Friday 30 August 2013

Step back in time to the 1960s



One of my favourite shopping expeditions is to hit the charity shops in a town to see what treasures are waiting. My latest find was a Woman’s Realm sewing and knitting supplement from 1967 for the bargain price of 49p!
  

So what has this mainly monochrome magazine got to offer? My favourite project has to be this “upcycling” feature on how to give two hats a brand new look by cutting holes in one and sewing the patches onto another!
  
 


In contrast to the hat project, this party dress pattern still looks quite wearable. I'm not so sure that a net boa is an ideal accessory, though it would certainly still be a scene stealer, especially in tangerine net and worn as shown on the cover.
   


Whilst the projects are interesting, I find the adverts just as interesting. It is so easy to forget that before the internet came along, small ads in publications such as this were the equivalent to online websites. It would seem that buying sewing machines was so confusing in the 1960s and that knitting with Emu yarn was very serious task for a little girl.


The sewing machine adverts are particularly fascinating as they show which features were available on machines at this time and it is interesting to note that Novum are offering a machine with stitching cams whereas Necchi see the lack of cams as selling point.
  


I’ve scanned a few other adverts and projects from the magazine and I hope you enjoy looking at them as much I did. I'm off to join the strong seam brigade and leave all my tedious sewing jobs to Bondina :-)
 
 


 



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