Those two dots on the left are my Water Babies. Swimming and watching some learner kite surfers.
Perfect tidal pools, and little ‘islands’ as they called them.
Love it.
And have you read The Water-Babies, A Fairy Tale for a Land Baby, by Charles Kingsley? It is quite lovely, and imaginative. Some of the most memorable illustrations I’ve ever come across, just give it a google.
I ought to be completing a tax return.. but I ah, I would rather just drink tea and read sewing books. I have quite a stack of books that drift, somewhat heavily, between the sewing machine and my bedside table. A few are library books and will need to be returned (sob!) and some live with me.
In the tradition of the ‘Reader’s Digest Complete Guide to..’ series, this is a reliable resource, and these little babies can be bought for under five bucks, if you put the time in.. they are fairly hefty, so keep that in mind if you’re shopping online, and make sure the spine is still in good shape. There were/are a number of editions out there, this one is from 1978.
The majority of the content is based around garment sewing, with sections near the end of the book on upholstery and other home furnishings, I’ve only referred to this for garment sewing.
I confess I’ve not read this baby from cover to cover, but use it as a go-to if I have a problem, or need more info… So here’s a bit of a run down, which is by no means exhaustive.
Fabric ‘A to Z’ not really comprehensive, but enough of an introduction to many often used fabrics, with fabric content, construction and ideas or recommendations for use.
As you might expect, detailed graphical instructions for plenty of useful techniques you probably did not pick up in high school…
And while I’m still to try my hand at bound button holes (check out those diagrams above) this section on pattern fitting has proven invaluable. I have had a few minor though frustrating issues with bodice fitting, these pages are great! Figure out where the pulling of wrinkling is coming from with their guide, then follow the instructions for remedying the issue, for your bodice, sleeves, skirts, pants..
I picked this up at the library, bit of an investment to purchase, it is a double up in much of the content as the Reader’s Digest Guide, but in more of a work book format, more reflective, and critiquing the readers’ use of techniques, with problem solving parts in the various chapters.
See inside, good illustrations.
These draping-on-mannequin illustrations feature throughout (that’s what fashion designers do I guess).
On my journey to identify and understand more fabrics, I also picked this up from the library. And it’s great! Chock full of technical info on many many fabrics, uses, care, construction, finnishing recommendations for garments, this book is at the top of my wishlist.
Again, super heavy, and not for bed time reading (as much as I enjoy it, I just can’t hold it in one hand!) the only critique I have, is that I have not found crimplene, or terylene when I needed more care and style tips, sigh.. but it does cover many other vintage fabrics, so perhaps I’ll need to look elsewhere for those obscure, and no longer produced materials. That and the garments used to illustrate just what you may make with a certain fabric are mostly poorly styled and somewhat dated. But I can let that slide on account of the wealth of information this one book contains.
This little beauty was $1.50 at the op shop, so I couldn’t possibly turn it down.
If only for these amazing home decor ideas!
And the groovy 70s fashions…
Love those trousers! And of course dresses…
And not just for the ladies.
Cool.
It would be awesome if this book came with these patterns, it has all the detailed instructions you need to make all the outfits photographed, plus useful techniques. Another really great resource!
Finally, I splashed out and ordered a copy of Gertie’s New Book for Better Sewing, wohoo!
This book does come with patterns, yehaa, and all the typical vintage and couture sewing techniques you need to make a beautiful job of the garments in the book.
Love it. Gertie, (you must have seen her blog?) goes over the basics for retro sewing, the tools you need, fabrics, sizing, pattern making, fitting and shares much more knowledge on sewing lovely garments.
Loads of beautiful illustrations and diagrams, it’s a joy to read.
I can’t wait to try out her patterns, I’m keen on her separates, the pencil skirt in particular, and the wiggle dress looks fun, she’s even thought of including a number of variations on the patterns, so you really can personalise them for the season or just your own taste. Oh, and she’s included metric measurements in all her instructions, how often do writers thing about us non American sewers??
I probably could have carried on fine with the older sewing books I have, but Gertie’s book brings many techniques (and fab patterns) together for me. And it’s cool to find a contemporary book that is all about sewing vintage style. Love it.
Time for a bit of a sewing book review.. I’ve been reading through a solid stack of sewing history and technique books.
I’m working on my fabrics, most of the fabric I find or acquire doesn’t come with labels. So I feel as though I’m taking risks at times… So where to start? Well this book had come up on my radar as worth a read.
Simplicity Fabric Guide, The ultimate Fiber Resource:
While I enjoyed the book and found the alphabetised section with names, suggestions for use and sewing tips good, and the section on fabric identification (burn test results, wohoo!) I would have LOVED a more thorough exploration of the history and processes in fabric manufacture. The history of fabric was really just touched on in the introduction. So I’d put this one in the good to have a browse, say for an intro, but hold out for more indepth reading..
Also, it’s a bit fussy, probably, but I really don’t like spiral bound books, unless they are visual diaries, it might seem practical, but I don’t like the way the pages turn and kind of scrunch/squeak. I know it leans a certain ‘technical’ look and feel to the book, it’s also not that functional as the cover extends around the spiral binding.
Do you have a best ‘go to’ book for your fabric ? Or a best sewing book ever? I have a couple more gooduns to write about, and I’d love to hear other sewers recommendations.
I get a bit carried away with books I Must Have, but this gets somewhat expensive, so in an effort to control my habit, I’ve been requesting and borrowing many more books from our library… great thing is, I have these wishlists all over the place, and slowly I borrow and read the books, so see if they belong here in our home..
With all my sewing fun times, I’ve been so tempted to get more and more books about fashion and sewing…
So, this book, Fashion; A Visual History from Reghency and Romance to Retro and Revolution by N J Stevenson. And, no surprise, I Love It.
Here are some teasers, see what’s inside… 1920s.
Some of my most favourite outfits and designers. 1930s…
1940s…
And from my favourite era, 1950s..
and more.
and, yes, more still.
Into the 1960s now, I actually have a gingham stash, and well, seeing this, I’m hoping there’s enough for a shift dress!
Love the red dress too!
1960s sci fi, see? Pretty much my all time best fashion era.
Chic.
Dior and Chanel would probably be my all time favourite designers, though really so different. Can you have too many red dresses? I think not.
And finally, the 1980s…
More treats from mums house!
An oldie and a goodie, Successful Dressmaking, this is my bedtime reading. I have plenty to learn, so it’s good to have a book to refer to at the moment, and I LOVE the illustrations.
These are the inside cover images…
And this one, the only colour plate.
I remember reading this when I was a kid.
I found this tattered copy of A A Milne‘s When we were very young at an op shop a little while back, 50 cents even! And I LOVE it, so do Luna and Blake. I have been looking out for some books with poetry to read with the kids for a while, and I have a copy of The House at Pooh Corner from when I was a kid, and I still enjoy it. Childhood so different to the business of kids these days.
We have three favourite poems, here are two of them…
I met a Man as I went walking:
I met a horse as I went walking;
We got talking,
Horse and I.
“Where are you going to, Horse, today?”
(I said to the Horse as he went by).
“Down to the village to get some hay.
Will you come with me?” “No, not I.”
I met a Woman as I went walking;
We got talking,
Woman and I.
“Where are you going to, Woman, so early?”
(I said to the Woman as she went by).
“Down to the village to get some barley.
Will you come with me?” “No, not I.”
I met some Rabbits as I went walking;
We got talking,
Rabbits and I.
“Where are you going in your brown fur coats?”
(I said to the Rabbits as they went by).
“Down to the village to get some oats.
Will you come with us?” “No, not I.”
I met a Puppy as I went walking;
We got talking,
Puppy and I.
“Where are you going this nice fine day?”
(I said to the Puppy as he went by).
“Up to the hills to roll and play.”
“I’ll come with you, Puppy,” said I.
I went down to the shouting sea,
Taking Christopher down with me,
For Nurse had given us sixpence each-
And down we went to the beach.
We had sand in the eyes and the ears and the nose,
And sand in the hair, and sand-between-the-toes.
Whenever a good nor’wester blows,
Christopher is certain of
Sand-between-the-toes.
The sea was galloping grey and white;
Christopher clutched his sixpence tight;
We clambered over the humping sand-
And Christopher held my hand.
We had sand in the eyes and the ears and the nose,
And sand in the hair, and sand-between-the-toes.
Whenever a good nor’wester blows,
Christopher is certain of
Sand-between-the-toes.
There was a roaring in the sky;
The sea-gulls cried as they blew by;
We tried to talk, but had to shout-
Nobody else was out.
When we got home, we had sand in the hair,
In the eyes and the ears and everywhere;
Whenever a good nor’wester blows,
Christopher is found with
Sand-between-the-toes.
I love this illustration, by E H Shepard.
This has been one of Luna’s favourite books, so I had to share it, first published in 1967. Moon Man saw everyone dancing and having a great time on Earth, and he wanted a piece of the action, unfortunately, humans panicked and called him an invader!
The illustrations are cool too, bold and stylised.
This is one of the pieces I have been working on for Desire Lines, a group exhibition happening in July this year. Actually I’ve been quite frantic and distracted by the Crochet Coral Reef Project happening at the Auckland Museum as well, so these little babies have been on the sideline, but serendipitously both projects work really well together and I want to make even more weird crochet forms!
For Desire Lines I have been thinking a lot about how we humans mess with our environment and the possible ramifications of our destructive behaviour. This was highlighted by the recent toxic sea slug scare in 2009 after a few dogs died apparently after eating the little slugs on beaches around Auckland Habour, these sea slugs now are possibly an ever-present danger! Not that anyone wants to be panicking about it all.
This news of toxic sea slugs reminded me of John Wyndham’s novel, The Kraken Wakes, (here’s a good review by another reader..) one of my favourite reads. The deep sea trenches are colonised by aliens, aggression between ourselves and the aliens ensues resulting in catastrophic environmental changes, remarkably similar to what we are experiencing due to global warming and the damage we are doing to the marine environment.
So little is known about the deeps and the creatures that inhabit them, yet we continue to overfish and degrade the oceans. Perhaps it is no surprise that there may be creatures that can be a threat to ourselves and our enjoyment of the marine environment? Or perhaps after thoughtlessly dumping toxic, and even nuclear waste in the oceans, the sea itself or the animals that inhabit them are now becoming more toxic to our own life?
Rob bought me a copy of issue #2 of World Sweet World magazine at the last Craftwerk we went to – and it’s great! I love it so much I have even subscribed, and for $30 a year who can complain?
World Sweet World is all about sustainability and creativity, two of my favourite things. Issues profile crafters and artists, and other clever people making a positive contribution to our world, they even share some of their crafty ideas so you can make some fun stuff you can use or give as gifts.
As a craftster, it has been very inspiring for me, especially as I have a wee baby, not so wee any more, but she does keep me busy. In the latest issue there are some interviews with other craftsters, also mums, who manage to get busy making their work while caring for their children… if they can do it so can I! And the dishes will stay stacked beside the bench while I sew… ah, bliss.
The recipes are also inspiring and easy to make, thanks to the easy bread recipe (issue #3) by Jo Sweeney a clever lass living and working Raglan making ladies accessories. And the delicious walnut slice (issue #2) by contributed by Anna Ridley has been a great quick bake for unexpected visitors… anyhow, I’ll be ordering a copy of the first issue, and I can’t wait!
So go on check them out, maybe at the next good crafty event, or just visit their website:
A collection of short stories by John Wyndham.
This was a nice surprise sent to me by my father in law, and it was a great little read! The first in the collection, Consider her Ways was fascinating, a woman time travels into the future to discover that men have been wiped out by a mysterious virus and that women have proceeded to procreate independently and are now inhabiting the earth. The reasoning behind how and why it may have happened is just as bizarre, you would have thought it was written by a feminist, it speaks of how women have been controlled and oppressed by a society dominated by men.
Wyndham is obviously obsessed with time travel, as all but one of the stories is about it one way or another, mostly about people travelling forward into their own bodies, or into a parallel future – all quite cool to think about, there are so many different possibilities that are a result of everyday actions or decisions… anything is possible!
The text is available online here.
