Vintage Needlepoint Charts of Bowls and Baskets

An iconic design for samplers was the footed bowl, or urn. Sometimes the design lost its foot and was just a low bowl. Sometimes it became a shapely basket.

You see these in lots of vintage designs. As decals they might brighten kitchen canisters. As quilts, the many colors of flowers become the basis of thrifty scrap quilts.

You also find these designs in charted embroidery. This week we have three Anne Orr adaptations, one of each bowl style.

Fruit Bowl

This fruit bowl is in a footed bowl. It has in it the iconic fruit you find in vintage decals of fruit bowls: apples, grapes, and pears. Because these fruits come in many colors, you can vary them to suit your tastes.

The bowl is supposed to be “steel blue” but you could make it any two darker colors,with the darker replacing the black as outline or shadows.

This design was charted with two others to make an afternoon tea set. The bowl would have been stitched on the tablecloth. The accompanying small groups of fruit would go on the napkins.

Carnations in Bowl

Even if you like carnations you may not have seen ones that are pink and yellow. The old-faahioned single carnation, called a pink (and yes, the color is named for them as are pinking shears and pinked edges) does come in this color combination. If you want something at little less bright replace the yellow with a lighter pink or white.

This bowl does not have a foot, but instead is low enough to plant the flowers. I inherited several bowls like this from my mother-in-law. You can make the bowl any color you like.

There was no notation about where this design could be used. Because it came with a single carnation in a simple border, I’m thinking it was supposed to be a valance.

Corner Basket

Turning a design so that it works in a corner is difficult. The note in the book says that these small motifs are for “handkerchiefs, scarves, and napkins.” All of them are filet crochet charts, but they could be more generally useful in other types of handwork.

Typical of filet crochet, this design is in a single color. You could vary it by making different clusters of stitches different colors. If you want to do it as a needlepoint version of filet crochet, follow these conversion instructions.

Come back next week for more great recharted vintage designs!