How times have changed
#1
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Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Dallas area, Texas, USA
Posts: 3,050
How times have changed
I just noticed that I still have a Better Homes and Gardens Sewing Book from my (ahem) early years of sewing. There is no date, but judging from the styles it was late 1950's. On the subject of preparing cotton fabrics it says you don't have to shrink quality cotton, but if you buy the cheap kind (paraphrasing here) it's a good idea to check to see if it has been preshrunk. It also mentions that many imported cottons were not preshrunk. This was the sixth printing of this book, so you know it was trusted by many people. Does anyone know of a source of preshrunk cotton today? I feel like a dinosaur.
"Quilting" is not in the index of this book. Another interesting data point is on the subject of buying a sewing machine: "lifetime investment." They advised that you could rent sewing machines by the month inexpensively, and it would be a good idea to test drive various ones that way before buying.
I also have a Simplicity Sewing book from the mid-1960's. Quilting is mentioned only as a method for attaching interfacing to the underside of a collar. Perhaps both those companies published other books specifically about quilting, but I don't remember very many books on the subject from that time. Probably I just wasn't looking? Quilting was a regular feature in Workbasket magazines that my mom used to get, and patterns also appeared in newspaper ads (Kansas City Star). I remember thinking they looked like fun, but it was many years before I decided to try it.
"Quilting" is not in the index of this book. Another interesting data point is on the subject of buying a sewing machine: "lifetime investment." They advised that you could rent sewing machines by the month inexpensively, and it would be a good idea to test drive various ones that way before buying.
I also have a Simplicity Sewing book from the mid-1960's. Quilting is mentioned only as a method for attaching interfacing to the underside of a collar. Perhaps both those companies published other books specifically about quilting, but I don't remember very many books on the subject from that time. Probably I just wasn't looking? Quilting was a regular feature in Workbasket magazines that my mom used to get, and patterns also appeared in newspaper ads (Kansas City Star). I remember thinking they looked like fun, but it was many years before I decided to try it.
#2
Power Poster
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Mableton, GA
Posts: 11,355
That is so interesting. I was at an estate sale last week and there were many old quilting magazines and the pictures were in black and white and some of the instructions looked drawn, as opposed to printed.
#4
Ohhhhhhhh how I loved looking at my mom's workbasket book/booklets and her Jiffy knit and crochet mags. So simple in black and white print, yet the pic's were so elegant with the staged pics and matching everythings lol. Boy I was little then. I wish she had them all still, but then again, I still wonder why they don't give out S@ H stamps anymore :-) or why we can't get a free glass or towel when we fill the car up. Boy the kids don't know what they are missing do they. Thanks for the blast from the past. I sure do miss some of them.
#8
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Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Dallas area, Texas, USA
Posts: 3,050
My parents bought a 3-bedroom house with a 2-car garage in 1957 for about $9500. They had a 30-yr mortgage. I don't remember what their income was, but I'm sure they needed that mortgage. I remember that a top-of-the-line Mustang cost $3300 in 1966 (not mine - a friend's).
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11-28-2011 10:08 AM