a heritage of sewing
Happy belated Easter everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful and relaxed Holy weekend. Mine was mildly productive, which is relaxing in itself in the satisfaction it brings. However, the projects I worked on each need some finishing details, so I'll hold off for the moment (although there's a hint of it in the picture above).
In the meantime, I thought I'd share with you some of the vintage sewing books in my collection. I received all but one of these in a batch from my maternal grandmother when I was about 10 or 11 years old. Of course I was too young to appreciate them at the time, but still they intrigued me with elegant illustrations, antiquated instructions, and the overwhelming promise of making something yourself.
I suppose one thing that first fascinated me about them is how real they made the past. While very obviously written to women of another era with different pursuits and sensibilities, the books, which I now held in my hand, addressed these women as contemporaries. They addressed them with the authority of a text that would be used and referenced regularly, and yet with the warmth of one that is regarded as a welcome friend and domestic houseguest. The women that read and referenced them, while not modern masters of the marketplace, were busy nonetheless, and yet they took the time to instill detail and integrity into every garment they made.
In any case, I kept them, and grow more in love with them year after year. The one below is a particular gem, sophisticated to the point of dictatorialism (not to mention its high dosage of Singer propaganda). I leave you with a typical quote from its pages:
A sewing room, fully equipped, is ideal for real joy in sewing. Your equipment should be the best you can afford, for good tools are the inspiration for good work. While your sewing maching and its accessories naturally form the foundation of your sewing room, the other items listed here are highly desirable for home sewing satisfaction.