Free Printable Fashion History Illustration: Victorian Lady Travelers at a Train Station 1 (1872)

Travel is such a wonderful experience! Especially when you forget you are traveling. Then you will enjoy whatever you see and do. Those who look into themselves when they travel will not think about what they see. In fact, there is no distinction between the viewer and the seen. You experience everything with the totality of yourself, so that every blade of grass, every mountain, every lake is alive and is a part of you. When there is no division between you and what is other, this is the ultimate experience of traveling.
― Liezi, Lieh-tzu, A Taoist Guide to Practical Living
A vintage fashion illustration from 1872 showing a group of Victorian ladies at the train station. The veiled lady buying tickets at the booth seems to be nursing an injury to her left wrist.

From left to right, the costumes are: (1) a fawn-colored delaine dress; (2) a gray pongee dress with dark gray mantelet; (3) a black gros grain suit; (4) a brown serge dress with paletot; and (5) a gray poplin suit with cape. Original illustration is from my personal collection of antique Harper's Bazar magazines.

You can download the free high-res 10" x 8" @ 300 ppi JPEG without any watermark for collage art, graphic design crafting or scrapbooking projects by clicking here.


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Free Printable Fashion History Illustration: Straw and Neapolitan Hats for Summer, 1872

I know I am but summer to your heart, and not the full four seasons of the year.
― Edna St. Vincent Millay

A collection of straw and Neapolitan hat designs for summer of 1872. From my personal collection of antique Harper's Bazar magazines.

You can download the free printable fashion history illustration as a 12" x 9" @ 300 ppi JPEG here for use in collage art, graphic design or scrapbooking projects.


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Free Printable Fashion History Illustration: Edwardian Lady Travelers on Grand Tour 1 (1904)

A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles.
― Tim Cahill
A vintage fashion illustration from 1904 showing two Edwardian ladies touring the grounds of a European castle. I love the sun motifs on the outfit of the lady carrying the parasol. Original illustration found in my personal collection of La Mode Illustrée.

You can download the free high-res 8" x 12" @ 300 ppi JPEG without any watermark for collage art, graphic design crafting or scrapbooking projects by clicking here.


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Free Printable Fashion History Illustration: Victorian Ladies in the Park 1 (1886)

If you have two friends in your lifetime, you're lucky.
If you have one good friend, you're more than lucky.
― S.E. Hinton

Antique illustration of two Victorian ladies dressed in 1886 promenade costumes for a stroll in the park. The lady on the left is carrying a fan while the lady on the right is holding a parasol. From my personal collection of La Mode Illustrée.

You can download the free printable 8.5" x 11" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark for collage art, graphic design or scrapbooking projects here.


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Free Printable Fashion History Illustration: Victorian Ladies in Spring Fashions 1 (1892)

Courage is the most important of all the virtues because without courage,
you can't practice any other virtue consistently.
― Maya Angelou
19th century illustration of three Victorian ladies in a living-room. The lady in the centre looks like she has come to a determined and resolute decision. Scanned from my personal collection of La Mode Illustrée.

You can download the free high-res 11" (w) x 9.75" (h) @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark here. Can be used for altered art/collage, graphic design or scrapbooking.


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Free Printable Fashion History Illustration: Spring Hats for Young Victorians, 1892

For in every adult there dwells the child that was,
and in every child there lies the adult that will be.
― John Connolly, The Book of Lost Things
Antique black and white engraving from 1892 that shows a collage of young Victorians in hats or head wear for spring. Beautifully drawn with great detail. Scanned from my personal collection of La Mode Illustrée.

You can download the free printable 8.5" x 11" @ 300 ppi JPEG without any watermark here. Great for altered art, graphic design or scrapbooking projects.


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Free Vintage Real Photo Postcard (RPPC): Golden Edwardian Lady Reclining on a Sofa with Roses

There is no exquisite beauty… without some strangeness in the proportion.
― Edgar Allan Poe
A vintage, hand-tinted real photo postcard (RPPC) from 1917. This one shows a young Edwardian woman reclining on a sofa, holding white roses in her left hand.

Wonderful graphic for cardmaking, crafts, collage art, journal or scrapbook covers, and in various other graphic design projects. You can download the free high-res 8" (w) x 5" (h) @ 300 ppi JPEG without any watermark here.


All digitized work by Victorian Trends.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Free for personal use only. Please link back to VictorianTrends.com as your source when sharing or publishing.

Free Printable Fashion History Illustration: Victorian Lady in Dolly Varden House Dress, 1873

Fashion history illustration from a March 1873 issue of Harper's Bazar (the name change to Harper's "Bazaar" occurred with the November 1929 issue). The image shows a young woman in a Dolly Varden house dress.
A Dolly Varden dress is generally understood to be a woman's outfit fashionable from about 1869 to 1875 in Britain and the United States. It is named after a character in Charles Dickens.

You can download this free fashion illustration as high-res 4" x 5" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark here. Can be used in artmaking, scrapbooking or as part of a graphic design project.


All digitized work by Victorian Trends.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Free for personal use only. Please link back to VictorianTrends.com as your source when sharing or publishing.

Free Printable Fashion History Illustration: Victorian Lady in Black Tulle Low-Necked Blouse, 1872

Fashion history illustration from a March 1872 issue of Harper's Bazar (the name change to Harper's "Bazaar" occurred with the November 1929 issue). The image shows a young lady wearing a black tulle low-necked blouse.

You can download this free fashion illustration as high-res 4" x 6" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark here. Can be used in collage art, for junk journaling or as part of a graphic design project.


All digitized work by Victorian Trends.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Free for personal use only. Please link back to VictorianTrends.com as your source when sharing or publishing.

Free Printable Fashion History Illustration: Victorian Lady in White Silk Tulle and Blue Satin Bertha, 1872

Antique fashion history illustration from a March 1872 issue of Harper's Bazar (the name change to Harper's "Bazaar" occurred with the November 1929 issue). The image shows a young lady wearing white silk tulle and a blue satin bertha.

You can download this free fashion illustration as high-res 4" x 5" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark here. Can be used in collage art, for junk journaling or as part of a graphic design project.


All digitized work by Victorian Trends.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Free for personal use only. Please link back to VictorianTrends.com as your source when sharing or publishing.

Free Printable Fashion History Illustration: A VictorianFamily Visit, 1893

Fashion plate from the January 1893 issue of La Famille.

You can download this free fashion illustration as a 4" x 6" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark here for cardmaking, collage, junk journal or scrapbooking projects.


All digitized work by Victorian Trends.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Free for personal use only. Please link back to VictorianTrends.com as your source when sharing or publishing.

Free Printable Fashion History Illustration: Victorian Ladies on an Early Spring Walk, 1867

Never yet was a springtime, when the buds forgot to bloom.
― Margaret Elizabeth Sangster
A vintage fashion illustration from the March 1867 issue of Peterson's showing four young women going for an early spring walk.

You can download the free high-res 8" x 6" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark here for use in a collage, junk journal projects, embellishing scrapbook pages or simply print for tabletop and wall art.


All digitized work by Victorian Trends.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Free for personal use only. Please link back to VictorianTrends.com as your source when sharing or publishing.

Free Printable Fashion History Illustration: Edwardian Lady in Purple and Yellow Travel Outfit, 1904

There’s something about arriving in new cities,
wandering empty streets with no destination.
I will never lose the love for the arriving, but I'm born to leave.
― Charlotte Eriksson, Empty Roads & Broken Bottles: In Search for The Great Perhaps
A vintage fashion illustration from 1904 showing an Edwardian lady wearing a beautifully made purple and yellow travel outfit. For additional flourish, she is carrying a spectacularly luxurious muff.

Original illustration found in my personal collection of La Mode Illustrée. You can download the free high-res 8" x 12" @ 300 ppi JPEG without any watermark for cardmaking, collage, crafting or scrapbooking projects by clicking here.


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19th Century Public Domain Poetry: Varieties in Verse from 1867

These two verses were originally published in either the May or June 1867 issue of Godey's (the book is falling apart so the pages are jumbled together). The verses were translated into English from Italian and French, respectively. I am not quite sure if the translations were accurate as the poems seem to be missing something?

The Italian verse reads:
With joyful notes birds greet the spring,
And fairest flowers their odors fling;
But wicked love pretends to sigh
'Cause the fair things so soon must die.
Poor child! cries spring, thy happiest hours―
Will they last longer than my flowers?
The French verse is called "With a Lock of Gray Hair" and goes like this:

Despise it not because 'tis gray,
Nor cast the gift with scorn away.
It tells of love as warm and true
As ever youthful bosom knew;
But, purer far than love of youth,
It needs no blush to own its truth,
Nor faltering tongue a love to tell,
Such as might angels' bosoms swell.
You can download the verses on the original book paper as a free high-res JPEG without a watermark here. Lovely as a a vintage scrap to embellish a card, collage, junk journal or scrapbook page.


Public domain poem is from my personal collection. All digitized work by Victorian Trends.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Free for personal use only. Please link back to VictorianTrends.com as your source when sharing or publishing.

Free Printable Fashion History Illustration: Edwardian Lady Traveler in Velvet Outfit, 1904

It is a wise thing to be polite; consequently, it is a stupid thing to be rude.
To make enemies by unnecessary and willful incivility,
is just as insane a proceeding as to set your house on fire.
For politeness is like a counter ― an avowedly false coin,
with which it is foolish to be stingy.
― Arthur Schopenhauer, The Wisdom of Life and Counsels and Maxims
A vintage fashion illustration from 1904 showing an elegant Edwardian lady wearing an impressive velvet travelling outfit with a mantelet decorated with prominently placed tassels and a skirt with a bold infinity-loop design. For extra swagger, she has decided to accessorize with a tightly rolled parasol that could potentially be used to school anyone who might try something vulgar.

Original illustration found in my personal collection of La Mode Illustrée. You can download the free ready-to-print 6.75" x 12" @ 300 ppi JPEG without any watermark for cardmaking, collage, crafting or scrapbooking projects by clicking here.


All digitized work by Victorian Trends.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Free for personal use only. Please link back to VictorianTrends.com as your source when sharing or publishing.

Free Printable Fashion History Illustrations: A Pair of Fancy Hats for Spring, 1875

Spring: a lovely reminder of how beautiful change can truly be.
― Anonymous
A pair of vintage fashion illustrations showing fancy hats for spring from 1875. The lady on the left is wearing a hat of black satin-finished chip while the lady on the right is modelling a hat made of dark steel-gray French chip.

You can download the free high-res 12" x 10" @ 300 ppi JPEG here for use in collage art, crafting projects or to embellish scrapbooking pages.


All digitized work by Victorian Trends.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Free for personal use only. Please link back to VictorianTrends.com as your source when sharing or publishing.

Free Printable Fashion History Illustration: Victorian Lady in Carriage Dress, 1860

A page from Godey's Lady's Book in 1860 (I think it is from June or July? I am not sure as the cover is missing). The description for the dress reads:

The Agatha. ― Dress of pale Pomona green taffetas; the under skirt having a horizontal trimming of black silk set on with a slight fulness (sic); the upper skirt has a diagonal trimming to correspond; corsage square, pagoda sleeves, rather long and flowing.

At the top of the page is an embroidery pattern for a child's skirt.

You can download a free 4" x 6" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark here for cardmaking, collage, crafts or junk journal projects.


All digitized work by Victorian Trends.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Free for personal use only. Please link back to VictorianTrends.com as your source when sharing or publishing.

Free Printable Fashion History Illustration: Victorian Lady in a Gored Robe, 1860

A page from Godey's Lady's Book in 1860 (I think it is from July or August; I am not sure as the cover is missing). The description for the dress reads:

La Princesse. ― This carriage or home-dress is another variation of the gored robe, the skirt coming in at the waist in broad, square plaits; the stuff or material for this season of the year is a light reps cloth, of silk or worsted in naroow, horizontal stripes; flat bows of silk, the prevailing color of the dress. Bonnet of Cobourg straw, with a Clotilde veil.

At the top of the page is an embroidery pattern for a shirt bosom.

You can download a free 4" x 6" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark here for cardmaking, collage, crafts or junk journal projects.


All digitized work by Victorian Trends.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Free for personal use only. Please link back to VictorianTrends.com as your source when sharing or publishing.

Free Vintage Real Photo Postcard (RPPC): Romantic Couple in the Garden (Vintage Valentine's Day Greeting)

I no longer believed in the idea of soul mates, or love at first sight. But I was beginning to believe that a very few times in your life, if you were lucky, you might meet someone who was exactly right for you. Not because he was perfect, or because you were, but because your combined flaws were arranged in a way that allowed two separate beings to hinge together.
― Lisa Kleypas, Blue-Eyed Devil
A vintage, hand-tinted French real photo postcard (RPPC) from c1910. This one shows a young Edwardian couple in the garden, obviously enjoying in each other's company as they whisper sweet nothings to one another.

You can download the high-res 6" x 4" @ 300 ppi JPEG without any watermark here for a Valentine's Day card but can also be used in a romance-themed junk journal or scrapbooking project.


All digitized work by Victorian Trends.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Free for personal use only. Please link back to VictorianTrends.com as your source when sharing or publishing.

Free Printable Fashion History Illustration: Edwardian Lady Travelers in Brown and Purple, 1904

At one time or another we are all called to leave the safety of our homes,
the certainty of what we know, the illusions of who we are.
Not everyone will heed this call, of course.
And those who do will risk losing themselves completely.
But if we choose to ignore the invitation,
we risk never knowing who we might have become.
We risk dying without knowing what it is to live.
― Thomas Lloyd Qualls, Painted Oxen
A vintage illustration from 1904 showing two Edwardian lady travelers dressed for a winter journey.The lady on the left is in a brown suit, with a matching brown bow in her hat while the lady on the right is wearing a heavy tan jacket over a purple dress, and is holding a muff to keep her hands warm (and perhaps to conceal a weapon). Both ladies look pretty serious - they seem like they are embarking on a quest?

This illustration was found in my personal collection of La Mode Illustrée. You can download the free ready-to-print 6" x 9" @ 300 ppi JPEG without any watermark for crafts, collage graphic design projects by clicking here.


All digitized work by Victorian Trends.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Free for personal use only. Please link back to VictorianTrends.com as your source when sharing or publishing.

Victorian Childhood Games: Cat's Cradle

This illustration and the accompanying description of a popular Victorian childhood game of Cat's Cradle was taken from an 1875 issue of Frank Leslie's Lady's Magazine.

I know this doesn't really have any relevance to the game but a phrase in the article (which I highlighted above) jumped out at me as I was reading it: "Shades of Verstegan - living soul of Richard Grant White, come to our rescue!" I find the sentence rather intriguing - I don't think I've ever read or heard anyone use that phrase before. Isn't it marvelously Victorian? I'm still hazy as to what it actually means! If anyone could shed some light on that turn of phrase? I would be delighted if you do.

Quick links to characters named:
[1] Verstegan
[2] Richard Grant White

For those who have not actually played Cat's Cradle before and would be interested in the steps, here is an easy-to-follow Youtube video from MomsMinivan:




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Free Printable Fashion History Illustration: Victorian Ladies in Winter Coats 1 (1886)

For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others;
for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness;
and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone.
— Audrey Hepburn
Antique illustration of two Victorian ladies in fur-trimmed winter coats out for a walk. From my personal collection of La Mode Illustrée.

You can download the free high-res 8" x 10" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark for cardmaking, mixed media collage or junk journal projects here.


All digitized work by Victorian Trends.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Free for personal use only. Please link back to VictorianTrends.com as your source when sharing or publishing.

Free Printable Fashion History Illustration: Victorian Lady in Floral Frame 1 (1886)

Words can sometimes, in moments of grace, attain the quality of deeds.
― Elie Wiesel
Antique illustration of a Victorian lady with fur-trimmed bodice carrying an ostrich plume fan, enclosed within a floral frame, with a background of old vintage paper. From my personal collection of La Mode Illustrée.

You can download the free high-res 8" x 10" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark for mixed media collage or junk journal projects here.


All digitized work by Victorian Trends.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Free for personal use only. Please link back to VictorianTrends.com as your source when sharing or publishing.