1940s gloves bought from my local charity shop in Blackpool. A nice little find to add to my handmade clothes collection.

Here are some photographs of my sewing book: The Pictorial Guide To Modern Home Dressmaking.
It is fascinating to think that during the 1940s it was common place for women to make their own elegant gloves. I was lucky enough to obtain some white hand made gloves, possibly from the 40s, at my local charity shop. They are stitched by hand and look very similar to the ones featured in this book. I will post a photograph of them soon.

Buttons

A great find at the Flea market this morning, a tin of buttons spanning many generations.

Patched overall

I bought this handmade overall from a charity shop in Deptford yesterday. I'm wondering if it's from the 1960s. It is made from light weight floral cotton. There are a few holes in it but a couple have been patched with the same cloth and hand stitched. Someone has really put a lot of love and care into making this item, even the button holes have been stitched by hand.

Crochet & tatting

I bought these pretty mats from my favorite charity shop in Blackpool last April. I felt the need to buy all of them as a collection and make use of them in a future art project. The bottom image is an example of Tatting, a technique I hope to learn one day. It is amazing to think about how many hours of work went into making them. Work produced by women in the home has often been dismissed as amateur and poorly made. These finds show the great skills of the non-professional crafts person.

Sew and Save

Brides' Bureau - Sew and Save.

From my local flea market 2006.

This article is possibly from the 1940s. I found it amongst a collection of letters, notebooks and documents that belonged to Miss Knight. It felt like I was obtaining the contents of her bureau and part of her life without ever knowing her. The article is fascinating in terms of the craft skills that were used during war time to repair garments and recycle materials.