Fun on Rollerskates!

By popular demand, here's the kitty from the set I blogged a few weeks back.

Superior 140 : 7 kitten motifs

It's time for some DOW tea towels. I love to stitch a kitteh, and these ones are so sweet they will give you the proverbial toothache! Little kittys doing household tasks, we can never get enough of them. Neither it seems could Superior brand transfers, for I have a lot of transfers from that particular company that feature cats.

Kitty is ironing, hanging out the washing (wearing roller skates no less), singing at church, sweeping the floor, mending clothes, having a tea party, and on a tricycle doing the shopping. All the time she has a little friend doggy or a stuffed toy to help her. The relationship between cats and dogs in transfer-land always amuses me, as it has little relation to real life cat-dog interaction. Unless of course, in this transfer below, the doggy is about to come and nip her on her posterior. That would be like my animals - Lola can't see a cat bottom go past without chasing it.

Of course, like all good homemakers, she's providing tea for all (that's one of my founding principles, "tea for all") and little stuffed teddy, kitty and bunny are happy to play along. As the pattern says, these are meant to be for days-of-the-week towels, but they'd look cute on children's quilts or bed linen as well. Whilst I don't want to muscle in on the Vogart hyperbole, in my opinion:

These darling designs are quick and easy to sew, and a choice of gay, bright colours will make your towels come alive and add fun to your modern kitchen. Children will love their own towels stitched with Miss Kitten and her friends, and a set will make washing hands no longer a chore! Just stitch these designs and instantly you will become more attractive, and they will bring good fortune and friends into your life. Your home will be beautiful, your children, beaming with health, rosy cheeked and perfectly scrubbed and well behaved, and your husband will cherish the perfect homemaker that he married.

Ooops, think I'm getting carried away now.... help me!......argh....

Too many watched cooks never sing for their supper

Here's a rather delightful transfer from Superior, simply titled "6 Towel Appliques" which is a bit of a shame, given that the transfers are rather fun. The marketing team at Superior could have taken a leaf out of Vogart's book and claimed that "these designs will put some sparkle and fun back into the kitchen!" or told us that "your kitchen will rise and shine with our cheerful appliques." But no, the envelope back only has stitch descriptions and colour suggestions. So we have: a watched pot never boils, sing for your supper, too many cooks, time to shine, a penny saved, and sugar and spice. The packet also contains the shape transfers for you to add fabric as well. (I think I might give one of these a go actually, they've rather charmed me.)

This pattern combines applique, embroidery and cross stitch, so it's definitely worth giving a go, if you're not a cross stitcher, as the "zany" placement of the text is very forgiving for a beginning stitcher. I'll add "sing for your supper" later, as I think that's the sweetest, but in the meantime, here's "too many cooks". I can relate to this one, as Mr Stitchy is the chef of our household, so much so that when I'm cooking, he can't help himself from pottering around next to me and keeping an eye on what I'm doing. And yes, if you're curious, my stitching is much better than my cooking!

Stop and stitch the roses

Yesterday I used a couple of transfers from my Sublime Stitching book and stitched up a simple rose edge on a pillowcase. (Photo to come, the pillowcase is currently out on the line drying.) As I was stitching it, I thought, "What can I do to jazz it up a bit and add a few fancy stitches?" as it was a simple outline design...but then decided against it. And was glad I didn't do any more to it because it was very effective as is. Sometimes we can overcomplicate things, and good designs really don't need too much embellishment.

So in this spirit of simple stitching designs, and as one for the flower lovers out there (I notice they're winning in the poll!)... here's Superior 154 "40 motifs for varied linens and lingerie".

They're all florals from the look of the cover. My copy only has six motifs left in it, and my guess is that there were various sizes of the flowers illustrated on the cover, for pillowcases, towels, cloths, napkins and vanity set. Floral fun:

Iris

Marigold

Pansy (sorry it's sideways!)

...and the Rose.

So I can only share with you these small designs, but again, simple but effective designs are great fun to do for both beginners and advanced stitchers, as they're fast, yet rewarding. And I think that's what the pattern companies of the 30's 40's and 50's had in mind, as your average homemaker wanted to embellish things and enjoy their stitching, but didn't have idle hours to spend on it. As my page footer (taken from The Modern Priscilla magazine) says "Better homes through better needlework"...and who am I to argue?

6 Dutch girls for kitchen linens

Oh, this poor transfer packet, someone's ripped the middle of the cover right off it. Tut tut. However, the sheet inside is uncut, but slightly water damaged. Sweet little Dutch girls doing chores for your towels. What I like about these ones, is that in most of them, she's being helped by a little kitten. So I've picked the one of the girl cooking which you can see in the right hand corner.

Click here to view all sizes and print a copy out. I've tried to tidy it up with the Microsoft Paint program, it's still a little messy, but clear enough to stitch. Mmm chicken.

My transfer pattern collection

I did have this list in the sidebar, but it's messiness was irking me. So here it is:

Aunt Martha's
3021* - Dutch motifs
3036* - lovely pillowslips
3243 - Bruno the bear
3375 -Old Testament
3376 - New Testament
3606 - kitten tea towels
3607 - linen attractions
3621- floral applique, embroidery
3728 - baskets, birds and flowers (no envelope)
3733* - kitten motifs
3740 - ducky ducks
3775 - merry modern mushrooms
3801 - kitchen pot holders
3875 - Miss Kitty Kat
3879 - puppy tales
3922 - bird houses
3955 - three kittens
3994 - fruit'n veggie pup
3997 - java break
9192 - animated Vegetable Tea Towels
9631 - four floral motifs
9773* - love in bloom, animals
9883 - cute animal potholders (no envelope)



Simplicity
4047 - 6 different motifs for sheets, pillow cases & towels
4492 - floral pot holder appliques (no envelope)
5211 - flora designs for sheets & pillowcases
7169* - dainty cross stitch bandings
7223 - Scalloped borders & corners
7274 - cross stitch borders & corners
7346 - combination cross-stitch florals
7349* - doilies & napkin motifs

Superior
120 - 6 dutch girls for towels & kitchen linens
127* - 6 kitchen motifs
140^ - 7 kitten motifs for kitchen towels and linens
142^ - 7 motifs for days of the week towels (cross stitch kittens)
154* - 40 motifs for linens & lingerie
166 - 12 motifs for cloths/scarfs/linens
181- 30 floral motifs

Unknown
Unknown - Brownie Tea Towels (AMs?)
Unknown - butterfly vanity set (numo transfer)
Unknown - Curtain, Floral & Children's designs (AMs?)
Unknown - December birthday picture, possibly AMs or WB
Unknown - Dutch couple tea towels (AMs?)
Unknown - Dutch picture, Topsy & Eva dolls (numo transfer)
Unknown - luncheon cloth & towel motifs (AMs?)
Unknown - small transfer sheet with animals & chickens (staple holes - possibly WB?)
Unknown - stencil designs, clothes pin apron (AMs?)
Unknown - Tie Motifs & Bedroom Ensemble (AMs?)
Unknown - Marked only "tri chem -3" - baby jacket, borders
Unknown - morning glory & rose designs for cutwork (green ink)
Unknown 2-9589 - Monograms, Fish & Fowl Guest towels
Unknown "serial no. 2006" - pillowcase designs, his/hers, old fashioned woman in rose arbour (possibly Walker's)
Unknown 68 - alphabet, florals, birds, religous crosses (in Workbasket mailing envelope)
Unknown 68 - baby bib, clown day of week quilt/tea towels (in Workbasket mailing envelope) Unknown 70 (Workbasket?)- toaster cover, sampler, Xmas tree skirt
Unknown 71 - LeRoy Lion toy, rodeo design, mittens (in Workbasket mailing envelope)
Unknown 79 - tulips, wild horse design (in Workbasket mailing envelope)
Unknown - in same Workbasket envelope with 68-79 - "free surprise gift" horoscope signs
Unknown 82 (Workbasket?)
Unknown 89 (Workbasket?)
Unknown 92 (Workbasket?)
Unknown 565 - 3 bird motifs
Unknown 9006B (reissue of Vogart 259?)
Unknown 9814 - pot and pan holders, kitchen designs in cross stitch (AM's?)
Unknown C924 - gnomes, vanities (numo transfer) (possibly WorkBasket Sept 1937)
Unknown 3275 - nursery rhyme quilt blocks

Vogart
133 - South of the Border

102 - Gay kittens & puppies for every use
106 - Mexican Motifs for kitchen and breakfast nook

108 - Three popular and easy-to-do designs for pillowcases

109 - Three novelty designs to applique and embroider on cases etc (American Thread Co. packaging)
110 - (no envelope)

113 -
115 - Easy to do lazy daisy designs (no envelope)

116 - A handsome "petit point" pattern for large cloths, scarfs, etc

128 - Bright, cheerful, new florals for three pairs of cases
129 - A great variety of sparkling new patterns for every use
135 - hope chest pillow case designs
147 - graceful motifs for your best pillowcases (in very poor condition)

163 - Nine novel pot holders to crochet and embroider
186* - colourful musical motifs for kitchens
188 - 14 lovely patterns for guest towels
178* - 7 lucky kittens
195* - 15 animated kitchen friends (I now have the full set of these)
187^ - new & exciting ribbon motifs for pillow cases
190* - monograms
193^ - Peacock crochet & embroidery combinations for the home
200^ - popular cross stitch patterns
201^ - daisy baskets to decorate your linens
202^ - colourful & graceful butterflies for every use
209* - graceful cross stitch patterns
211 - cross stitch fruit
215 - A flower a day for your kitchen

221 - an exciting new way to personalize your linens
229* - personalised florals for 4 pairs of lovely cases
231^ - happy fruits to decorate kitchen & dinette items
240 - kittens and puppies (& 1970's re-issue of same "charming designs for youngsters")
251* - Mama duck and ducklings for a kitchen ensemble (no envelope)
253^ - motifs for scarfs & vanity sets to match cases in #128

254 - these gay fruits used with #211 make a complete "dinette ensemble"
255^ - graceful swans for scarves, cloths, pillows
257 - kittens "mums" and violets for 3 pairs of cases
265* - 12 dreams for your dream home
269* - "modern modes" designs for tubing, cases
279^ - 3 graceful motifs for your best pillowcases
280^ - Charm & grace in three motifs for cases, linens
282* - today & tomorrow's modern kitchen motifs (no envelope)
285 - dainty motifs (no envelope)

624 - five assorted cross stitch borders and four florals for gingham
625* - pet poodles for the kitchen
631* - flowers & fruits in modern baskets
645* - bear chef's menu on kitchen towels
673 - 12 honeymoon motifs
646^ - rooster dinette set
674 - calla lillies, roses and butterfly baskets (reissue of 243) - no envelope
662 - 10 adorable cuddly bear motifs to lighten your kitchen chores
678 - Happy fruits to decorate kitchen and dinette items (reissue of 231)
694^ - playful kittens
696^ - 7 busy little kittens
699 - colourful roosters
703 - 3 delightful designs bring colorful beauty to the bedroom (reissue of 617)
704 - our feathered friends
705 - 30 amusing easy to do motifs with toddler appeal
706 - graceful kittens and florals for bedroom beauty (reissue of 626)
716* - traditional charm for kitchen & dinette
717 - mexican motifs for kitchen & breakfast nook (reissue of 106 & 607)
725* - nine colourful designs for gay kitchen decoration (reissue of 127 & 277)
Vogart Colour - FP1002 (3 kittens)
Vogart Colour -FP0202 (Dutch people)
Vogart Colour 10 - children and pets
Vogart Colour FP200 - knitting & kittens
Vogart Textilprints 57 - Fruit


Workbasket
2-910
2-920
2-925
2-926
2-927
2-932
2-934
2-936
2-939
2-943 Mexican luncheon cloth, morning glories.
2-946 November 1948 - Christmas motifs, stuffed dog & tea towel dog designs
April 1968 - early American designs/small animals
July 1967 - Kitchen samplers
late 1960's - Old Macdonald's farm




Other
McCall's 699 - Applique designs for Bath Mat and Seat cover

McCall's 1130 - Wild Roses in Cross Stitch
McCall's 1512 - Two Cross-stitch rose designs for pillowcases or sheets
McCall's 1880 - Six Musical Motifs for Towels
Monarch M205 - Dainty Gretchen Dutch girls DOW (don't they know Gretchen is not a Dutch name?)
Tri-Chem 5A - Boys and Girls items
Walker's 705 - Playful kitten & Scottie designs for an attractive kitchen
Walker's 736 - Floral patterns & butterflies for your bed linens
Walker's 942 - Playful kitten and pup
Weldon's 24630 - Budgies
Weldon's 24770 - Butterflies

Notes:
If there's a link, I have posted the pattern and shared a design or two.
^ = uncut sheet
* = some transfers missing from set
AMs = Aunt Martha's
WB = The Workbasket