Home Sewing Tips from the 1920s: A Buckle Accent To Trim Blouse, Hat, or Pumps

In the quest for "newer, smarter, easier", Ruth Wyeth Spears provides a clever tip for creating a
cute buckle accent made from folded grosgrain ribbon. With her usual excellent illustrations, Ruth make these accessories very easy to make indeed!

Enjoy!

Home Sewing Tips from the 1920s: Preventing Saggy Hemlines

In this tip from 1920s, Ruth Wyeth Spears provides smart and practical advice when hemming garments that are sewn together on the bias.  Due to their stretchiness, bias-cut garments are at risk of sagging after being sewn. To prevent this, Ruth has a nifty tip for pre-stretching the seams before hemming. If you don't have a darning ball or egg with a handle, substitute with whatever you have on hand that would weigh approximately 2 ounces (what my wooden darning egg with a handle weighs). For example, a serving spoon or a couple of teaspoons from your kitchen would weigh about the same.

Home Sewing Tips from the 1920s: Smart Treatments for Pleats

In this tip from the 1920s for home sewists, Ruth Wyeth Spears provides some tips for adding smart details to box pleats. As usual, she provides wonderful illustrations that leave no doubt as to how to implement the tips.

 I especially like the second tip on creating extended points of the box pleats. Do you have a favorite? Would you ever use these tips?

Home Sewing Tips from the 1920s: A Curly Chrysanthemum Corsage for Thanksgiving

It's not too late! Here is a marvelous tip from Ruth Wyeth Spears and the 1920s for a curly "mum" that you can wear on Thanksgiving Day. All it requires is some picot-edged ribbon, which you may already have in your stash. It's a snap to make! Enjoy this tip as you prepare to celebrate with family and friends. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, from my home to yours. I am very thankful for all my readers!

And if you don't have time to make one today, have a bunch of ribbon on hand at Thanksgiving, and invite all those interested to make one to wear. Sounds like fun!

Home Sewing Tips from the 1920s: Sew a Lovely Negligee

You have almost no cutting and only a few seams to sew with this pattern for a graceful negligee from the 1920s , courtesy of Ruth Wyeth Spears. Ruth recommends that you use a soft fabric for this dressing gown. The negligee would make a great and quick gift. If it is intended as a gift, Ruth recommends that you try to harmonize with the colors in the wearer's bedroom. Delightful!

Home Sewing Tips from the 1920s: Make a Yoke and Add a Dress To It!

In this tip from Ruth Wyeth Spears, she tells her 1920s home sewists that dresses as sketched here "are new in the Parisian mode". And who wouldn't want the latest dress styles from Paris? This tip illustrates just how easy it is to sew a very fashionable 1920s frock. Happy sewing!

Let me know if you sew a dress using this tip!

Home Sewing Tips from the 1920s: A Fresh Taffeta Flower for Your Shoulder

Here is another lovely corsage from Ruth Wyeth Spears and the 1920s. This one features fringed petals of taffeta. As Ruth says, "Flowers like this are so easy to make that you can easily have a fresh one whenever you want it."

Create several, one for every outfit, for every season!

Home Sewing Tips from the 1920s: A Smart Little Hat of Silk and Straw

Need a new hat? Want to try something that requires some serious millinery supplies? Then use this tip from Ruth Wyeth Spears and the 1920s to create your own "smart little hat" of silk and straw.

This pattern requires the following material:

• 1/2 yard of tailor's canvas or willow (a millinery fabric, also called esparterie)
• 1/2 yard of silk fabric
• 2-1/2 yards of millinery straw braid
• millinery wire
• buckram for the flowers, as well as ribbon or silk scraps

I do believe that the extra effort required by this pattern will result in a very stylish cloche!

Home Sewing Tips from the 1920s: A Chrysanthemum Corsage

Here is the perfect small project for autumn. With her typically simple illustrations and instructions, Ruth Wyeth Spears steps you and her home sewists in the 1920s through the creation of a lovely chrysanthemum corsage from scraps of silk. Are you ready to craft this lovely accent that you can wear on a coat, jacket, or dress?

Home Sewing Tips from the 1920s: Elastic Shoulder Straps Make a Quick Gift

Here is an intriguing tip from Ruth Wyeth Spears for her 1920s home sewists. Detachable shoulder straps of ribbon and elastic is a gift you might not think of! Designed for use with undergarments (such as a camisole or slip), the shoulder straps are attached with tiny safety pins. Ruth suggests tiny rosettes of ribbon if you want to make them fancier.

This idea is very simple, and certainly useful for 1920s undergarments. Rather than making the shoulder straps detachable, I think it would be great to use them in place of regular straps in slips, camisoles, and such.

Home Sewing Tips from the 1920s - Draping the Bride's Veil

If you are planning a Downtown Abbey-style wedding, you'll want to read this tip for draping the bride's veil from Ruth Wyeth Spears and the 1920s. It doesn't get more authentic!

Reminds you of the veil that each bride wore in the weddings of Lady Mary and Lady Edith, doesn't it? I love Downton Abbey!

Home Sewing Tips from the 1920s - A Frock Trimmed with Self-Fabric Plaits

While this tip from Ruth Wyeth Spears and the 1920s describes a plaited (pleated) trimming for a "young girl's frock", I think this excellent tip would also apply to a frock for any age!

In her usual marvelous style, Ruth guides her home sewists with clear illustrations and precise steps. And note her tip for the novel feature of flipping the hem to the outside and trimming it in place with the plaiting (pleating). So clever and so simple - I love it!

Ruth recommends a crisp fabric as most effective, and says the sketch is of "changeable pink taffeta". I can picture this frock in pink taffeta - can you?

Home Sewing Tips from the 1920s: Smart Neck Finish for a School Frock

I rather like the finishing touch that Ruth Wyeth Spears describes in this tip for her 1920s home sewists. Look how the bands incorporate the facings, which become part of the revers collar. And then those cunning little snaps on an underlay to close it all. This would be fun to try!

Another helpful tip for adding smart style to your sewing projects!

Home Sewing Tips from the 1920s: Teen's Petal-Skirted Party Dress

If you need a 1920s-style party frock for a teen girl, this tip from Ruth Wyeth Spears describes how to whip up a lovely petal-skirted dress.  Just get a few yards of crepe de chine in a lovely color and in no time you can have your girl looking chic for a summer party! The simplicity of the design amazes me - Ruth's techniques require no pattern and allow you to fit the dress to wearer. Don't be held back by the idea that this is a young girl's dress - I think it would work for any age!

As an interesting aside, girls remained girls much longer in the 1920s. Note how Ruth Wyeth Spears refers to "young girl" and "young daughter" in this sewing tip, but defines that as 16 to 18 years! Of course, back then sizes were defined in "years" as well. :)

Home Sewing Tips from the 1920s: Ribbon Accents for a Girl's Frock

So far the tips that I have posted from Ruth Wyeth Spears and the 1920s have been for women, but Ruth also wrote sewing tips for infants', children's, and men's clothing too! In this tip, a sunny summer frock for a girl is dressed up with some flower accents created with slim "baby" ribbon. Ruth describes the frock fabric as organdie, and the ribbon as two-toned or double-sided. I found several shops on Etsy that carry just this type of ribbon (for example, SewVictorianCrazy). I am sure that you could find more. It just depends on how true to Ruth's tip you want to be. :) Sweet tip!

Home Sewing Tips from the 1920s: Make a Simple Frock with Lacy Flounces

Need a fabulous party frock for a Great Gatsby party that is also easy to make? Use this great tip from Ruth Wyeth Spears and the 1920s! This lacy frock is adorable, and with Ruth's instructions and illustration, I can easily visualize sewing it for a summer party. If you tackle this project with its embroidered eyelet trimmed with a footing of net, send me a picture!

And aren't those cute shoes she's wearing? Yum.

Home Sewing Tips from the 1920s: The Popular New Jumper Dress!

Well this tip is an historical eye-opener! The jumper (as we know it in the USA) is a hot couture item, and I must admit that a drop-waist jumper is an intriguing fashion. Ruth provides a pattern for sewing your own jumper, along a suggestion that this fashion item provides splendid opportunities for "make overs" or re-fashions. I couldn't agree more!

Home Sewing Tips from the 1920s: Freshen Last Season's Frock with a Trig Little Jacket

Well! Ruth Wyeth Spears describes how to make a "trig little jacket" that she calls a bolero in this wonderful tip for home sewists in the 1920s. :) With this tip, Ruth illustrates not only a sleeveless little bolero to dress up last season's frock, but also matching belt and matching cuffs on the frock! Very stylish, smart, and trim indeed. Another inspiring tip for your 1920s wardrobe!  :)

Home Sewing Tips from the 1920s: A Smocked Frock!

How many of you have tried your hand at smocking? In this tip from Ruth Wyeth Spears, frock fullness is artfully "gathered" with honeycomb smocking at the neckline and the hips. Using a typical technique for Ruth, you apply the smocking before you cut the dress. And as usual, Ruth's clear instructions make it look easy!

Smocking is actually a wonderful technique and there are magazines out there that are devoted solely to the art, especially in Australia, the UK, Canada, and South Africa, full of very cute smocking patterns.  Vintage patterns for smocked items usually included transfers that consisted of the dots that Ruth describes, which simplified hand marking the dots. Nowadays, there are pleating machines for smocking that make it even simpler.

But you don't need a smocking dots transfer or a machine to add smocking. Just follow Ruth's instructions to be successful!

Happy smocking!

Home Sewing Tips from the 1920s - Fagoting Trim

This is a great tip from Ruth Wyeth Spears for the home sewist and the 1920s. It features fagoting, a type of trim that provides a see-through band in a garment (unless you face the back of the fagoted section). Fagoted trim was popular in both the 1920s and (to a small degree) in the 1940s.

Ruth providers her usual great instructions and illustrations, so be totally inspired with your next frock!