Antique Crochet

Would you like to learn how to crochet flowers? If so, you'll probably appreciate these free crochet flower patterns. There are a variety of different flower patterns listed; some of them are vintage, some of them are antique, and some of them are contemporary. There's a great mix of flowers: roses, a tropical flower, scrap yarn flowers, abstract flowers and more. Enjoy!

Hello crochet-loving friends!

I am once again writing with an apology about the appearance of this web site. I just installed a new Wordpress plugin that will hopefully help me to make the site more "international-friendly". (For those who don't know, wordpress is blog software, in case you were wondering.) Unfortunately, the plugin also seems to have caused all the formatting on the web site to have disappeared. Honestly, I do know how to use line breaks, but you wouldn't know it to look at this web site right now...

*SIGH*

Sorry about that! It will take me some time to fix the problem. Sorry if you are inconvenienced by pages that look like a mess.

Updated June 9, '08: The auction that I posted about has ended. The final price was $505.98.

Now THAT'S an ebay auction! Does the word "WOW" mean anything to you??! OK, the auction lot does actually have a tiny bit of antique crochet lace included in it...somewhere. Honestly, it does, that's how I found the auction in the first place. I was doing a search for antique crochet. The crochet work seems largely irrelevant to all the other amazing baubles and beauties included in the auction, but I still thought you'd probably enjoy taking a look at the auction. I'm telling you, this is window shopping at its finest. I soooo envy the winner of this one.

(No other crochet that I saw, but even so that seller's other items are worth a look too- this is the prettiest collection of vintage jewelry I've seen so far this week.)

UPDATE! Wow, it gets even better! When I originally posted about this auction it had a buy it now price on it. I can't remember exactly what the price originally was, but it was over $1,000 (US.) Now it appears that the auction was restarted with a 99 cent opening bid. Insane! I am feeling kind of anxious for the seller at this point, because that kind of auction is such a gamble. You never know where the bidding will end up. On the other hand I am also feeling thrilled for whoever the winner ends up being.

There are quite a few antique issues of the Home Needlework Magazine listed for sale on ebay right now. It's especially worth noting the January 1903 Issue of Home Needlework, which has 3 amazing patterns for antique beaded floral opera & reticule bags, among other things.

Post updated June 3 '08. The auctions I originally posted about have now ended.

If you're curious about the final prices of these auctions, here are some links for you:

Click here to see the ended auction for the January 1903 issue of Home Needlework Magazine. High bid price was $36.00.

Click here to see the ended auction for the July 1906 issue of Home Needlework Magazine. High bid price was $36.00.

Click here to see the ended auction for the June July 1910 issue of Home Needlework Magazine. End price was $9.95, which in my opinion was a fantastic bargain for the winner even considering the substantial wear on the cover.

Click here to see the ended auction for the June 1908 issue of Home Needlework Magazine. High bid price was $11.50, another bargain in my opinion.

This ebay seller is selling sold some lovely antique crochet and needlework pattern books, including a couple of "Home Needlework Magazine" Back issues and a Royal Society crochet book. I used to have a couple of these books in my collection, and they are absolutely delightful. For those of you who collect beaded bag patterns, the January 1903 issue has several of them. Luckily, the seller included multiple photos in the auction so you can see at least one of the bags. There are also several color illustrations shown. You can click here to see my description of the patterns included. Sorry to say that I don't have my informational web pages up for the other books, but I will try to get them posted ASAP.

Updated to add: The auction has ended. Sorry if you missed out! If I find another one of these filet crochet charts I will be sure to post about it though, so please make sure to take a look at my latest posts on the site to see current auction finds. The final bid price of the auction was $36.99 and it was priced in Australian dollars. Ebay's currency converter was showing an equivalent of $35.23 US at the time I checked, although the rate fluctuates depending on when you check it.

Here's a fantastic ebay find for you! It's a Mary Card giant filet crochet chart for the British coat of arms. These are wonderful to work from. Unfortunately, I don't see these charts come up for sale often enough. The seller is located in Australia, but ships internationally. The auction ends on May 1, 2008.

British needleworkers, please click here to see it (the auction will be shown on Ebay.co.uk, for your convenience.)

Australian needleworkers, please click here to see it (this link will take you to the auction on Ebay Australia.)

American needleworkers, please click here to see it (this link will take you to the auction on Ebay USA.)

Canadian needleworkers, please click here to see it (this link will take you to the auction on Ebay Canada.)

If you decide to bid on the auction, I wish you the very best luck.

Thanks for visiting antique-crochet.com!

This seller apparently specializes in selling collectible antique textiles. I thought that some of her current crochet offerings looked really interesting. She is located in the USA, but ships worldwide.

The items linked above are just a few of the things that are currently being offered; only items with the keyword "crochet" will show up in that search. There are plenty more interesting antique textiles and linens available for immediate purchase; you are likely to find antique quilts, linens, embroideries, etc. Here are some links to her ebay store:

• Click here if you are in the USA.
• Click here if you are in Canada.
• Click here if you are in the UK.
• Click here if you are in Australia.

This post and This post have both been updated. These posts show images of some very rare antique European crochet books. I posted about them before when they first came up for sale, but apparently they haven't found a home yet. So, if you missed out on seeing them the first time, they are definitely worth looking at now. They are offered for sale by one of my favorite sellers on ebay, a seller that I have dealt with before and recommend.

I've been working on updating the antique-crochet.com site. So, what do you think of the new Wordpress theme? There are a lot of things I like about it, but there are also quite a few things that I really don't like about it. In the long run I have plans to create my own theme, which hopefully will better reflect the antique-crochet site and its contents. I've spent some time designing graphics for the site, but they are not finished and probably won't be for awhile. For the short term, I've decided to concentrate more on getting all the information posted on the site, and getting all the pages finished- so this will have to do for now. Next I will have to tackle the categories. I know they are a mess, and I apologize to you if you've tried to use them and been frustrated. If you have any suggestions, please feel free to comment and post them. Thanks for stopping by!

I'm about to do some updating on the site, so for the next couple of hours, some pages might be a bit of a mess. I apologize in advance for the inconvenience! Thanks for visiting.

I've updated the web site with a new page about another old crochet book: The Star Yoke Book, published by the American Thread Company in 1921. There are some gorgeous vintage crochet patterns in this book; most of the patterns are for crocheted nightgown yokes. One yoke is intricate Irish crochet; some others are filet crochet. There are also some knitting and tatting patterns too. My favorite photo from the entire book is a lacy ribbon trimmed knit camisole. Here's a picture of it:

You will find more photos and information on the new Star Yoke Book page; please click here to see it. Enjoy!

Thanks for visiting!

I couldn't resist posting a new page about this lovely antique magazine, even though there aren't actually any crochet patterns in this particular issue. There are lots of other needlework patterns though; there's a knitting pattern, and a significant amount of information about lace making and related projects. The March 1902 Delineator has 4 gorgeous color plates. You can see them all, plus lots of other photos too, if you click here.

Thanks for visiting!

I just wanted to give everyone a bit of advance warning that I'm going to be doing some site upgrading within the next few days. I'm hoping that the site will stay live during the upgrades, but there is a possibility that there might be some down time.

Also I've done a lot of new web site pages over the last few days, but I haven't kept up with posting all the updates in the blog. Some of the new pages are still under construction. I apologize to you if you've landed on an unfinished page; I know how frustrating that can be. I am finishing things up as fast as I can! Building all these pages just takes so much time. This site is still pretty new (I started it on Christmas Day, 2007) and it is slowly but surely getting finished. I hope it will be finished soon. Well, truth be told, this web site will never be totally finished because there is always another antique crochet pattern book to discover, or another pretty antique crocheted bedspread, or another lovely yoke or beaded bag. Some days I discover so many lovely old crochet and needlework related antiques that I am beside myself trying to decide which ones to post about here. So when I say "finished" I guess I mean that at least hopefully there won't be any pages that are still under construction. I guess blogs in general are designed to never be "finished"; they are more like a conversation. Speaking of conversation, please feel free to comment on any blog post or page on the site. Your thoughts and suggestions are most welcome, unless of course you're trying to solicit viagra sales or something. (If that's the case, trust me, none of the ladies who read this site are going to buy viagra from you. Haha!)

Thanks for visiting! Hope you're having a great week. 'Til next time!

This looks like a fantastic auction! Included in this lot are 4 different booklets, 2 of which are crochet books and 2 of which are sewing books. One of the crochet books is Corticelli Crochet Lessons Book #7. I have clearer photos of this book posted than the seller does, so if you'd like to see what's actually in the pattern book hopefully you will find my page for the Corticelli book to be helpful. Please note that the copy offered at auction appears to be missing its cover, somewhat invalidating the seller's claim of "very good condition" (although I wouldn't expect that a seller would necessarily realize that the cover was missing on this particular type of book.) The other crochet book by Adeline Cordet is also one that I've owned before. I haven't yet created a page on the site for that book yet, although it is on my to-do list. The patterns in that one are really nice too. I don't think I've ever owned either of those sewing books before, but I think they look really interesting. Overall, looks to me like a great auction. Hard to tell how high the bidding will go, but right now, if you ask me, it's seriously underpriced.

Update: This auction has ended. Thanks to some idiotic changes at ebay- the "advanced search" is not working for me at all- I am not able to find or link to the ended auction. Sorry about that; I wish I knew how it turned out!

This seller has some interesting crochet and needlework auctions. If the auctions are still live by the time you find this post, they'll be listed below. If not, you'll see a message that no items match your keywords.

This seller is selling a treasure trove of antique and vintage crochet, knitting and tatting patterns. (If the auctions are still running by the time you see this post, you'll see them listed below. If not, you'll see a message that no items were found.

This seller has some of the most interesting auctions! The most interesting of which is this auction for 2 1920's pattern books with instructions on how to make beadwork bags in both crochet and knitting. I've owned both of these pattern books before, and they are both exceptional. In the past I've sold copies of both books for more than $100 each, although that was years ago. These books look like they have some pretty serious condition issues, so I wouldn't expect the bidding to reach anywere near those levels for this particular auction. However, the starting bid of the auction is only $9.99, which makes it tempting even considering the damaged condition of the books. I have a web page up showing the projects in the "New Bead Book"; you can click to see it if you're curious about what the patterns in the book look like. I'll have to see if I can find my photos from the Virginia Snow book to post. Sharing them has been on my "to do list" and, if you like seeing vintage beadwork projects I think you'd probably really enjoy these.

Edited to add: Web site has been updated with photos of the Virginia Snow Beaded Bags Book. The page is still under construction, but it's finished enough that you can get a good idea of the projects in the book, anyway. Enjoy!

The auction is linked for your convenience below. If it is still live by the time you read this post, you'll see it. If not, you'll see a message about no items being found that match your keywords.

I just created a new web page on the antique-crochet.com site which is dedicated to the October 1933 Issue of Needlecraft Magazine. This issue has lots of fantastic needlework and crochet patterns, including an exquisite crochet pattern (with chart!) by Mary Card. Mary Card's patterns and charts are highly sought after by crochet enthusiasts and collectors, and you can easily see why when you look at this example of Mary Card's work. If you want more details about the Mary Card pattern or about the magazine's other contents, please do take a look at the page for Needlecraft October 1933.