I'VE LEARNED TO SEW AND LOVE IT from Woman's Home Companion

Woman's Home Companion, a monthly ladies magazine published from 1873 to 1957, began as The Home Companion, then Ladies Home Companion and finally settled on Woman's Home Companion in 1897. Woman's Home Companion was a fitting name for a magazine that would bring not only useful homemaking tips, recipes and sewing and needlework patterns to both rural and urban women, it also brought articles about fashion, health issues, marriage and fiction. An amazingly long life for a magazine. You can find past issues for sale on the internet and they are well worth the price. They are packed with still useful information and the graphics alone are a delight to revisit.

This "Companion Picture Book" from September 1954 is an illustrated journey that Barbara Schultz embarked on. Through these pages, Barbara shares how she began and how she quickly became hooked on sewing. The Advance patterns she chose are now rare but may still be available through internet searches. Her advice for purchasing a machine is still relevant 60 years later, though I doubt she would have anticipated the complexities of today's machines. 

Advance 6820

Advance 6837 Advance 6846

Advance 6748 Advance 6836

 

 

Advance 6849 

Find more 1950's Advance and other 1950's dress patterns in my CynicalGirl shop on Etsy.

Learning To Sew

Sewing quality garments that you will be proud of wearing takes time and patience. Finding the right fabric for the pattern you choose is no less important. There is nothing more frustrating than investing your time and resources sewing a garment only to be disappointed with the results. Often those little errors that cause the garment to pull or sag can be avoided by a little pre-cutting preparation.

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This 1962 booklet published by Advance pattern company, details every aspect of your experience from finding your body type and choosing a pattern that will fit to preparing your fabric and your cut pieces. Only 20 pages in this Bishop Method of Clothing Construction booklet but it is packed. Grain lines, staystitching, directional stitching and unit construction are a few of the lessons covered. 

Success can never be guaranteed but it can weigh in your favor with some basic preparations before you begin to sew. Avoid frustration and make something you will be proud to say "I made this" with a little help from Advance patterns and the Bishop Method of Clothing Construction.