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Tag Archives: sewing
Holiday Greetings from Ida Arneson, 1957
Is anyone named Ida anymore? It might be due for a comeback. This card was a lucky eBay find combing two favorite elements—an unlikely Christmas greeting and a sewing theme. I suspect Mrs. Ida Arneson is a widow, since there … Continue reading
Sewing for the Works Progress Administration, 1936
In the US, most of us have probably come across a bridge or a trail that was built by the Works Progress Administration (WPA), the Depression Era government sponsored employment agency. Not only did the program build bridges and sponsor … Continue reading
Sewing for a Cause, 1959
Celebrity endorsements are nothing new. Here’s a photo of Eleanor Roosevelt, then in her mid seventies, with a needle in her hand. She is meant to be sewing in the new label for the International Ladies Garment Workers’ Union. It … Continue reading
Sewing and Chatting, 1970
Home sewing can be an isolating activity, but not if you take your work outside. I wonder what the woman on the left is doing. Darning? Hemming? Making a couture outfit by hand? Whatever it is, she has a friend … Continue reading
Sewing Baseballs, 1938
Of course I know that baseball covers have stitches, but until I saw this photo I didn’t realize that the covers were stitched together by hand. Even today most covers are hand stitched, although the process is done in a … Continue reading
Sewing Classes in Chicago, ca. 1960
September is National Sewing Month, and I’m happily turning my attention away from our fraught political climate to find photos of older women practicing this craft. The American Sewing Guild, of which I’m a member, calls sewing “an art and … Continue reading
Posted in 1950s, 1960s
Tagged African American, aprons, Illinois, sewing, textile patterns
2 Comments
Finally Fashion Forward?
I used to think that I was the only woman in America who didn’t wear jeans, but maybe that is changing. The Washington Post recently featured an article on the decline of jeans sales during the pandemic. More and more … Continue reading
Sewing for the Apocalypse
If you follow a lot of sewing blogs, you’ll know that some people have used the new reality to ramp up their sewing practice. Not me. I was already in a sewing slump before Covid 19 changed our lives. Standard … Continue reading
A Dress Made from a Sari, 1971
I was lucky that a year was printed on the back of this photo, since the dress itself would have been hard to date. The TV is most likely from the sixties, but people used to keep their sets for … Continue reading
Home Sewing, 1955
These days many of us who sew have entire rooms dedicated to the process. (In my house, I lay claim on parts of many rooms—just ask my husband his opinion of my expanding sewing empire). But here we see that … Continue reading