I buy vintage cowboy boot advertising because the stitches inspire me.

This is an original 1965 print ad for Tony Lama cowboy boots, with photos showing 12 stitch styles, and several famous wearers of the boots: Slim Pickens, Buck Owens, Harry Charters, Ardith Bruce and many other back-in-the-day rodeo stars. (Click to zoom pages 1, 2, 3, & 4.)

Here, my favorite stitch patterns are THE STOCKMAN (p. 3) and THE FANCY FOOT (p. 2). They fill the tops with good angles and curves.

I think THE BULLWHIP on page 3 is a dud. Yuck. It’s boring, and bet you anything, those boot tops are going to sag and wrinkle because of the sparse horizontal stitching at the ankle… but that’s just my opinion.

Here are the eBay searches I use most often:

• cowboy boot advertising
• cowboy boot catalogs