New Old Book

I love old craft books. I usually buy them at the thrift store so they are quite affordable. Old craft books are great sources for crafting techniques and for inspiration. The discovery of a new book is always thrilling because I never know if I'm going to find something interesting or nothing at all. My favorite find of all time is Vivienne Colle's Make-It-Yourself Boutique. It's from the 1960s and describes how to make tons of stuff without a pattern. I don't have access to it right now so I'll have to do another post about it later.

The book I purchased yesterday for $2 at the Out of the Closet thrift store in Pasadena is The New World of Crewel by Lisbeth Perrone. The back of the book has an envelope with the iron-on transfer patterns still in it. I suspect the book was never used despite the tear on the cover. I've been wanting an embroidery or crewel book as a reference for different kinds of stitches and this one fits the bill.

The book has pictures of lots of different projects but I don't know what I want to do first. I'll have to let it percolate until the right project comes to mind. One project I like in particular is the shirt but I think I would embroider the front instead.


For some modern crewel inspiration I recommend checking out Katherine Shaugnessy's crewel designs. I heard about her on the Craftsanity podcast, which I love! So check that out too.