Buying Vintage Sewing Patterns

I buy vintage sewing patterns for reselling, sewing and collecting.

A general Google search yields any number of vintage pattern sellers-new and old.  Most are simply “sell” sites.  Meaning-they display a pattern, provide a description and state a buying price.

Here’s what you want to know:

1.  Is the sewing pattern complete?

On the surface, one may believe it’s obvious as to why someone would want to know whether or not the  pattern pieces are included and all present.  Most sellers check the patterns for completeness.  Others don’t bother.  Collectors, artists, designers and some sewers don’t care whether or not the pieces are present.  The importance of completeness varies from person to person based on their need for acquiring the pattern.

2.  Is the envelope present?

Pattern envelopes contain valuable construction and fabric information. In fact, on very early sewing patterns all of the construction information and sewing instructions are contained on the actual envelope itself.  No separate instruction sheet is included.  Lose the envelope-you’re on your own.

Alternatively, if you’re a collector or seller the sewing pattern envelope adds value to the pattern.  Furthermore, the artwork, illustrations, graphics and photography depicted on most vintage sewing patterns is absolutely beautiful, if not collectible in itself in some cases.

3.  Are the pieces in good condition?

There are uncut factory fold vintage patterns in existence. They’re generally more expensive than cut or used patterns. However, I’m betting the greater majority of vintage sewing patterns in circulation today are cut because ladies actually used them ‘back in the day’ because they actually made use of the patterns!

Pattern pieces may show pencil, pen, chalk markings, rust from pins, old tape, rips, alterations, tracing wheel indentations and ‘homemade’ pattern pieces-for me these types of “natural” occurrences make sewing patterns more interesting and add to their “historic” charm.

Keep these pointers in mind when making a purchase or starting a collection of your own.