Home Sewing Tips from the 1920s - Art Deco Applique

Ruth Wyeth Spears describes this Art Deco applique as "futuristic" - it must have seemed a striking design at the time! Use this tip to create a colorful, silky, appliqued handkerchief. Perfect for bridesmaid gifts, don't you think? Relatively small effort, with an authentic result! Just remember to use vivid contrasting colors, as Ruth suggests.

Gaylyn's Cute Cat Shorts! And a Happy Thanksgiving to All!

If you were a growing girl, wouldn't you love these shorts with a cat face for the bib? Mail order pattern 120 for suspender shorts is certainly a charmer.

This pattern from the 1940s includes three different cat faces, rendered in applique and embroidery to create the bib. Note the string of daisies that accent two of the three faces. Those must be for the girls. ;) So sweet!

Also included with the pattern were Gaylyn's "measuremints" written on the back of half of a card. A good sewist will always measure before sewing!

When you turn the card over, there is a note to Bertha (our sewist?). Ella Mae McPherson from "the chapter"  (of the local DAR or a similar organization?) has written a very kind and thoughtful get well note to Bertha, sent along with a plant. It appears that this was written before "the holidays" - would that be Christmas? 

The translation for those who are not skilled in cursive handwriting:

"Dear Bertha - 

You may not be able to 

place me but I certainly 

do miss you in the

chapter.

I'm so sorry you are 

ill and hope you will

soon be well again.

I hope this plant will

make your holidays a

little merrier. Sincerely

Ella Mae McPherson"

I love these fragments from people's lives in those days long gone. It is such a personal way to connect with the sewists of other eras.

Happy Thanksgiving to all my readers!

Home Sewing Tips from the 1920s - Silver Accents for Afternoon Wear

In this tip for her 1920s readers, Ruth Wyeth Spears draws an elegant afternoon dress in a shimmering fabric. To this she applies abstract flower appliques with applique leaves and a ribbon stem. She recommends silver cloth appliques and silver ribbon on a dark fabric (perhaps black?). It's the very newest thing!

Use the motifs in this tip as your template when you want to add this Art Deco element to your afternoon frock. Just tap or click on the image to enlarge it and then print it.

Home Sewing Tips from the 1920s - Satin Flowers for the Bride's Gown

In this wonderful tip, Ruth Wyeth Spears describes a lovely decoration for a bridal gown. She provides an actual size template, which you use to cut flower appliques from satin. You trim along the edges of each flower with pearl beads. The satin flowers are then applied to bands of sheer georgette, which trim the dress (along with side drapes of georgette). Such graceful 1920s wedding fashion!

It's Tulip Time!

It is spring here in the Pacific Northwest (at least I try to tell myself it is spring, it has been so cool and damp), and the tulips in my garden are in bloom! So I thought I would dedicate this post to the tulip, a popular motif for women throughout the decades. Women in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s and beyond loved to adorn their dresses, skirts, and aprons with applique tulips, and used multiple methods to decorate household linens with tulip motifs. :)

1940s Tulip-Adorned Frock

 

1950s Skirt 

 1950s Apron (note the bib itself is tulip-shaped)

1960s Dress

Lovely tulips decorated household linens using colorful embroidery, and even crocheted edgings.

And now, for the real thing - a few tulips from my garden (on a grey, rainy day in Seattle). :)