Vintage Sewing Pattern Buying Bonanza

I'm going on a bit of a vintage dress pattern buying bonanza this week. I'm going to Canada next week and can order items and get them shipped there, hence saving me money on shipping to my home in New Zealand. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!

eBay Vintage Dress Patterns

I also have to admit that, up until last week, I had never used eBay.

This is mainly because I find the interface entirely muddled, badly designed and confusing (compare it to the lovely clean design of www.trademe.co.nz - our New Zealand equivalent), but also because shipping costs to New Zealand and the terrible US/NZ dollar exchange rate push the costs of most things in the 'luxury' category for me.

However...

I've been looking around for vintage sewing patterns and there are precious few to find locally, but I've discovered a treasure trove of patterns on eBay for pretty good prices (US$5.99 and only a few dollars for shipping).

So I've now made my first ever eBay purchase - two lovely 1940s sewing patterns:

1940s dress vintage sewing pattern from eBay

1940s blouse and dress pattern from eBay

I'm also bidding on a third dress which finishes in a few days, and a very cool book from 1935 on dress design (which I don't think I'll get, as there seem to be a number of other very interested bidders with deeper pockets and less exchange rate woes).

There are quite a few websites around selling vintage sewing patterns, but with some asking upwards of US$40 per pattern, I think eBay is a great place to find things at a much better price if you're willing to trawl around a bit more.

Vintage Pattern Lending Library

Another recent online discovery is the Vintage Pattern Lending Library, a lovely institution that preserves and recreates vintage sewing patterns.

You can join as a member and borrow patterns (hence the name), but non-members can also purchase copies of patterns (they are around US$12-15 each for non-members).

I've got my eye on these two and am wondering whether to spluge...

1920s dress pattern from the Vintage Pattern Lending Library

1930s dress pattern from the Vintage Pattern Lending Library

Decades of Style

And, of course, people who read this blog will know I've been a fan of the Decades of Style site and am keen to try out their patterns. There are so many lovely items to choose from, like the 1930s button dress, the 1940s empire waist trousers and the 1940s New England dress.


I love them all - it's so hard to choose!