Emma Post Barbour's New Bead Book: 40 Designs of Beaded Bags and Accessories

Originally published in 1924, this Book of New Bead Work with Designs and Adaptations by Emma Post Barbour contains 40 stunning designs for the roaring 1920s beaded bags and accessories. There are patterns for crochet, knitting, needlework, loom work, weaving and braiding. All projects come with color illustrations of finished articles, and complete instructions for working.

Book Excerpt:

From remote antiquity has come the use of beads for personal adornment. A comparison of the beadwork found in the ancient tombs of Egypt with that in vogue at the present time is proof conclusive of the fascination the bright pieces of glass, pottery, metal, bone, ivory, wood, jet, amber, coral, etc., have always held for mankind. Savage tribes used beads as a basis of barter, and wampum (beads made of shell) served our own American Indians for money and ornament. In certain parts of Africa beads evidently of Egyptian or Phoenician origin are occasionally found embedded in the earth. These are supposed to have been used as a medium of trade by the ancients and are greatly prized.

Since the fourteenth century the manufacture of beads has been a regular industry in Venice, and there are now a number of European countries engaged in bead production. In our own time the fashioning of beaded articles is not a fad; it is more than a love of adornment -- it is artistry; there is a certain charm about the combining of the colors which are made more beautiful by the play of light on the surface of the beads. In our military hospitals beadwork whiles away many otherwise weary hours for the convalescents, combining the making of articles for which they receive compensation with a very pleasant pastime.

So, in presenting this guide to the fashioning of a small number among the thousands of articles which can be made through the use of beads, we wish to leave with you this thought -- that beadwork is always worthwhile; though fashion may change there is always a return to the beaded; the artistic work of your hands today will give you much satisfaction while the vogue is strong, and a work of art always lives, becoming enhanced by age in both value and sentiment.

Patterns and instructions for:

• The Elisabethe No.101 -- A Smart Knitted Bag of Ample Size which You Will Enjoy Carrying
• La Vogue No.527 -- A Crocheted Dewdrop Bag
• The Miser No.509 -- A Colorful Crocheted Bag
• Rosebud Dewdrop No.974 -- Easily Made but Very Effective
• The Matinee No.236 -- A Knitted Bag for the Afternoon
• The Egyptian No.384 -- A Very Beautiful Knitted Bag Suggests the Splendors of Old Egypt in Its Design and Coloring
• Lady Gertrude No.625 -- A Crocheted Bag
• Miss Chicago No.711 -- A Crocheted Bag for the Business Woman
• Coin Purse No.734 -- Crocheted
• The Fleur-de-Lis No.787 -- Classic Motifs Developed In Beads on an Exceptionally Attractive Crocheted Bag
• The Vanité No.867 -- A Crocheted Bag
• La Poudre Puff Case No.891 -- Crocheted
• Girdle No.1021 -- Braided
• Dress Ornaments No.1033 & No.1035 -- Needlework
• The Boulevard No.418 -- A Knitted Bag
• Wrist Watch Band No.11 -- Loom Work
• Conventional Necklace No.43 -- Loom Work
• Conventional Neckband No.35 -- Loom Work
• Headband No.93 -- Loom Work
• Rosebud Neckband No.33 -- Loom Work
• Slipper Buckle No.81 -- Loom Work
• Plain Necklace No.782 -- Crocheted
• Spiral Necklace No.783 -- Crocheted
• Plain Bracelet No.782A -- Crocheted
• Spiral Bracelet No.783A -- Crocheted
• Hoop Bracelet No.711 -- Needlework
• Forget-Me-Not Necklace No.1059 -- Needlework
• Watch Fob with Initial No.50 -- Loom Work
• Watch Fob with Fleur-de-Lis Pattern No.55 -- Loom Work
• Lamp Shade Trimming No.1061 -- Needlework
• Hat Ornament with Pendant No.1082 -- Needlework
• Hat Trimming No.1085 -- Needlework
• Bracelet No.4 -- Loom Work
• Bracelet No.1005 -- Braided
• Two-Strand Necklace No.1075 -- Needlework
• Headband No.40 -- Loom Work
• Rings No.22 & No.24 -- Woven
• Sally's Own Dewdrop Bag No.975 -- Needlework