Quick links around the blog!

Wednesday, August 12, 2015

Free sewing books...

When I was homeschooling our kids for those incredible eleven years I helped bring very old out-of-print books back to life by typing page after page of these wonderful texts so they could be formatted in an easily downloadable format. 
Technology has updated a lot in the past five or six years and what was once a long process is now much quicker, so more and more public domain vintage books are available online for all of us to enjoy and glean from.
Books written to children 'back in the day' are comparable to many modern books written to adults - the vocabulary back then was wonderful, which is why I read books that were hundreds of years old to my children for two hours every afternoon until they were 15 or 16. My younger son's particular favourite was the original Robinson Crusoe from 1719, but he was also a Jules Verne and Captain Marryat fan. 

I thought you might like to take advantage of a couple of free books I've recently found that are specifically for sewing and embroidery?

Like this gem which I found to be delightful! It's written for children and is full of black and white hand drawn illustrations, so if you're new to sewing (and even if you're not) you'll find it overflowing with how-to's.

The Mary Francis Sewing Book can be downloaded HERE





Another wonderful book is The Little Girl's Sewing Book. This is a Project Gutenberg book and has black and white photographs throughout to teach you visually as well as by written instruction.
This book is HERE to download or read online...







There is also 99 Embroidery Stitches available to download HERE...



Enjoy these books. 
I think we can all learn something new from them, and besides, what's nicer than a sensible children's book about our favourite craft? Especially when served with a pot of tea and a rock cake or two...

bless you,


Don't miss out on any Elefantz news or free patterns. 
Subscribe to my blog posts HERE and receive them direct to your email inbox.  

Or sign up HERE for my free newsletter which often has extra benefits, freebies & tutorials!


13 comments:

  1. Thanks for those links Jenny - I would never think to go looking for books like that.

    ReplyDelete
  2. What lovely things to share!Thank you Jenny

    ReplyDelete
  3. Your blog is so lovely and inspirational . So kind of you to share your patterns and the things you find along the way. Thank you. Maria xxx

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks for sharing! I love the free vintage crochet pattern site I found and I will definitely look at these. I love my craft books to be "real" books if possible. I read novels, etc on an e-reader. Some books are not formatted for e-reading though. I recently bought The Book of Still Meadow and Hollyhocks, Lambs and other Passions used. They were mentioned in a blog and I'm so glad I purchased them. I only read a smidgeon of each but I love how these two women write about the houses they love and made into homes. Can't wait to find time to devour the pages of words

    ReplyDelete
  5. These books look delightful. I can not download them on my stepdaughters laptop that she left for me to use, but when I can pry my hubby away from our desktop computer, I will certainly be taking advantage of these books. Mary Corbet of Needle and Thread is the first person who introduced me to a site (sorry, my memory problem and I can not remember the exact site). This site is taking and copying/downloading old books and letting anyone who wishes to download them and use them. Mary has found some gorgeous hand embroidery patterns and shared where to go on the site. If you have not visited her site, I really do recommend it. Thank you for your time and knowledge of the process and sharing it. It amazes me the beautiful artwork that was created in centuries past and how it has such influence on beautiful artwork today. It is fascinating the difference in writing styles also. Thank you again and have a wonderful creative day!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Love the Mary Francis book! I have a copy from 1913 that I bought when I was in my teens. Also have a Mary Francis Housekeeper which is a 1998 reprint but very cute. Thanks for sharing and inspiring, I always look forward to your blogs and words of encouragement. Blessings to you!

    ReplyDelete
  7. wow what beautiful oldies!
    thanx so much for sharing

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thanks for the links. I love old hand needlework books and have several. It would be so wonderful to have the real book in hand.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Jenny, thank you for the free downloads on the books. I have wanted to get the Mary Francis books because I love the illustrations. I love old books too. Thank you again for your generosity. Joyce

    ReplyDelete
  10. Jenny, Thank you very much for sharing. Maria A.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Jenny, Have you seen this website? It's a treasure trove of old books on many, many crafty subjects. Embroidery, lace, crochet, cross-stitch...to name a few. I think you could get lost at this site!

    Lisa (USA

    ReplyDelete
  12. Yikes....here's the site. Forgot to put it in my previous post.

    http://www.antiquepatternlibrary.org

    Lisa

    ReplyDelete

It's always nice to receive feedback on a blog post, so *thank you* for taking time to comment!
I will try to reply via email unless you are a 'no reply blogger' which means you'll have to check for my reply in the comments. Of course, life is a rather hazardous activity, isn't it? So if I don't respond to your comment that's the reason why - life simply stepped in...
hugs
Jennifer
x