New York Times Article on Home Sewing and the McCall Pattern Company!

Well, this is amazing. The New York Times has done an entire piece on the McCall Pattern Company and the home sewing industry! As you may know, my pattern line "Patterns by Gertie" is released by Butterick (one of McCall's pattern labels) and I was thrilled that the writer interviewed me for the piece. It's a really in-depth, detailed article on the past and future of the company, as well as home sewing in general. So, if you sew, you'll want to read this!

I've always been really proud to be a pattern designer with Butterick, partly because I have a strong nostalgia for the process of pattern shopping. So I was pretty excited to see this quote:

Gretchen Hirsch, a blogger, author and pattern designer who began sewing seriously 10 years ago when she was in her 20s, said the process of picking out a McCall pattern has not changed from when she visited fabric stores with her mother as a girl in the 1980s. 

“Going to a Jo-Ann’s and seeing those same old metal filing cabinets with the McCall’s and Butterick patterns inside — you know, the tissue, the instructions and the little envelope — I found it enormously comforting,” Ms. Hirsch said.

Another favorite quote?

“I’ve done this long enough to know that people have it in their hearts,” said Carolyne Cafaro, the creative director. “There could be one pattern company left in the world, but I do think people will always sew.”

I love that the piece conveys so much of the emotion surrounding home sewing, but it also tackles lots of other topics including the future of the industry in a digital age, the company's relationship with social media, and the DIY revolution. Not to mention a really fantastic slide show about the company archive, complete with pictures of a young Isaac Mizrahi and Charlize Theron.

In any case, it's pretty thrilling to see home sewing get such prominent media coverage. I'd love to hear your thoughts on the article!

Happy Mother's Day!

1964, gold satin (with shoes dyed to match!)

I'd bet a lot of us have our mothers to thank for first teaching us how to sew. (Thanks, Mom!) So in honor of Mother's Day, I thought I'd repost my interview with my mother from last August, just in case you missed it. Enjoy . . . and Happy Mother's Day!

Is Your Sewing Machine Haunted?

Here lies the body of the man who invented the sewing machine, readers. I took a tour of Green-wood Cemetery in Brooklyn today, and can you believe it? We came across the grave of Elias Howe, the man who (arguably) invented the sewing machine.

Though others had already come up with the idea for the sewing machine, Elias Howe was the one to make the first working model and to be awarded the first U.S. patent for the design.

Visiting Howe's grave got me thinking about death and sewing . . . specifically, about the horror-movie potential of sewing.

Sewing can be scary, no doubt. Danger lurks at every corner: fingers can be sewn clean through, rotary cutters go awry, and then there's the prospect of bound buttonholes. (Eeek!) And there's always the possibility that your sewing machine could be haunted. That's right, haunted. (Bwa ha ha!)

Apparently it's quite common for sewing machines to become possessed by spirits. Take this eBay listing for a haunted 1894 Singer, which unfortunately ended last week. (But there were no bidders, shockingly enough, so don't give up on your chance to own it!) According to the seller, the machine is haunted by the spirit of a woman named Paloma, who was killed by her abusive husband while she was sewing on the machine. If you listen closely, you'll be able to hear Paloma sobbing, or you might even see visions of her bloody head resting on the machine.

Sewing machines provide plenty of other opportunities for haunting. The internet is rife with tales of machines whirring away mysteriously . . . with not a human user in sight. And isn't this prime horror movie material? Think Stephen King's Christine, but with a possessed vintage Singer instead of a murderous car.

So, let's hear it. Anyone out there have a haunted sewing machine?

P.S. Happy Halloween! Watch out for the ghost of Elias Howe and other things that go bump in the night . . .

The Evolution of Home Sewing: 1958 and Today

Did you know that the Time Magazine online archives go back to 1923? I sure didn't, so I was amazed and delighted to find this very informative article called "Sew & Reap" about home sewing from the November 10, 1958 issue.

According to this article, home sewing was a billion dollar industry at the time. This is in 50's money! I would be very interested to compare that to the profits of today's home sewing industry, wouldn't you?

The article really outlines the ways in which home sewing in 1958 was so influenced by Paris fashion:

Every calculated change in Paris means more money spent [on patterns]. So fashion-bent have sewing women become that patternmakers have all but junked the simple housedress designs that used to be their bread and butter. What more and more women want is the kind of high-fashion Vogue patterns long sold by Conde Nast. The originals would cost perhaps $600, but almost any woman can copy them for the cost of a $3 pattern and $50 worth of fine fabric (Vogue patterns even supply a Paris label).

That's interesting to compare to today's Vogue designer lines. I've enjoyed some of their Anna Sui offerings, but the others (Michael Kors, Donna Karan, etc.) have been a little staid for my taste - certainly not the trend-driven machine that it seems to have been in 1958.

What really blew my mind, though, was the fact that 20% of all women's garments in 1958 were made at home. Can you imagine?

And then there was the age of the women who sewed their own clothes:

One return prize for the industry is more and more younger sewers: the average home sewer's age has dropped from 45 in 1928 to 27 now, and by 1960 millions of teenagers will be sewing. A common but fashionable wedding present for suburban brides: a sewing machine.

These 27-year-old women of 1958 would be 78 today. Are they still sewing, do you think?

I tried in vain to find the average age of the home sewer today to compare to the stats of 1958. Though there has been an indisputable rise in young women sewing today, I would guess that the average person purchasing sewing supplies is of the boomer generation (the teenagers that the article predicted would be sewing in the 60's, I suppose!).

But there was such an incredible drop in average age from 1928 to 1958 - do you think it's possible we could see the same thing happen in the coming years?

One parallel I can see between the young women sewing in 1958 and young women sewing today is that is was viewed not as necessity, but as a creative outlet:

Millions of women now rank sewing as their No. 1—and often only—hobby. "There's a whole new climate," says Simplicity's [director] Shapiro. "They do it as an art form."

Anyway, I would love to hear your thoughts on all this. From your age perspective (whatever it may be) how do you see the future of the home sewing industry?

The Evolution of Home Sewing: An Interview with My Mom!

1964, gold satin (with shoes dyed to match!)

This is a very special edition of The Evolution of Home Sewing.

My mother is an extremely crafty person. Growing up, I remember the house being full of things that she had made at one point or another. There was a recipe box painted yellow with a shiny red apple decoupaged on top. A wooden rooster decorated with all different sizes and styles of nails. A macramed Santa with a long, fluffy beard. Every Christmas, we'd make a gingerbread house. One year, it was an exact replica of the house we lived in at the time.

We always had a sewing machine and my mom would make all my Halloween costumes and clothes for my Cabbage Patch dolls. She showed me old pictures from high school and college and told me she'd made the dresses she was wearing. Since I've been sewing from vintage patterns so much, I've been thinking of those dresses and wondering about my mother's dressmaking experiences. Read on for her answers to my questions!

How did you learn to sew? Do you recall any of your earliest projects?

I remember the very first time I sewed was when I was in the second grade and had sprained my ankle. For entertainment, my mother taught me to sew and handed me a dress that needed to be hemmed. I can still remember sitting on the couch and hemming one stitch at a time. After that, I started sewing clothes for my Ginny doll. I didn't have any patterns, just cut the fabric and made it work - sort of, anyway! Then when I was in the sixth grade, I joined 4-H and learned to actually make clothes. We had to make an elastic waist skirt with a matching scarf with fringed ends. Mine was green cotton and I had to model it in the Home Extension show. Then in Jr High, we got to take Home Ec and sewed on the machines at school.

Was it common for girls to make their own clothes when you were growing up?

It was not very common for girls to make their own clothes, but a lot of mothers sewed for their daughters.

1963, velvet bodice with brocade skirt

Did you make your dresses for all the dances you went to?

I think I did make all my dance dresses. My mother never took me shopping for those dresses - I think I just went and bought fabric and made them myself. I don't remember having any other options.

1964, Vogue pattern made in pink

What do you remember about the fabric stores you shopped at? Was there a wide variety of fabrics? What was it like shopping for patterns?

I lived in a small to medium size town. There were no fabric stores, but the department store had a fabric department. It was pretty limited - I guess you could compare it what you might find in a Walmart store today. But they had the major pattern books and I don't remember ever having a problem getting a pattern I wanted.

What's the garment you made that you're most proud of?

The favorite dress that I made was from a Vogue pattern. It had a tucked bodice with an empire waist, sleeveless. I made it in a bright green ( that must have been my favorite color then!) and it looked very professional. I was probably a senior in high school then. When I went to college, I didn't sew. I didn't have a sewing machine nor the time to sew. My first Christmas gift from my husband was a sewing machine - his motive was so I could repair his clothes. I sewed for a while then, until fabric and patterns became so expensive, that it was more cost-effective to buy ready-made clothing. Plus I was working full time and didn't have time to sew.

So there you have it - my life as a seamstress - until I started quilting!

P.S. Readers, I very much want to locate the pattern my mother used to make the dress at the top of this post. It looks like it has a scoop neck that dips into a v-shape at the center, a bow at the waist, and a bell-shaped skirt. It would have been from around 1964 (perhaps a year or two earlier). I don't know the pattern company. If you can correctly locate the pattern number for me, there's a prize involved--a $20 PayPal voucher. Which, of course, I hope you'll use for a fab new pattern of your own!

The Evolution of Home Sewing: The Photographic Pattern Envelope

This is the second thrilling installment in my "Evolution of Home Sewing" series. Previously, I wondered how publishing a large, photographic book like Vogue's New Book for Better Sewing could have been profitable in 1952. Well, I think I've found some clues!

This excellent article on the history of home sewing patterns explains that the years 1949-1950 were years of great progress in the pattern business, introducing printed patterns and four-color photographic catalogs. The reason for this was that new printing equipment was becoming widely available. The major result was this: companies now had the option to use photographs instead of just illustrations to showcase their designs on their envelopes.

From what I can tell, it seems like VoNBBS itself was an experiment in this new technology, one that was supposed to stimulate the business and bring in more profits.

Most, if not all, of the fourteen VoNBBS patterns were released in 1951. Then, it seems, they were re-released in 1952 to coincide with the publication of VoNBBS. To promote the book, the pattern envelopes were redesigned, featuring photographs (the same ones used in the book), as well as copy advertising the book. See two examples here (notice that the envelopes featured both illustrations and photographs):

The Chemise Dress

The Bow Tied Blouse

A line on the front of the patterns above reads, "As shown in Vogue's New Book for Better Sewing." On the back, there's a little tagline reading, "The First Learn-As-You-Sew Book: Vogue's New Book for Better Sewing."

Now, at this point, the Vogue Pattern Service was still owned by Conde Nast, the same company as the legendary Vogue magazine. (The Vogue pattern company was sold to Butterick in 1961.) Can't you just see a bunch of Conde Nast hot shots sitting around a huge conference table, making the decision to do a bunch of fashion shoots and publish a book to sell their patterns? It's like a 1952 version of corporate synergy--the book promotes the patterns, and the patterns promote the book.

However, I wonder if it did not turn out as grandly as Conde Nast might have hoped. Had VoNBBS been a huge success, I imagine it would have been updated and reissued as new patterns came out. Alas, the 1952 publication is the one and only edition of the book. Furthermore, Vogue patterns in the following years of the fifties did not feature photographs; they reverted back to strictly illustrated designs.

Of course, one of the reasons I love vintage pattern envelopes is for the illustrations. Sure, they don't seem at all realistic. The wasp waists are exaggerated beyond what any foundation garment could achieve. But, in my opinion, they're works of art, showing us a vision of what a garment could be.

I've heard the advice (regarding contemporary patterns) to avoid any pattern with no photograph of the garment, because supposedly this means that the garment won't work well on an actual person. What do you make of that?

The Evolution of Home Sewing: A New Feature

Vogue's New Book for Better Sewing (VoNBSS) gives us some interesting clues into home fashion sewing in the 1950s. Just the fact that VoNBSS existed is kind of baffling now--can you imagine if Vogue came out with a book of the same ilk today? I mean, it's virtually disposable, meant to be used in 1952, only with Vogue patterns from 1952. Can you even conceive of a Vogue's New Book for Better Sewing for 2009? A fully illustrated large hardcover (no doubt expensive to produce) featuring all new patterns that will become obsolete in a few seasons anyway?


I think its existence points to how home sewing was a much more profitable business in 1952 than today. In fact, the future for fashion sewing looks rather bleak right now. Fashion fabrics are being replaced by quilting fabrics. Joann's just filed for bankruptcy, and most Wal-Marts are shutting down their fabric departments. (Not that I recommend shopping at either of these places for fashion fabrics. A friend and I drove out to a Joann's in Long Island a few weeks ago, and the fashion fabric department was an unsightly, glittery, polyester disaster. But unless you live near a major city, those might have been your only brick and mortar options.)

In contrast, VoNBSS tells its readers, "Each of the patterns recommended is available at stores all across the country, and the recommended fabrics are just as easy to find." The book assumes that you will have no problem locating fabrics like silk satin and shantung, wool jersey, organdy, and velveteen.

The chapter called "Selecting Your Patterns" paints a picture in which new patterns are published every two weeks and are readily available at every department store in the "pattern department." Vogue also published a free "fashion folder" with the newest styles and suggestions for updating your wardrobe.

I wonder how we'll see home sewing evolve in the next few decades. Will we see more independent stores and pattern companies pop up? Will online shopping become the only option unless you live near a major garment district? What do you all think?

Essentially, it seems like we can look at VoNBSS not just as a great inspiration for sewing vintage, but also as an artifact of home sewing in its time. Look for more sewing history to come as I continue my sewing journey through VoNBSS!