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There Was Treasure Waiting To Be Found

There Was Treasure Waiting To Be Found

I found some treasures in the drawers and bench seat of the Art Deco sewing machine cabinet.

This small envelope is just one of them.

I've blurred out the name for privacy... just case the person is still living and at the same address.
I’ve blurred out the name for privacy… just case the person is still living and at the same address.
The back of the envelope is cool too.
The back of the envelope is cool too.

And inside…

Four and a half sheets of unused embroidery transfers.

Chore Girl embroidery transfers

I’m thinking I’m going to have to do those little chore girls in redwork on 10 or 12 inch blocks and then make a quilt out of them.

Snail Chore Day Transfers

And then of course… those snails with washday, shop day, etc.   Wouldn’t it be fun to make some aprons with the snails embroidered on them?  I’d have an apron for each day of the week.

Flower ladies and swan transfer sheet

The flower ladies in the bottom left hand corner… pot holders, perhaps.  And those swans, I simply have to figure out something to use those swans on.

Bears, bunnies and kittie transfers

The bears and bunnies are adorable.

half sheet embroidery transfer

I’m not sure if I’ll ever use the transfers on the half sheet, but who knows.  They’re fun to have for sometime in the future.

I don’t plan on using the actual transfers as the paper is old and I don’t want to risk ruining them.  So instead, I’ll use the light box Dave made me to transfer the various designs to fabric.

I wasn’t able to find a date printed anywhere on the transfer sheets to be able to determine if the copyright might still be in effect.   Through a bit of research, I was able to find out that The Workbasket was published from 1935 to 1996 when it ceased publication and was sold to KC Publishing.  But according to this site, if they were published between 1923 through 1977 and didn’t have copyright notices on them, they are in the public domain.  I’m almost positive that these were published sometime in the 40s or 50s, but I’m going to have to do a bit more research to be sure.

These are so much fun, I’d love to be able to share them.

I would be so pleased if you chose to share by clicking on one of the buttons below!

4 Comments

  • Patricia
    July 17, 2017 2:00 pm

    That is awesome! I have some tea towels of my Mothers’ using some of those.

  • nancy
    July 23, 2011 4:21 pm

    I LOVE these! Embroidery was the first craft I learned to do (at around age 7). I have never seen such cute designs, but I know they are likely from the 30s-40s. The girls as flowers theme was really popular then — and those two you found are ADORABLE. Congratulations!

  • Sandra :)
    June 4, 2011 9:22 am

    Perhaps the swans would be pretty for tea towels? Is there a postmark on the envelope? Since there was a subscription for the patterns they might have been published and mailed at the same time- the photo on the back looks 40’s to me!

    • supermom
      June 4, 2011 12:11 pm

      Unfortunately there’s no postmark on the envelope but I have found some of these listed on ebay and the seller describes them as 1940s patterns. Not reliable proof, of course, but I’m having fun searching.

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