Sharing the Joy (or enabling – depending on how you look at it)

I think maybe I mentioned that I kind of like beads. I’m also fairly fond of knitting and crocheting with beads, especially purses. Add to that my fascination with vintage patterns and pattern books and you’ll understand why I was so excited to find the web site for Iva Rose Vintage Reproductions. While there are a few modern patterns for knitted and crocheted bags using seed beads, there aren’t many. But I found a number of them at this site. It’s definitely worth a visit.

In fact, I have a confession to make. As I was writing this blog entry, I went to the web site to get the correct URL. Ummm…in the interest of journalistic integrity, I decided to poke around a little bit to get a wider view of the offerings… and managed to pick out 3 more items to buy!! I haven’t actually bought them…yet.

One word on the books that she offers. Although I believe she does have some original copy books for sale, the majority of them are scanned in and printed out with spiral binding - done very nicely indeed. That won’t necessarily appeal to the hard core collector but it is great for those of us who actually want to make things using the patterns in the books. I have several vintage craft magazines from the 1912-1920 sort of era and the first thing you realize is that the paper is quite fragile and it’s not the easiest thing for practical pattern usage. I love them, don’t get me wrong, but they’re not so much with the practical.

With the Iva Rose’s versions, I can fold them back and just get to work – plus I still get to enjoy the real flavor of the original books because she includes all the pages. Of course, providing the books in this manner allows her to provide them at incredibly affordable pricing – many are less than $10.

One last word. If you’re at all interested in costuming or costume design, there are definitely some books in this collection to interest you, including some on millinery. Also, if you’re interested in some of the more unusual types of crafts such as Teneriffe lace, tatting, Maltese crochet, Cluny lace, drawn thread, Honiton lace, Irish lace or other Victorian and Edwardian crafts, you’ll find books to interest you as well.

So that’s my plug. Go check it out yourself. www.ivarose.com