Vintage Embroidery Series: Tea Towel Kitchen Designs

Here is the latest freebie pattern set for vintage embroidery downloads and it is one of my favorite designs. These are from 1935 and the kitchenware pieces depicted are done in elegant lines with some splashes of color.

Each week one design from this set will be available for download (on Wednesdays). There are six different designs, the last one will be up by the end of November so you’ll have plenty of time to finish it for Christmas if you’d like to make these as a gift.

Pattern Details & Instructions:
(from envelope)

It is very smart to have kitchen towels that blend with the color scheme of your kitchen, and these adorable checkered dishes worked in gay colors are just the thing.

The stitches are the familiar ones. Two shades of blue, yellow and red, or 2 shades of green, yellow, deep blue and red, may be used as illustrated,–or choose your own colors to fit in with the color scheme of your kitchen. A new effect–back stitch lines to look like checked gingham appliqué.

Placement: Place a design in the center of the towel end, about 1 1/2 inches above the edge of the hem.

To Embroider–Use six strand cotton for the embroidery. When working the checkered part of the dishes, use six strands in the needle, and for the remaining parts of the design, use four strands. Follow the illustration on the front of the envelope for placing the colors, and work in the following stitches. All outlines and continuous lines are worked in outline stitch (detail 1), checks in back stitch, fruit in outline stitch, jewels in satin stitch (detail 2), and the holes in the salt and pepper shakers are covered with one or two tiny stitches.

Edge–Finish edge of towels with narrow hems, about 1/4 inch. Then using the predominating color of the six strand cotton, work over the sewing line in running stitch (detail 3). Another attractive finish is to work over a 1/4 inch hem with buttonhole stitch (detail 4).

This Week’s Pattern Freebie

You can download the pattern here: Kitchenware Design #1: Plate with Salt & Pepper Shakers.

Printing Instructions: Make sure to save the pattern to your computer desktop first (right click, save as…), then open the file on your computer, select “Print”, uncheck anything like “Fit To Page” then print. These will each fit on an 8 1/2″ x 11″ sheet of paper.

If you need help transferring the pattern, see this page: Embroidery Pattern Transfer Tips – Vintage Notes.

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