1950s Embroidery

I recently shared this embroidered picture worked by my Mum on my ravelry group and I thought it would be nice to have a look at some other embroidery from the 1950s.

I think this dates from the 1950s when Mum was a young woman, although I haven't been able to track down the original pattern yet. I particularly like the little cat and the dog and the fact that it's two women. Somehow, it makes me think of the house we lived in when I was very small which had a steep hill behind it.

Charity Down Farm

One of the needlework magazines of the time which often featured beautiful embroidered pictures was 'Needlewoman and Needlecraft' which was published for many years.

There would be a free transfer for some simple motifs but, for the bigger items, you had to order the transfers. The earliest issue I have is number 2 from April 1941 (it was a quarterly magazine).

This copy (found in an antique shop) still has the original list of people in the road to whom it was lent. Miss Beech had it first and then it was to passed on to eleven other friends and neighbours, changing hands every two or three days until finally returning to Miss Beech who kept it.

I remember my Granny doing this with her neighbours. When money was tight, this was a good way of getting to read different magazines. As well as needlework, the magazine also had knitting and crochet patterns, as well as tatting sometimes. In this early issue, I'm rather taken by the embroidered knitting on this little jumper.

The pages of the magazines were mostly black and whit but there is another colour spread in the middle of this one.

Although it's applique, that house picture is in a similar style to the one Mum embroidered. I do have one piece of early applique that she did but, again, I don't know where the pattern came from.

This alpine scene, worked in wools, needs a bit of a repair as moths have got to some of the colours.

I gave this one to my daughter, along with a copy of the original pattern and the necessary colours of tapestry yarn so that she can either fill in the gaps or work a new one. This was the cover project on 'Needlewoman and Needlecraft' in July 1955.

This next magazine, from April 1954,  has another beautiful picture on the cover.

I love this collection of embroidered flowers, one of the transfers that could be ordered through the magazine; this one would have cost you 7d (that's just over half a shilling in old money or about 3p in new).

The magazine also carried adverts for companies which would supply pre-printed fabric or kits for the designs too. Flowers were a very popular subject for embroidery. I have several pieces worked by my Mum, including this pretty little cloth.

All of these embroideries could do with a wash and press ...

This one is especially nice and I wish I could find the original pattern. I wonder what it was intended for?

I would like to use this one in some way but haven't worked out how yet. It's made up of little squares, embroidered together. I wonder if Mum bought the marked squares as a set?

The style of these strikes me as a sort of modern Jacobean embroidery as do these flowers from the same magazine.

There are more nice patterns in this particular magazine. I like the stitch pattern on this jumper - pictured on yet another impossibly thin model. Mind you, the wartime rationing was still in force well into the 1950s.

And who remembers these belts? When they came back into fashion in the 1970s I wore the one that Mum had worn twenty years earlier. Sadly, it wasn't a crocheted one though.

This is the most exciting set of patterns for me though. Tiny embroideries to be made into brooches. You could order the brooch frames as well as the transfers through the magazine.

I have a small collection of these, several of which were embroidered by Mum. Hers are the three on the left.

I should like to collect more of these; aren't they pretty?

I have one more finished embroidery of Mum's and it's a big Willow pattern one, measuring about 45 cm / 18" across.

I know that this one was from a copy of 'Woman's Own' magazine but I don't know the date. I think it would look good framed under glass or plastic as a small table top.

I hope you've enjoyed this browse through 1950s embroidery. I'd love to hear of any old family embroideries that you have or can remember.