Vintage4me2... Pattern Storage

I thought I might add a word about patterns and the best way to keep them.  I use plastic sleeves and boards I buy at the comic book store. 

When the pattern comes home to my place, the first thing I do is count and press the pieces.  I put the empty envelope on side of the cardboard and the pattern pieces on the other side.  This keeps the pattern envelope from crumbling and arrests the stress and strain the pattern pieces can cause.  I make my notes about the pattern at the top of the cardboard.  I usually indicate the price I paid, the date, any missing pieces or damage.  If I have an idea about the date it goes up there too. 

If an envelope needs repair tape is the wrong choice because it damages the envelope or pattern pieces so severely.  I use vintage tissue of the same era, which can be found in folding papers included with many patterns. I use acid free glue sticks and back the ripped area with the tissue.  I only repair pattern envelopes if the size or other important information is falling away.  Once I have the pattern preserved in the sleeve it goes in my file according to pattern number and company.

Dating these old treasures can be tricky but here are a few hints I have picked up over the years...

• McCall went to McCall's in 1951 and for the most part they are dated on the back of the envelope or on the envelope flap.  There are a few years that are undated but most of them have dates.  (yippee!).
• Simplicity is dated on the instruction sheet on the back bottom corner. A few years in the late 1930s and late 1950s are not dated but lots of years are.
•  If your pattern has an NRA logo on it, that stood for the Great American Depression's National Recovery Act and was on patterns from 1933 to 1935 when it was declared unconstitutional.
• Mail order patterns are best dated by the envelope. Some show the subscription expiration just above the name on the front of the envelope.  It might look like 12-10-44 or the stamp might give a clue.  Some of them have things in the instructions which let you know that they are from the war year.  I have seen "Conserve for Uncle Sam" and other things that just scream of the Homefront. 

I guess I just want to say that patterns are just such a great window into the past and the lives of our mothers and grandmothers. It is just so cool to be able to find them and preserve them for the next generation!  Enjoy your collection and let me know if you have questions. I have thousands of patterns and catalogs and might just have the nugget of knowledge you are searching for! 

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