At the end of September I shared this delightful 1940’s sewing pamphlet by Coats & Clark as a free PDF.
I was interested in bringing back some of these old patterns. Their style seems to fit perfectly with today’s aesthetic. Toys make all of us nostalgic and these are just so charming. I love the cover photo.
Several members of my private Facebook group, the While She Naps Softie Designers Forum, joined me and I wanted to share a little wrap up of the toys we’ve made from this pamphlet.
I made the horse. He’s so tiny!
And here’s a selection of the toys other members of our group made.
Elephant by Lisa Peel-Bosch.
Kangaroo by Leah Harris
Horse by Kristin Schwarze
Kangaroo by Rachel Kehler
Penguins by Karen Shaw
Breathing new life into these very old, long forgotten patterns with a new community of soft toy makers was a wonderful experience. I hope to do it again sometime with another pattern or book that’s now in the public domain.
Those are delightful! Did you have to hand sew them?
I did! I started out sewing the body on the machine, but the gusset is so narrow that I had to switch to sewing by hand. I actually think all of these patterns would be perfect for hand sewing.
How funny you posted this today, I had been meaning to make one of the toys since you posted in September and I finally got round to making a penguin today! These are all adorable, I am definitely going to try some of the others. Thank you so much for sharing the patterns.
That’s a coincidence! I’d love to see your penguin. I haven’t made that one yet!
They are so cute, I really like all of them. I wish I had children to make softies for but mine is all grown up! I can get away with occasional one though I think. It’s funny how some of them have a vintage look and others a modern one but they all look so individual, even those following the same pattern. Thanks for sharing these with us.
You’re welcome. I hope you have someone to make them for soon!
LOVE – thanks you so much. I love vintage things and will be making some of these too.
Super!
These are just exquisite. They bring back so many memories of things my grandmother sewed for us when we were little. I love that they are hand sewn too. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you so much for posting these delightful patterns online for us! I am having a lot of fun with them, and thanks to a generous friend and his photocopier, I have made the dolls and the horse 50% larger. This means that I could do quite a lot of the sewing by machine. I am looking forward to getting stuck into some more of them, now that the holiday season is nearing it’s end.
Best wishes to you and your followers for a great New Year!
Great idea, Ruth! These patterns are quite small so enlarging them will help with machine sewing.