Verlag Otto Beyer and a little Crazy Patch

In 1890 Otto Beyer started his publishing house in Leipzig Germany under the name Verlag Otto Beyer. It appears that Otto Beyer published numerous magazines for every thing from hobbies, cooking family, leisure and sewing. At its height in publishing after some buyouts and mergers all magazines combined publishing circulation was around 768,500 a year.

On June 30th 1946, the Verlag Otto Beyer was expropriated (verb, past tense, to take away from its owner for public use or benefit) and placed under the administration of the city of Leipzig. The publishing for woman's interests was established on July 1st, 1946.

Fast forward to the end of the DDR and it appears some or all parts were bought by Burda Media Group. Google searches make it hard to follow what happened to this publication but suffice it to say that in its DDR form, it no longer exists.

Now the reason I did the Google search was that I found a some interesting vintage DDR magazine, pamphlets really,  in a second hand store.

The publication is a two-sided cover sheet and a fold out pattern inside. Most of the designs are utilitarian in nature and the publications are black and white.  I like to collect these since every once in a while I find something made from a pattern and it is fun to do a comparison to the pattern. Since patterns appear to have been limited in the DDR, it means I might find actual things made from these patterns. Of course the designs are not very original, but I am on the hunt now to see what I find.  In my Google search it was also nice to read about the other publications prior to 1946 so I can keep an eye out for them as well since German publications are new to me.

Now for sewing. I started a new crazy patch quilt, well bed runner actually. Most of my stuff is in storage right now, but some I brought here. I have been on the hunt for fun buttons and other things to put on the blocks with some success. In a button store here in Berlin (bummer, not second hand store) I found these:

Mother of pearl buttons, how pretty! The ruler shown is in inches but the button comes in two sizes, the other smaller than the one shown. I am not sure where they will go on the quilt, but they are going somewhere!

In my stash I have here in Berlin are things that came from France, I have some motifs I was hoping to use. This one was the first that jumped out of the stash onto one of the blocks.

Here it is in its new home on one of the crazy parch blocks:

A friend in the United States (Hi Mary Ellen!) gave me what appears to be a man's handkerchief with a beautiful initial "J" embroidered in blue. It could be a woman's handkerchief, but it is really plain except for the rectangle of embroidery and the handkerchief itself is rather masculine looking. 

It was pure carnage, the poor thing did not stand a chance when faced with sharp scissors:

 Here is what is left on one of the blocks:

The tatting you see on the upper right is modern and Chinese and the embroidery is a work in process.