Sewing in the Days of Feedsacks

I got this little booklet from an elderly lady and only the other day got around to looking at it. This is SO cool. I can imagine that farming ladies would have been delighted to get this free fabric and be able to put it to good use.




It says that if you have 100 chickens and 2 cows and 5 hogs you could get 24 yards of fabric every month! And, for example, that would be enough for six dresses! And if you had a few children, then by switching things around everybody could have something new every once in a while. The booklet goes on to share men's and children's patterns.



The paper is kind of yellowish and the printing isn't very dark, but, hopefully, if you click on the picture you can read some of it. I tried to tweak the scanner to get the best possible picture.



Simplicity Pattern 4092 has a hot pad to go with the dress!!



This page gives the neat idea of making the basic dress and adding collar, cuffs, belts, bows or scarves.

Sewing in the

Fun Apron!

Yesterday I made this apron. It is Butterick 4945 and I will try and get a review up soon. This pattern is not for the faint-hearted. I should have read reviews of it before doing it. I put a button and buttonhole at the neck instead of a tie in the neck back. Also put rickrack and a button from my stash on the pocket.

However, it turned out okay. The main fabric is Vicky Payne - the heavier quilting fabric and the coordinating fabric is Michael Miller. I am anxious to tie this one on!

McCall's 3106 Jacket

Procrastination has to end sometime, right? I have been meaning to get this jacket up on the blog for some time.



I cannot find this pattern on the McCalls website even though I recently bought the pattern, so here is the photo.


Here's a photo of the jacket from the back and from the front.







This jacket is very comfortable to wear and I fully expect to make it again. I'd like to do it again without the collar. The zipper went in nicely except the instructions didn't seem clear - it said to sew the facings on and then afterwards put the zipper on. Maybe there is something I missed.... Anyway, I basted the zipper on before putting the facing on the front.

I like this pleat in the back seam of the lining. Makes it very comfy.



One more photo of the front.

McCalls Pattern Sale

Hancocks has McCalls patterns for 99 cents for a few more days. Here are a few that I got yesterday.

A Couple'a Thrift Store Finds Yesterday

I have several things to post from sewing projects, and hope to do so in the next day or so. The weather has been so nice outside that it's almost impossible not to be out there doing some spring clean-up. Has anyone ever seen this before? It came in a package from the thrift store with several other items. It says, "Sew Hooks to Bra - Sew eyes to Girdle one inch below edge." Interesting! Sorry about the sideways. When I took the picture it was straight up, but it posted sideway. I will have to get some help from my son!





I found this metal knitting gauge yesterday. The interesting thing about it is that the gauge goes to 000 sized needle. The newer ones I have seen stop at 1 or 0 This is from the older days when many ladies, including my mom, used the small needles to knit doilies.

House Dress

Gertie has posted twice now about house dresses, the kind our moms used to wear. I have been intrigued by the idea - I noticed that at least half have no waistline - which means super comfort. Yet they look to be very attractively styled and fitted.

Since I am at home a goodly amount of time, this seems like a very comfortable way to spend the day. Think I will try this!