Home Sewing

Home Sewing in 1929

The picture is from the cover of a small book entitled, 'Shortcuts to Home Sewing - The Modern Singer Way'.  This is one of the books my sister sent over to me when she lived in the USA.  She volunteered in a local charity bookshop and was able to find wonderful vintage knitting, sewing and cookery books for my collection.

Years ago I used to do a lot of home sewing and made nearly all my own clothes.  Never as good as my mum and my sister, I could get by.  More recently I have lost the interest, and apparently lost the knack.  The last two skirts I made came straight off the sewing machine and into the waste bin, so dire was the product.  The language was something terrible.  There's a dress in my wardrobe with a long zip at the back that will not go in correctly although I have taken it out and put it back in three times. 

Some of the failure may have been partly to do with my not taking into account the way my shape altered over time.  Now that I'm managing to lose a little weight, maybe I'll have another go.  Although, at 5ft 2inches and curvy I doubt I'll ever achieve the effect in this little picture below.  It comes from the same little Singer book and the text above it asks you to think of your sewing machine as a 'never-failing friend'.