For today's Friday Needlework Site of the Week I offer you the Antique Pattern Library. If you haven't seen it yet, it will blow you away!

Basically, antique needlework books are scanned and posted online--and the selections are amazing. Although the books are in the public domain, the scans are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license. This means you can download and use the patterns for free, although there are a few "conditions of use" that are of interest if you plan to make and sell work from these patterns. (It's nothing overly complicated; it's all spelled out on the home page, so take a look.)

The patterns are in PDF format, so you'll need Acrobat; and if you have dial-up, loading the books may take awhile. But the wait is worth it.

The site offers a thorough and helpful catalog page listing every title along with a description that includes the needlework techniques covered in the book. (As the instructions point out, you can use your "Find" function to locate a specific technique that interests you. It's also fun simply to browse.)

Seemingly every type of embroidery is covered, plus crochet, knitting, tatting and other lacemaking techniques, and even a few references to quilting. Projects and patterns by such luminaries as Orr, Dillmont, Beeton, Priscilla Publishing, and Needlecraft present such a trove of gorgeous, intriguing designs that you literally won't know which to pick first.

Remember these are antique designs and patterns, reflecting everything from 19th century fashion to art noveau designs and 1920s needle arts. Instructions and stitches may vary from what is commonly used today, so keep that in mind. However, many charts are adaptable to various techniques (a filet crochet chart could be used for pattern knitting, cross-stitch, or beading, for example).

Check it out--and have a great time exploring

--Nancy