sarah in nyc

During my adventure at the Antiques Center last Sunday, one of the vendors I visited specialized in antique and vintage lingerie. Her stall was jam-packed with silk slips decorated with beautiful lace. Hung from the rafters was an 1890's kimono, not the Japanese kind but how the term was used in the late 19th, early 20th centuries a fancy embellished bathrobe in this case with roses formed over large balls of batting. There were undergarments I had seen described in my oldest sewing books but had never seen in real life. There were corset covers and brassieres ( not what we think of as a bra today but an undergarment that was designed to hold one in and protect you from your corset) and camisoles.  There were bevies of bedjackets, stacks of beautifully beaded sweaters, nightgowns, hostess gowns, half slips, full slips, garter belts seamed stocking. I had no need of any of the beautiful things in the store.  The owner began to chat with me as I admired her collecti...

The other day I came home and my doorman handed me a box marked "To Sarah from Esther". Esther came into my life through my cousin Bonnie. Esther was a co-worker of my cousin's. Esther had a new baby and Bonnie thought that I would know of a good family daycare in the neighborhood. Esther called. It was the first of many conversations. Her daughter went to the same family daycare my oldest attended as a toddler and then to the same daycare center my boys attended and overlapped with both of them and then to the same elementary school as my boys. There are people from those years of being the mother of young children where you have an intense relationship for a few years and as life gets in the way, it becomes hard to schedule time together and eventually you drift away. Esther has remained a friend, despite having moved to the burbs.  We usually get together when she has her haircut back in the old neighborhood. We generally meet for lunch and talk about our kids ...

A few years ago I bought several volumes of this excellent twelve volume sewing course be Isabel De Nyse Conover. I have been on the lookout for the missing volumes  since I made my purchase. I had found individual volumes priced at what I had paid for the 8 volumes that I owned.  I really wanted the other volumes. Luckily the entire set ( missing the first 5o pages of the first volume) appeared on eBay. I was a successful bidder. I am delighted to own the missing volumes.   While I was reading Lesson 5 a piece of paper fluttered out from between the pages. It was a 1920’s advertisement for patterns. I am delighted that the ad includes the cutting diagrams for the patterns. One feature of flapper dresses was pleats or gathers over the hips.The skirt was cut wide over the hips, a slit  was cut and the additional width was gathered or pleated into the body of the dress. This book is based on the incredibly simple concept.   I am thinki...

 Apron illistrations from Smart Sewing- 1949  My own take on the domestic goddess uniform-My apron is knee length on me. Sometimes it seems as if you can’t have a sewing blog without featuring aprons.  My mother never, ever wore an apron. My father though, used to wear a big denim, butcher’s apron when he baked bread. For lots of the women about half a generation younger than I am who are sewing and blogging about it, aprons seem to evoke a sort of “days of yore domesticity”. lots of these blogging young women have taken on apron wearing in a tongue in cheek sort of a way. A few years back I had made myself a butcher’s apron that didn’t quite work. but I wore it when I baked bread. One of my sisters had given me the 1949 edition of “Smart Sewing” an annual magazine with nifty sewing projects. I fell in love with the darted aprons made out of a bias square of fabric and finished off with a big ruffle. I wanted an apron that would provide more coverage for bread ...

One of the blogs that I read regularly, is http://www.littlegreybungalow.blogspot.com/ . I'm not into cats and there are regular postings of cute cat pictures.  But she has regular postings of illustrations and directions from vintage sewing and hand craft magazines from early in the 20th century. Several postings came from this publication, put out in 1949. In this 80 page magazine format publication are excellent directions and diagrams for about twenty differnt garments for women as well as several outfits for kids  and some good home dec projects. If you go on the little grey bungalow site, and click on the sewing postings,you can access all of the wonderful photographs from the book. The clothing projects were designed by Francis Blondin, author of  The New Encyclodedia of Modern Sewing. The Wise Encyclopedia of Modern Sewing by France Blandin by France Blandin I'm a big fan of Ms. Blondin. She is a smart cookie with a breezy writing style and an excellent ...