And green. And gold, and seeds, beads, shells, fish scales, feathers, hair, paints, papers, and too many kinds of threads to name. There was no limit to the elegant (or not so elegant) crafts that Romantic Era ladies of leisure could enjoy.

Yes, this sort of handiwork is probably the polar opposite of plain needlework. (I did warn about rabbit trails!) Colorful, creative, and infinitely variable in materials and form, vs. white, repetitive, and predictable in materials and form. I can’t help it, sometimes eyes just need candy!

Surviving patterns are almost as much fun to study as the items that were made from them. Penélopé, of Maandwerk was a Dutch ladies magazine which offered hand colored patterns and projects as early as 1821 (it ran until 1835). Half of each issue was devoted to crafts and half had a literary focus. The patterns range from stunning to “what were they thinking?”

Of course if you want to play with old patterns today, you don’t have to use them for their original purpose. Not everyone needs a bell pull, a mantelpiece container for “spills,” or a hand screen. I’ve had fun scanning and printing designs to use in projects like labels, cards, and ornaments. There are lots available online, both for sale and free: Google books, Hathitrust, the Internet Archive, and the Antique Pattern Library, are fabulous sources, and I’ve used them all.

I suppose ladies saved and passed patterns around then the way we used to do with recipes. Today it seems like everything is digital – even recipes! I do love how accessible and how easy that makes sharing ideas and inspiring creativity. But isn’t there something extraordinary about a pretty paper that lets us hold an idea in our hands, long after its maker is gone?