Girl sewing while cat plays, 1924

  This little girl is working so hard at her hand sewing, seeming to concentrate on each stitch. Meanwhile, right at her feet, her kitty is having a blast making a jumbled mess of her thread!

  This illustration by Marguerite Davis is from a 1924 book of children's rhymes called "Sing-Song" by Christina G. Rossetti. The short poem that accompanied it reads:

A pocket handkerchief to hem-

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear!

How many stitches it will take

Before it's done, I fear.

Yet set a stitch and then a stitch,

And stitch and stitch away,

Till stitch by stitch the hem is done-

And after work is play !

  Umm, looks like Kitty has already started on the play!
  

 This image was published in the United States more than 95 years ago, making it in the public domain. This means you can use it freely however you wish - alter it, share it, save it, enjoy it! Click on the image for a larger version.

Woman sewing, 1870

   I just can't resist the sewing images I sometimes come across. It's the closest I get to working a sewing machine, if I were being honest!

  These images come from a French printing catalogue circa 1870. The title of the catalogue is "Fonderie de Renault et Robcis : fantaisies, caractères de labeurs, fleurons et vignettes". I know what about half those words mean, but I still had a blast browsing through the pages...

  Of course, the sewing-themed ones caught my eye. I hope you'll enjoy them as much as I do!

  These images are all well into the public domain and free to use. Click an image for a larger version and then save it to your computer. Enjoy! 

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Sewing Machines, 1905

   I have a special connection to all things sewing thanks to my nana, so these neat vintage sewing machines immediately caught my attention. They're all from a 1905 London catalogue. 

   This model is called the "Elsa Sewing Machine", a "Hand machine on [an] iron base." It looks so handy and portable, but I bet the iron made it heavy! 

      It's interesting that for all the ways sewing machines have changed - and they can certainly do a lot more now, I'd imagine - the overall design hasn't changed so much. The bobbins of thread on the top, the crank on the side. 

   The one above was captioned as "The Bradbury Company's celebrated English-made machine."

   I was able to remove the background from a couple of these, to make them handy for digital crafting. Everything here is in the public domain - create, share, and alter however you wish! (Remember to click on the image for a larger size!)

Sewing catalogue advertisements_1887

  I can't seem to resist an old sewing magazine or catalog. And sometimes those pages of advertisements are just striking, almost like they're asking to be shared with crafters and ephemera lovers for the present. 

   Or perhaps I just overthink things! 😉

  In any case, I loved these pages from Ingalls' Illustrated Catalogue from Lynn, Massachusetts, published circa 1887.

   The above is the original; the one below is a black-and-white version. (The original color wasn't my favorite, let's just say...)

   These are all in the public domain and ready to be shared and used however you can imagine. Click on the image to get the larger version and you're ready to save!