Vintage needlepoints of flowers in baskets

      "This little bag for holding money or jewels is most useful to any woman blessed with such desirable possessions, and one as pretty as this would appeal to any woman of fastidious tastes as the daintiest and most useful of all simple presents to be made by the clever fingers of an artistic friend." 

      This antique needlepoint pattern of violets in a basket appeared in the Washington Times, Sunday, April 17, 1904.

 

Three lovely designs of cross stitch flowers in baskets.

 

      "No. 718 is a design for embroidering baskets of flowers in cross stitch style. The large basket is five and one-quarter inches in height by five and three-quarters in width; the smaller baskets are four and one-half inches in height by four and one-quarter in width. Transfers for one large and two small baskets are given here.

       In the pattern, all the stitches are crosses but, in the above illustration, some are made single and some fancy as a suggestion for color. The single stitches in the smaller design represent the baskets, the crossed stitches leaves and the fancy stitches flowers, with a few single stitches at the center for darker coloring. In the larger design, the single stitches represent the basket, the crossed stitches the leaves and bow knots and the fancy stitches flowers. As the flowers are conventionalized, any preferred colors can be used.
      The window pane method is perhaps the simplest and is particularly successful when the material is thin such as batiste, lawn, or handkerchief linen, the best plan is to pin the sheet of paper and the material together an hold them up against the window pane and with a sharp pencil trace the design on the fabric, or else lay the material on the pattern on top of a table or other hard surface, and carefully trace the design with a well pointed pencil. The design may also be transferred to heavy material by using a piece of transfer or carbon paper, to be placed between the pattern and cloth, using a sharp pointed pencil to secure a clean line."