Origins

    Over the last few years, I've collected a treasure trove of rare, public-domain sewing patterns from the early 20th century.  Roaring 20s evening dresses, Great Depression day dresses, bygone beachwear, 3-piece suits, and a flapper's ransom in undergarments. The only hitch is that the maps to this particular treasure trove look like this.

Oh, yeah. This is gonna go great.

Circa 1930

...Also, all of the (minimal) instructions are written in a language that I don't even begin to speak, often featuring terminology that hasn't been used in living memory, in an antiquated Blackletter script where all of the letters look like other letters...except when they inexplicably don't.

What could possibly go wrong?


But I'm nothing if not a stubborn cuss, and these patterns are just too lovely to leave unused in old, disintegrating sewing magazines. So I'm biting the bullet, mixing the metaphors, and digitizing the ever living hell out of this ephemera. 

This blog is intended to provide updates on this project. As it progresses, the patterns will be made available for purchase in my Etsy shop with more in-depth instructions and licensed for limited commercial use (meaning that you have full permission to sell any garments you make from them, provided you aren't sewing them on an industrial-level production scale). 

So yes, this is yet another vintage sewing blog that's also kinda trying to sell you something! But even if you don't sew a stitch and just happen to love 1920s and 1930s -era fashion, take a peek now and again to see some of the beautiful original illustrations, along with the occasional sewing projects made from them.