they did what they had to
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It never ceases to amaze me how darn resourceful and inventive prior generations were. Not to knock our day and age (technology is amazing–thank you internet!) or put down the advances that have made life a tad easier, but sometimes living with less made people use their imagination a bit more.
Take for instance, sewing. A generally fun task nowadays, considered a “hobby” rather than a necessity by most (what about people like me though who regard sewing the same as food and drink?! I can’t seem to go very long without either food or sewing. hehe!). But when the skill was utilized more out of a need to cloth themselves and families, seamtresses came up with some clever work-arounds to common sewing tasks. I was recently digging through a 1920s sewing manual, and came across this section on bias binding. Something that I hate making by hand (until I finally invested in a Clover bias tape maker!), and often struggled with as a young seamstress. But here the author has broken it down into easy steps of how to mark and cut, create a continuous bias strip (definitely will be using this one!), and even use your ironing board and a bit of thread to fashion a device to help in folding the tape. Pretty nifty, in my opinion!
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For the record, out of sheer curiosity I did try making the little ironing board and thread folding aid. It does work–beautifully! In fact, in some ways I almost prefer it to my Clover tape maker… Those clever seamstresses of the past–how inventive!
Posted on December 2nd, 2009 to sewing, vintage inspiration.
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Erika says:
That looks very clever, it’s going to be fun to test it =)
Regarding vintage sewing technique… I totally agree that seamstresses of old had so many tricks that have been lost. In fact, on your (and Gerties) advice I’ve wished for a vintage sewing book for Christmas =)
However, your text got me thinking of an aspect of sewing and dressing vintage, that I recentley talked about with a friend of mine. Here in Sweden there’s been a lot of talk lately about “housewife blogs”, and the discussion has been about old housewife ideals and femiminism. One thing that hit me was exactley what you mentioned above; that we have turned house chores that were a duty into hobbies. Sewing, baking, even cooking. But also the traditionally “male” chores, they’re also mostly hobbies nowadays. We can always buy it new or hire someone else to do it for us.One can remorse this, or see it as perhaps the very reason we gladly can spend our days sewing and baking; that it is a hobby, and we choose to do it, it’s not something society or spouse/family demands of us. By reclaiming crafts of old as hobbies, we can seperate them from past ideals and incorporate them with our own ideals.
Sorry, rambling… Just a thought that popped up when reading your text.
Thanks for sharing the pictures! -
lsaspacey says:
December 2nd, 2009 at 10:33 am
Hey, what’s the name of that handy sewing book you have, it sure looks cool? Thanks for scanning in the pages!
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Jamie Z says:
December 2nd, 2009 at 11:16 am
Ugh, making bias tape is one of my least favorite activities. I think I dislike it so much because I’ve never found a good way to do it- my mom’s way and answer to my questions is always, ” go buy the packs of it.” which I’m not a fan of. I’ll give thus a try, perhaps these tricks will change my mind! Thanks for taking the time to scan them!
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Twila Jean says:
I wonder, I have never used bias tape for anything other than hem lines? and usually I just use the lacey seam binding vintage of course!)
what need would you have to make your own bias tape? Honest question
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Miss Jess says:
Pressing and cutting jigs make so many sewing processes easier. For more info on jigs, check out this amazing post on sewing up welt pockets: http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/welt_and_paper_jig/
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April says:
December 3rd, 2009 at 12:51 pm
I second the question from above…what book is that from?!
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c says:
It’s been a while since I’ve kept up with my blogs… but glad to see you’re still posting great sewing tips! I love the look of bias binding– it makes such pretty, clean seams– so thanks for sharing this!
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Kate in Belgrade says:
I will definitely use those tips when I next make bias binding…the cutting in a circle thing is so simple, but so brilliant!
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Jill says:
I, too am amazed at the resourcefulness of those from the past. As I handle my vintage finds, I think of those women often.
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Making your own bias tape « squishy.fishy says:
December 14th, 2009 at 9:15 pm
[...] In this case, my strips are 2″ wide, so I’ll end up with tape that’s 1″ wide in total, or 0.5″ on each side of the fold, which works for me. If I were doing it again, I’d probably use 1.5″ strips to start, to end up with 3/8″ but we’ll see. Since I don’t have a bias maker in that size, I could also then try out the nifty “loops on the ironing board” method I’ve been curious about since reading it on Casey’s blog. [...]
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