Vintage sewing books

Recently Barbara from Moxie Tonic was organising a give away on her blog. She was offering two sets of two vintage sewing books from the 50′s. I’m right in the middle of a crave for inspiration from that time, so I took part in the give away… and won! I was surprised and really happy. I couldn’t wait to get the books.

I got the package at the end of last week. I had the pleasure to receive those two books: “Simplicity Sewing Book” from 1953 and “Singer Student’s Manual of Machine Sewing” from 1954. I didn’t have time to read them entirely yet, but you can guess that I had a first look at them right away!

I was thinking there would be more pictures or drawings of actual garments than there actually is. But they’re quite interesting even without much outfits being shown. Less inspiration, but useful tips! I already learned a few things from the Simplicity book. It contains the usual sections of a sewing book: choosing a pattern, alterations, sewing techniques… I haven’t read much of the Singer one yet. It’s really more oriented towards using and maintaining your sewing machine. It might proove itself usefull if my dream of getting an old sewing machine is fulfilled. ;)

Thank you very much Barbara!

Of course I’ll share a few pictures from those later. ^_^ And since I’m in this “I want vintage inspiration” mood, I’ll have other vintage publications to share with you!

Discovery: lovely jewelry

No sewing for today, I don’t have enough time for crafting lately. But I have nice things to share! Today I’ll show you nice jewellry from a French crafter I discovered recently in the North of France.

I liked her creations the moment I saw them. What caught my attention was the mix of traditionnal jewellry material and unconventional bits. She uses thread (some pieces where crochetted), shells, buttons, and even stamps! I also like the twisted wire parts a lot.

We liked her work so much that my husband bought me the white necklace and we also got something as a present for his sister. If you happen to be in the neighborhood of Dunkirk (Dunkerque), she has a shop in Saint Pol sur mer. Here’s the address:

Babeth Bijoux55 rue de la République59430 Saint Pol sur mer03-28-64-30-10

Edit from spring 2011: Babeth Bijoux has an online shop on Dawanda! You can buy her cute pieces of jewellery here: http://fr.dawanda.com/shop/Babeth-Bijoux