I have a small assortment of vintage sewing books that I started collecting in college. I knew that for our senior year we would have a table to display our portfolios, other work, and decorate however we pleased, in addition to our senior collections. Pretty much from my freshman year on I had a general idea of the theme and color scheme for my senior collection. One of my ideas for my table was to use vintage books as props to add varying heights to display photos and other apparel works (such as the corset I made while attending the London College of Fashion).
This lovely book has loads of chapters with everything from picking the right fabrics to how to baste to time-saving details and pockets. Each chapter has a nice, short description and plenty of both drawn images and photos throughout the book. One thing I love about the book is that there are thorough term definitions scattered through the chapters.
My favorite chapter is "The Fine Art of Mending." To me this is a very relevant chapter, even with the book being published in 1949. The description for the chapter illustrates how it covers a wide range of topics within mending: "Inserted, overlaid, woven-in, pasted and decorative patches. Mending cigarette burns, ragged and long tears, machine mending, invisible darning. Mending sweaters and linens." With fast fashion today it's really easy to talk yourself into getting rid of something if there's even a small issue with it instead of fixing it yourself. I enjoy treating little problems, such as tears or stains, as a puzzle to try and solve. Also, I think it would be excellent to go back to the whole "Make do & Mend" philosophy to combat textile waste and aid in sustainable practices.
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