FUNDRAISING

OUR FUNDRAISING CAMPAIGN HAS STARTED!  GOAL: 5000 USD / 7000 CAD AND CURRENTLY AT 7%!

To keep our Library up and running, we hold a fundraising campaign from September to December.

This is the link to the donation button: Donate to keep the Antique Pattern Library running!  

IF YOU CAN’T AFFORD TO DONATE, BUT WOULD LIKE TO HELP THE ANTIQUE PATTERN LIBRARY, INTRODUCING THE LIBRARY TO PEOPLE WHO DON’T KNOW OF IT YET, IS VERY USEFUL, SINCE IT BROADENS OUR USER BASE AND THEREFORE ALSO OUR FUTURE DONOR BASE. BLOGS, TIKTOK, INSTAGRAM, PINTEREST, RAVELRY, FACEBOOK, OTHER SOCIAL MEDIA – SHOW OTHERS YOUR FAVORITE PUBLICATIONS AND WHAT YOU MADE USING THEM. OUR WORK IS ONLY USEFUL WHEN PEOPLE ACTUALLY USE IT!

And now for the new publication:

CANEVAS – PERFORATED CARDBOARD PATTERNS

K-YS009 Canevas – perforated cardboard cards for embroidery
Eight perforated cardboard cards with an image printed on it for embroidery. The first one was glued to the top of the box they were in. The patterns are more complex than the very simple embroidery cards for children, and allow more creativity when embroidering them. Perforated cardboard is often used for cross-stitch patterns, but these are clearly not intended for cross-stitch.
Perforated cardboard in a box, 7.5×6 inch. Scanned 400dpi png.
Scans donated and edited by Sytske Wijnsma.

These likely date from the end of the nineteenth century, based on the style of the illustrations. Perforated cardboard was often used to make embroideries that would not deform if stitches weren’t symmetrical. It is often seen in the so-called House Blessings (mostly German) with religious mottos and celluloid illustrations. The stiff background allowed for fast embroidery, as stitches could have long floats that were often anchored only by a single crossing stitch in the middle. There’s an example in the German history museum in Berlin exhorting the Red Front that they have the power – if they stand united, so clearly it was not just for religious purposes only, but those are the ones that usually survived. 

These perforated cardboard patterns would give children their first experience in that type of embroidery. Nowadays the place of this cardboard has been largely taken over by plastic canvas.