One of my favourite sewing books to flick through for inspiration is this 1977 edition of the Good Housekeeping Home Dressmaking book, which I found in a charity shop for £3. I must admit I haven't read more than a few words here and there, but I just love looking at the clean line illustrations of pretty collars, style lines and sleeves. Thought you might like to see...
It might be me just being weird, but at first glance, the front cover illustrations looked very 30s to me! What an unusual booklet, I love the simplicity of the illustartions. I don't think I've come across anything like it before, thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteTo me (oldie!) it's looking very familiar, this typical 1970s style (drawings and typeface) redoing the 1920-30s. Even retro isn't new. :-)
ReplyDeleteIf you look back at magazines of the time, a lot of 1970's style (at least in the U.S.) was definitely modeled on the 1930s and 1940s.
ReplyDeleteWhat struck me is how if you photocopied those full length images you could make awesome paper dolls, right?
I have such a soft spot for 70s era how-to and sewing books with illustrations like these! Rarely can I pass one up when I find them in the thrift shops. ;) hehe. The illustrations are so neat,and I love the 70s-does-30s vibe to the looks! Thanks for sharing! :)
ReplyDeleteHow cool! They could make a great multisize picture collage for your sewing area if you copied and colored them in! So awesome!
ReplyDeleteThe kimono pictures are just so gorgeous! How lovely!
ReplyDeleteHa! That's one of my most trusted reference books, that is. Not as finicky as the big Vogue book, and more thorough than the Simplicity pamphlet of the same vintage.
ReplyDeleteAnd those odd illustrations make for surprisingly clear instruction diagrams.
How lucky! Love the illustrations.
ReplyDeleteAwesome illustrations. I love the graphic look. These would make great decorations for a sewing room.
ReplyDeleteI want to let you know that I pass you the Versatile Blogger Award. You are one of my newest discoveries in the blogosphere. Congratulations !
ReplyDeleteThe rules after accepting the Versatile Blogger Award are:
1 Thank the person who gave the award and link back to them in your post
2 Share 7 things about yourself
3 Pass this award along to recently discovered blogs
You can find the award picture on my blog.
Definitely digging the 70s doing 30s vibe like everyone else, what neat pictures! They would be awesome colored illustrations, too (or paper dolls as someone suggested!). Really neat!
ReplyDeleteVery cool images!
ReplyDeleteAt first I was thinking.. why do the girls in cheongsam and kimono have to be so obviously Asian and slanted-eye? But then, I suppose I should appreciate that these types of clothing were likable and flattering enough that people who weren't Chinese or Japanese wanted to try them too? I know Japanese girls who like to wear very preppy country-club, tennis-whites type stuff, would that be cultural appropriation? Then I stopped thinking quite so heavily on it and giggled over the idea that this was about as much Asian representation in Fashion as I could hope for in the seventies (not to mention the 30's)!
Thanks for sharing :)
Oh my gosh, I want that book! The illustrations are quite cool and it will be a great edition to my collection of sewing manuals from the 70s. I'm going to find one online right now.
ReplyDelete