Great ideas! I have inherited several large vintage pattern collections. While I have made the choice not to keep them, but to document them for my own drafting and sell them, I need to preserve them while they are in my possession. You brought up several points I had never thought about.
These are great tips! I'm not sure if you mentioned this and I missed it, but one thing I would add is that acid free paper is available from artist supply stores, which could be useful as inserts between patterns, instructions, and sleeves :) I do wonder when you think these measures become necessary? Is it once the pattern is 30 years old? 50? Once it's out of print?
Oh that's good to know! As far as when to do it, I think it's up to you! Depends on the resources you have available and how rare they are. Protect the oldest first as they're most delicate, I properly wouldn't invest in protecting 1960s onwards (unless rare/valuable) because its not worth it for me. But a museum would protect even the newest, because they're about making them last as long as is possible
I'm so glad that I'm not the only one who doesn't put patterns back in the same envelope!
I tried it once with a modern pattern when I started out sewing, and immediately thought 'nope, this cannot be the best way'!
Thank you so much for sharing your tips! Looking forward to part 2 :)
It's on its way! Just editing
Great ideas! I have inherited several large vintage pattern collections. While I have made the choice not to keep them, but to document them for my own drafting and sell them, I need to preserve them while they are in my possession. You brought up several points I had never thought about.
Very glad it was helpful! Most of the tips are just things I figured out along the way, so it's nice to be able to pass them along
These are great tips! I'm not sure if you mentioned this and I missed it, but one thing I would add is that acid free paper is available from artist supply stores, which could be useful as inserts between patterns, instructions, and sleeves :)
I do wonder when you think these measures become necessary? Is it once the pattern is 30 years old? 50? Once it's out of print?
Oh that's good to know! As far as when to do it, I think it's up to you! Depends on the resources you have available and how rare they are. Protect the oldest first as they're most delicate, I properly wouldn't invest in protecting 1960s onwards (unless rare/valuable) because its not worth it for me. But a museum would protect even the newest, because they're about making them last as long as is possible
For now I'm much more interested in drafting my own pattern instead of using vintage ones, but this is all solid advice even for new patterns.
Glad to hear it! I love drafting my own patterns too, I often use the vintage ones for inspiration