Sunday, May 18, 2008

Vintage sewing...


Do you ever want to learn millinery?


What about patterndrafting??


How to sew authentic period clothes?


Glovemaking?

Did you know some brave, brave living saints have taken it upon themselves to scan, upload, transcribe and cross-reference dozens of out of print, vintage books, covering all topics, from dressmaking, millinery, glovemaking, etc etc?? You can learn ANYTHING from them. They are thorough, detailed, clear, and a complete treasure trove; and those amazing souls who are doing this should be revered and all hail'd.



The books are from the 1800's, through to mid last century...they cover SOO much, after scanning through them, you are left with the feeling that if you read through all of them, there wouldn't be much left to know about sewing..they are that good.



This site, the Human Ecology Collection, has all the books scanned in, and each chapter/page set up so you can reach it with a click.



But THIS site, VintageSewing.info, has the books cross referenced by category, or by decade, and then each book individually typed in, illustrations placed, organized for easy use, etc etc etc. Basically, it's almost like holding the book in your hand, it's so easy to use.

If you have ever picked up a vintage garment, and studied the careful, beautiful work that went into it and marveled, here is where it is...you, too, can sew beautiful, new, vintage garments. :p

7 comments:

Leah said...

I'm FAINTING with jealousy over this amazing post with its links. I can't sew, hardly even a little bit. But this may just be the inspiration to find someone finally to show me how.

Tonya said...

Oh WOW! Thanks for these links. To be able to have this information is too awesome for words! I am going to look through them later, if I start now, I will be on the computer for hours and nothing will get done! LOL

Liz said...

That's awesome! I have a book from the 1830's that I have used to make a few things, and man are those patterns tough to follow! Nothing like giving you the measurements in NAILS!

Bonus Mom said...

Ohhhh Thank you so much for posting the links.

Barbara said...

Wonderful post, I love that people are taking the time to scan, preserve and share these books for posterity. It also makes me wonder if maybe my great grandmother used one at some point. It's amazing how much that was just taken for granted once upon a time (like knowing how to sew) is slowly becoming almost a lost art.

muralimanohar said...

Aren't these just the most amazing links?? I nearly totally died when I first discovered the VintageSewing one; and the recent discovery of the other one prompted this post. :D

Sasparilla Sue said...

Holy Crap!! I just had a dressgasm!!! I don't even like the color green but I love that dress. Oh yeah, the links are cool too.

Related Posts with Thumbnails