charts are fun! (Artex and Aunt Martha's)

* So, picking up from my last blog post, I bought a large bag of cut-up and unmarked vintage embroidery transfers at the rummage sale. I've been sorting them ever since - piles to keep and piles to sell. I've also been trying to identify the patterns, or at least the company that made them. The companies rarely have their name on the transfer sheet, though, so it's difficult.

There's info and images out there about vintage patterns in general, Vogart pattern envelopes, and currently available Aunt Martha's patterns. Search Flickr, search eBay, search etsy to get photos of envelopes and sometimes the transfer sheets inside. What I wanted was more like a reference - if your transfer says this and is this colour, it's from this company. But I can barely find info on the out of business companies, let alone lists of their patterns or identifying marks on them.

Therefore! My addled out-o'-work mind decided that I should step up to the plate and create my own resource! And share with the wooooooorld!

:dum dum duuuuuum: 

Artex
Liquid embroidery company from the '70s. They sold fabric with the patterns already printed on (like paint-by-numbers) but also sold iron on transfers.
The designs are in solid red ink on large sheets of brown craft paper. There's more than one sheet of paper in the envelope.

Envelope:

 

Text on the transfer sheet:

Sample design:

Aunt Martha's
Still in business (as Colonial Patterns) and selling transfers. They re-release vintage patterns.
The designs are in solid red ink on one large sheet of brown craft paper. 

Envelope:

Text on the transfer sheet:
several different but similar versions.

Block of instructions and reprint of the illustration from the envelope.

Block of instructions with no illustration.

Pattern number on transfer sheet.

Sample design:

And that's the letter A! Overall I plan on covering Butterick, McCall's, Monarch, Simplicity, Superior, Vogart and Walker's hot iron transfers, plus a few mystery patterns. If you have any hints/info/suggestions, let me know!

* All samples are taken from my own collection. Transfer patterns have been cleaned up and background changed to white using Photoshop. As my collection grows, and I find more info, I will keep this page updated.*