This discovery is a gem. Look at these lovely free French embroidery patterns I just love the designs.
Yes, they are lovely, they are free and there is a whole book of them!
I discovered Les Fables de La Fontaine, on the Antique Pattern Library web site. Scroll to F and this book is listed as
Fables de La Fontaine, Les.
Broderies & Ouvrages de Dames Album No. 4, 32 Fables en carre de 26 cent. donné en grandeur d’exécution.
Paris, M Orsoni, [c. 1921], 33 pgs
It is delivered as a PDF file which means you need Acrobat Reader to open this file. You can download a free reader on the Acrobat site. With this site they really insist on you having the latest version and if you don’t the file does not open. See the Antique pattern Library troubleshooting instructions at the top of the Catalogue page.
Unfortunately often I have push the reality button hard and pull back from the impulse to grab fabric and thread. But there is only so many hours in a day and the holiday season is nearly upon us. The breaks are fully applied but these designs are just so delightful and are definitely on my “someday” list. Actually its not a list but a folder on my hard drive.
I would love to find the time and excuse to stitch them.
I can see many of these patterns worked not only as cut work embroidered linen which of course is what they were designed for, but easily adapted to applique work on a quilt. Or a mix of both techniques could be worked on a crazy quilt.
I dont have grandchildren otherwise a series would look great running up the side of a growth chart.
Anyway I thought I would share as part of Friday Freebies which are a regular series in which I highlight free resources online, free patterns and links that are of interest to fiber folks.
Hi Sharon. I just saw your post…someone DID stitch these patterns just have a look here http://tuttoricamo.blogspot.it/2012/07/un-concorso-da-fiaba.html
Oh thanks for letting me know they look lovely!
Such a wonderful ‘find’, Sharon. Thank you so much for letting us know. I may have to try at least one :}
De bien beaux dessins, certains représentes les fables de La Fontaine.
They’re super-sweet, aren’t they? And with cutwork too, wow! As I like cutwork and can just about make out French (with 2 local French friend to help with any tricky points!), I’m downloading it as I type…
Thanks for the great link!=)
these are wonderful~!!~LOVE the growth chart idea~!
THANK YOU SHARON.
🙂
libbyQ
Sharon, these patterns are indeed delightful! I’ve been collecting vintage embroidery patterns for years but have never seen these! Thank you for sharing the link! Pam
Thank you very much for this link Sharon, there is a wealth of inspiration here.