Sew Grateful Week Giveaway F*ck Yea!
It’s Sew Grateful Week over at Debi’s. And since everyone over there is a Forties Freak (among other things) I thought this 1947 copy of the Simplicity Sewing book would be an appropriate giveaway item – in the spirit of the times*.
This book has all sorts of awesome information (accompanied by gorgeous illustrations from the time) right from what pattern to choose (I had no clue) through sewing tools, measurements, alterations, fitting, pressing, fabric types, marking, cutting, pinning, basting, handsewing, a whole section of hemming (you know you need this for those bothersome flared hems), pleats, tucks, bindings, pipings, facings, godets, gathering, shirring, ruffles, flounces, buttonholes, buttons, collars, sleeves, cuffs, plackets, shoulder pads (preparation for the eighties), fastenings, closures and separate sections on sewing up coats and menswear. Samples below:
-As if you’re a curve-less mannequin, apparently.
I had no clue until I accidentally bought a vintage teen pattern and it fit, that I should be sewing from Figure 2 not Figure 3.
Back in the days when women had bad points (aside from invisible limbs that is).
Yes yes yes, it has colour pages. About colour. How old-worlde-meta.
If you’re an ancient buttonhole freak (or if ancient buttonholes freak you out) you should totally stop by here and pick up a booklet on doing them the old fashioned way.
Sweet love of ye olde awesomeness, it covers the metal shanked buttons going through embroidered holes with a Bodkin through the shank thing. This alone elevates it to rarified heights in my eyes.
*Which I like to think of as the spirit of Independence - 1947 was the year India, and many other British colonies shed the colonial yoke (and it’s all been downhill since-according to everyone that was alive at the time).
To enter this giveaway leave a relevant comment mentioning your vintage style preference by decade (if any) and links to any vintage/ vintage inspired makes you’ve posted (on your blog/ facebook/ twitter/ flickr etc). Star Wars costumes count as vintage. If you’re into vintage (and/or antiquarian) sewing and pattern-drafting books check out the ones I’ve uploaded for Friday Freebies.
Giveaway ends Sunday 10 February, 2012 and as always, is is open to all, internationally. Best of luck.
Disclaimer: All non-self-generated images remain copyright of their original owners and are reproduced here for the purposes of illustration, discussion and review.
OOOOOHHHH!!!! I have been wanting this book for ages! My vintage style preference is the 1940′s and 50′s. I made myself some 40′s style dungarees here.
Brigid
This is such a beautiful book, and I would love to be entered for the giveaway! I’ve never sewed anything from a vintage pattern, but I’ve made it one of my resolutions for the year. I’ll be participating in Lucky Lucille’s Sew for Victory, though, so I should have a 40′s dress soon! My style preferences are definately in the 20s (love the beading and detail) and the 50s-early 60s (the silhouettes are so flattering!).
My preferred decade is definitely mid-1930s to mid-1940s. I like my fashion practical with not too much frou-frou, but enough little details and a skirt that is twirly enough that I still get to feel girly. This dress that I’ve made is about as girly as it gets. For a floral dress it’s pretty practical, but it has a little puff sleeve, and when you walk down stairs it sweeps elegantly like a ball gown. Same era, about a year or two later at most, this is definitely the most practical item I’ve made (the overalls, the shirt is store-bought).
I’m fascinated by the section on color. Not only are all the women white (no big surprise in 1947), but even among them there is a limited range of possibilities. The range for older women is particularly narrow. What if your hair is white but your eyes are brown? Or you have dirty brown hair streaked with white? I don’t need another book, but I LOVE the pages you have posted from this one.
What a wonderful book! A great giveaway. I like Debi and big on 40s style, it just really seems to flatter my figure. I do expand into the 50s a bit though. I haven’t made much yet (I am still working slowly), but I am blogging my way through it.
Oh my, I’ve lusted after this book for so long! I love both ’40s and ’50s fashion and sew a lot in these styles. By far the most worn vintage make of last year was actually for my daughter; her winter coat from an early ’60s pattern.
I think my next project will be a 1940s style shirtdress.
Cool giveaway! I love the clean lines of 50s and 60s patterns, but I haven’t sewn much with vintage patterns. This project is pretty much the only time I’ve worked with a vintage pattern. I contemporary designs.
That book looks like a fabulous treasure! I love 1940s fashion…like my grandma wore. The only thing I’ve ever made that is even slightly vintagey, though, is an apron from one of Grandma’s old patterns.
Awesome giveaway! I like the 60′s mod look but admire the 40′s and 50′s work of others. I have a handful of vintage patterns but I haven’t made them up- too much fitting involved. I just like pulling them out occasionally for inspiration.
Ya but you have a mannequin now! Pin fit and have at it!
I’d really like to try those bound buttonholes – and the entire book looks sew interesting – I’d be most grateful to become it’s new owner! I do have a couple of vintage reproduction patterns that are on the drawing board, but the only one I’ve finished so far is an 1850′s dress that I made just for the pure joy of swishing around in it on holiday!
(Sorry I don’t know how to add a link inside a comment box, but you can see it if you scroll down a bit on my blog)
Oh my goodness – this book is amazing! I would say I am a vintage sewing newbie, but ever since i started watching the TV series “Foyle’s War” I have been falling in love with WWII era fashion – I am attempting to participate in a 1940′s challenge, and I know this would be helpful
And what a great addition to the sewing library! (not sure what to do about the figure sizes though – I’m 6’0 tall! lol)
That is so freaking awesome!!! I have the 60′s version of the Simplicity Sewing Book and I absolutely LOVE it… it has tips for sewing with “specialty” fabrics such as faux leather, faux fur, and everything shiny and textured that one might wear to a disco ^__^ I LOOOOOVE that this one has details on buttonholes… that alone makes it worthwhile in my book! ^__^
Too true-ever since the metal shank buttons disaster I judge the awesomeness of sewing books based on their coverage of metal shanked buttons. Just keepin’ it superficial XD
Great giveaway! I would love a copy of that book. I’ve sewn several things for 18th century living history event but lately I have been doing more 1930s and 1940s projects. My latest creation was a 1920s dress for a Downton Abbey event. Last summer I made a 1940s shirtwaist dress from a vintage pattern. I wore it for a scenic train ride with my fiance.
-Emily
ARRRGH! MUST I post a link to a vintage something? I, unlike you, have a difficult time multitasking and can not work on 5 different things while also working on my PhD (special education – autism research) and so I do not have a blog or photos of what I am/have sewing/sewed. I love late 40′s early 50′s styles and just recently added a fabulous 40′s style lapel watch to my collection of all things vintage.
I’d love to own this book – Pretty please with sugar and a cherry on top?
Oh what a gem! I so need this book
My favourite decades are the 40′s and 50′s. I really love the 40′s slender silhouette in contrast to the 50′s hourglass. Here’s a 40′s reprodution dress I made recently.
Love your book… I am a 60′s freak, but I go all the way back to the 20′s!!!! Love to be enteres in the giveaway.
Ooh this is such a lovely giveaway! My favourite era is definitely the 1950′s…after Dior’s New Look clothes just got so much more exciting. I love it even more when I think about how back in those days there weren’t all the utilities available that we have today, but I’m sure a book like this would have been quite a help! I used to make many vintage patterns, but haven’t for a while but have just bought a couple from Vogue so lookout for posts in the future.
I think you have the best give-aways, hands down. My favorite era is the 20′s but rarely sew in that period, so 40′s is it for me. Classic yet totally do-able. I made this vintage 1940′s dress but my stripes turned all wonky so I don’t wear it much, Picky Picky. But, I loved the pattern.
I absolutely love books with the correct way of doing things – for me it has nothing to do with time period. Quality takes effort, specific techniques, and time to produce quality that lasts practically forever. My favorite sewing video, and everyone mentions it on their blogs from time to time, is the 1947 (?) sewing lesson on YouTube that was produced by Simplicity. Cheesy acting, fabulous teaching.
I’m a 50s kinda gal with the exception of the hemlines. I think that as 5’3″ girl (if I stand up straight) that the longer hemline just makes me look shorter.
What a fabulous looking book! I tend to like the 50′s best, but then I really love a big skirt that twirls. I’m growing to like the 40′s & 60′s more though.
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I want this book more than anything else! My style is definitely 40s/50s, mostly because I have a waist, and we all know what happened to waists once the unsexy underwear went. Speaking of which, I’m taking a class on how to make a corset fitted *exactly* to your size and shape but right now there’s only a badly fitting toile of which I shan’t be putting photos on the internet.
[I don't have a blog; boo. Am I disqualified?]
Wow, this is gorgeous, please enter me! I have a thing for the 60′s, although I am told that because of my hourglass figure I should go for the 60′s instead. Whatever – I’ll rock mini dresses any day – I also hoard 60′s patterns, you know, because I’m totally going to make them ALL one day!
What an amazing book! Something like that would definitely take a lot of the guesswork that I do when sewing. I like sewing vintage, but I don’t have a set genre and I always try to make them somewhat modern, but typically I’ve made dresses from the 20s-70s. Here’s a link to some of my finished dresses.
Oh my oh my, what an awesome awesome prize! Thanks for putting it up for a giveaway TJ!!!! I love sewing with vintage patterns and styles, most of my creations are from vintage patterns, usually from the 1940′s and 1950′s. My next project is going to be from a 1953 pattern. I grouped all of my 2012 makes by decade here.
This looks a fascinating read! I’m more of a late fifties, early sixties if going vintage but I’m not adverse to modern patterns either! There always seems to be knowledge that you just can’t find in older sewing tomes and I love them for that reason, as well as the language and illustrations.
I enjoyed your and Dibs’ reflections on blogging too. It’s something I was beginning to realise too and have fallen into the trap of trying to ‘appeal’. Here’s to being me and if people enjoy reading it, that’s great and if not that’s OK too. We’re all different and different things appeal or matter to different people.
Knowledge is king, write me in. I’m sure there is a nugget of knowledge I can learn from in there. Thanks for the great giveaway.
This looks fantastic, I have a sixties simplicity one but this looks better. I think I wear late 50s early 60s style clothing the most.
Neat book! My favorite era is the 40′s! I think that the clothes are elegant and smart, and not too fussy. : ) Thanks for the giveaway!! Oh, and here is a dress I made.
I love the 50′s mainly but have recently been delving into the looks of the 40′s. Here is my facebook page which also links to my blog about my love of vintage and trying to work out my own vintage look.
I love love love old sewing books and that looks great, but don’t put me in the draw, because I already won one recently, and anyway, I have a ton of old sewing books, how greedy can I get?
Ooh fun! Thanks much.
My favourite vintage item would be a pencil skirt, I have no idea of the decade they were popular and I haven’t made one yet. As soon as I find the right fabric and pattern I’ll give it a go. Hope they are comfortable for biking as well
I’ve been following you for only a wee while but enjoy your makes and your way with words. I don’t normally comment because I read blogs on the bus and commenting on my phone, is, well, a pain in the ass. But this was tempting enough to lure me to bookmark it for a home PC visit. So first I just wanted to say thanks for a great blog, and thanks for an awesome giveaway.
Onto the giveaway – oh I’d love this! I love old sewing books and this looks particularly interesting! I like 40s and 50s silhouettes but have really only made things with 50s silhouettes (but not very 50s styling) to date – my most outrageous make is here.
What an amazing looking book- look at all that detail and all the areas it covers! What a beauty. Modern books just don’t seem to be this comprehensive, or have I just not been looking hard enough?
By the way, you never mentioned your favourite vintage style decade!
Once upon a time I would have said that 50s was my favourite era for vintage clothing, but have realised that frou-frou is not really me (which is not to say that I don’t appreciate it on others). These days I have trouble deciding between the 30s and 40s as my favourite decades for inspiration. I love the elegance of the bias cut 30s dresses even though I don’t really have occasion to wear anything that fancy. The 40s patterns I love for the simple wearable styles featuring lots of interesting details that seem to be missing from modern patterns.
Considering the number of vintage patterns that I own, I was surprised to see that I’ve only blogged about 2 vintage pattern FOs here and here
I’m also a zipper and a hem away from finishing Du Barry 5813 from 1944. Thanks for the chance to win this amazing looking book, keeping my fingers & toes crossed
Fabulous book- what fun to look through it for ideas!
What a great giveaway – I’ve been searching for a vintage sewing book. There are so many great vintage eras, I love the fun and femininity of the 50′s, but also love the tailored and practical dresses of the 40′s. As a result of my baby bump I haven’t done much sewing lately, but the last project I finished was a fun late 50′s/early 60′s dress.
My favorite vintage time period is the 30s. I’d love to make everything Miss Lemon wore on “Poirot.”
My favorite decades waffle quite a bit, but I have remained true to the 40s and 50s for quite a while, so if I had to choose, I would pick both of them (is that allowed?!)!
Love the 40′s era of dresses, thanks for the giveaway
I love the 1940s. Although lately the 1930s have been calling to me . . .
It’s hard to pick just one era that influences my sewing and clothing, but the 50s probably feature the most often. I love everything about 50s fashion- clothes, shoes, jewellery, bags… The list is endless.
My favorite era is the 1950′s. The styles are very flattering on my pear-shaped figure!
This is a fantastic book! I never owned a vintage book and the fitting section is fantastic. I am late for the giveaway but I wanted to comment anyway. I love the 60s…seen many dresses from my mom’s pictures.