Where to find vintage knitting patterns (free archives and more)
Thousands of vintage knitting patterns are online for free. The trouble is finding them. Many are tucked inside digitised newspapers and magazines, museum collections and volunteer-run archives that barely show up in an ordinary web search.
Here are the free public sources worth knowing, with tips for searching each one. All of them are free to search. Some items are free to download; others can only be viewed or requested.
| Archive | Run by | Best for | Era |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trove | National Library of Australia | Patterns printed in Australian newspapers and magazines | Roughly 1930s to 1980s for knitting |
| Papers Past | National Library of New Zealand | Patterns in NZ newspapers and magazines | 19th and 20th century |
| V&A 1940s knitting patterns | Victoria and Albert Museum, London | A small set of wartime British patterns, ready to download | 1940s |
| Antique Pattern Library | A non-profit | Clean scans of out-of-copyright craft booklets | Mostly 19th to mid-20th century |
| Internet Archive | US non-profit digital library | Scanned knitting books, manuals and some magazines | All eras |
| Project Gutenberg | Volunteer digital library | Early knitting books as text | Mostly 19th century |
| Knitting & Crochet Guild collection | UK volunteer-run charity | Identifying British leaflets; copies for members | Early 20th century onwards |
Trove: start here for mid-century patterns
If you only try one archive, make it this one. Trove is the single richest free source for mid-century patterns. The National Library of Australia has digitised huge runs of Australian newspapers and magazines, including a major national women's weekly magazine from 1933 to 1982, and those pages are full of knitting patterns printed for readers.
Searching it:
- Search the magazines and newspapers categories for "knitting" plus a garment word: "jumper", "cardigan", "twin set", "bolero", "pullover".
- Add a size or yarn term to narrow things down: "34 in. bust", "3-ply", "4-ply".
- Use the date filter to pick a decade.
- Look at user-made lists. Volunteers have built themed lists of patterns, including lists for men's, women's and children's patterns and for larger sizes. Searching the lists for "knitting patterns" is a quick way in.
Trove's text comes from machine reading (OCR) of old print, so spellings can be garbled. If a search comes back thin, try variations: "knitted", "knit", "jumper", "jersey".
Papers Past: the New Zealand version
Free, run by the National Library of New Zealand, and covering millions of pages of newspapers plus magazines and journals. Search "knitting" with "jersey" (the usual NZ word) or "cardigan", filter by decade, and you'll turn up patterns and wool-shop advertisements.
The V&A's 1940s patterns
www.vam.ac.uk/articles/1940s-knitting-patterns
The Victoria and Albert Museum offers a small set of original 1940s knitting patterns as free downloads: women's gloves, turbans, sweaters and a balaclava, along with a short history of wartime knitting. It's a small collection, but well scanned and a lovely place to start. Check the V&A's terms of use if you want to do anything other than knit from them.
Antique Pattern Library
A volunteer project, run by a non-profit, that scans craft publications it believes to be in the public domain: knitting, crochet, embroidery and lace. Files are shared under a Creative Commons non-commercial licence. You can download, print and knit from them, but not sell them.
The collection leans towards older material, roughly the 19th century to the early 1950s, and much of it is crochet, lace and embroidery. So it's strongest for those, and for accessories, rather than mid-century fashion knits.
Internet Archive
archive.org/details/victorianknittingmanuals
Thousands of scanned items tagged "knitting", from Victorian manuals to 1970s and 1980s books. One highlight is a collection of digitised Victorian knitting manuals from the University of Southampton's Knitting Reference Library.
Search "knitting" and filter by Texts, then add a decade or a garment ("knitting 1950s", "knitting cardigan"). Watch the access label: some books are free to download, but many newer ones can only be borrowed for a limited time with a free account.
Project Gutenberg
A volunteer library of free ebooks. Its knitting titles are mainly 19th-century manuals, some from as early as the 1840s, as text with a few illustrations. Fascinating for history and for small items; less useful for garments.
The Knitting & Crochet Guild collection (UK)
A volunteer-run UK charity with a very large collection of historic pattern leaflets and magazines. Anyone can search its online catalogue, and it's very useful for identifying a British leaflet and finding out roughly when it was published. Members can request copies for personal use, and some items are downloadable.
Got a pattern name, or just a picture?
Ravelry has a huge pattern database, including many vintage designs that knitters have catalogued from old leaflets and magazines. You'll need a free account to use the full search. It's useful even when the pattern itself isn't available:
- Search by garment and decade, or by any title or number printed on your copy.
- Each pattern page shows a "Published in" source, so you can see which booklet or magazine it came from and what else was in it.
- Project pages show finished garments made by other knitters, which helps you judge fit and spot known errors.
Only have a photo of a sweater? Try a reverse image search. On a phone or computer, use Google Lens (in the Google app or Chrome) or a similar tool to search with the image itself. It may turn up the original cover, a listing, or a database entry with the title. Crop to the garment for the best results.
Off the screen
Plenty of the best finds are still on paper:
- Thrift stores (charity shops): check craft sections and boxes of loose leaflets.
- Car boot sales and jumble sales: patterns often come in bundles for very little.
- House clearances and estate sales: look for knitting bags, which often hide patterns.
- Knitting groups and guilds: many keep a pattern library or hold swaps.
- Your own family: ask older relatives before anything is cleared out.
Come home with a whole box? Our guide on what to do with old knitting patterns covers dating, storing and sorting.
Before you buy yarn: is the scan complete?
Online scans often have bits missing. Check:
- Every page is there. Count them. Sleeves, neckbands and making up are often on the last page.
- All sizes are readable. Faint figures in brackets are easy to lose in a scan.
- Charts and diagrams are included. Look for any mention of "chart", "diagram" or "see page".
- Gauge (tension) is given. Without it you can't match your yarn.
- Yarn amounts and needle sizes are present.
- Linked items are included. Magazine patterns may say "continued on page 42", which might not be in the scan.
- No pages are cropped. Check edges for cut-off numbers.
- Any corrections are noted. Some magazines printed corrections in a later issue. A quick database search can reveal known errors.
One more thing to bear in mind: copyright on old patterns varies by country and by publication, and "old" doesn't necessarily mean "free to use". Archives make patterns available on their own terms, so check before copying, selling or sharing beyond your own knitting.
Once you've found one
You'll usually need to translate it: needle sizes into mm, ply into a modern yarn weight, a single 34 in bust size into yours. Our old needle sizes tool, vintage yarn calculator and resizing guide will help with all three.
Or skip the hunting and the maths. Our patterns are rebuilt from the original written instructions for your size (US 4–24 / UK 8–28, 32–52 in bust), your yarn and your gauge, and every one was chosen and checked by a knitter. Questions go to support@vintagetomodernknits.com, where a real person answers. And if you love the hunt, the archives above will keep you busy for years.
Keep reading: Found a box of old knitting patterns? · Why vintage patterns go wrong · Vintage knitting abbreviations explained · Old needle size converter
Last updated 2026-10-11.