My grandmother always referred to her furniture cloths as antimacassars,…

Ethel E. Hughes of Elwood, Indiana, loved peacocks — a lot. She must have ordered every peacock transfer Needlecraft Services published.  And she was organized, adding small floss and fabric samples to each pattern. I especially like the comments she wrote on the envelopes:  “I like this peacock best for the quilt”, “pretty peacock for…

Clicking on the pattern image below will open a full-sized pdf file. Scroll to the bottom of the image, and click on the download button. Open the downloaded file in Acrobat Reader, and select “poster” in the print dialog box. This will allow you to tile print the original pattern size on multiple sheets of letter…

When I wrote a post about these patterns in 2010, I linked to images of the transfers on my Flickr page.  Since I’ve deleted my Flickr account, I thought I should make them available again on my blog. These are numo transfers with raised blue dots that are one use only. Because some of the…