WWII Sewing Book: The Complete Book of Sewing

Post by: Erin | Posted on: December 05, 2011 | In: Thrift Scores

I recently picked up The Complete Book of Sewing by Constance Talbot, the 1943 edition, at an estate sale. As longtime readers know, I have a weak spot for the intersection of WWII and homemaking, so this was a doozy for me.

So much LOVE here, where to begin?

Well, I adore the year-long month-by-month plan for smartening your look through the prudent use of handmade accessories. Really, check this out:

And I love that she talks about crows feet,which I wrote about for Burdastyle a while ago in my Vintage in Detail series:

I love the movie-star worthy pictures of pretty girls in various states of sewing rapture. I always make that face when I’m fitting my muslin:

I LOVE the Rosie the Riveter pictures and the no-nonsense talk about what you want to be wearing (and sewing!) for your WWII factory job. (This is 1943…the war is ON, folks! Let’s get crackin’.)

Side note: I found this E Award pin the other day at another estate sale.

The E Award was a war-time program designed to honor the top-producing, safest and all-around best factories that produced goods for the war. So, when you are constructing your factory outfit, remember to work this honor into your design.

Ok, ok, back to the book. I love the figure flattering strategies for sloping shoulders, flat chests, full busts, large waistlines…and small waistlines? I couldn’t believe it when Ms. Talbot called a small waistline a “defect.” My, how times have changed.

I love the handy stain chart…

…but I was horrified when she outlines how to give your laundry a gasoline bath on page 209. What?????

I also love that there is a whole chapter with advice for teaching your daughter to sew!!!! This is perhaps the most important chapter in the whole book. Her advice is very encouraging and practical. Ms. Talbot advocates a real hands-off policy and tells you to let your student make all the mistakes she wants for the sake of the learning process and also in order to help build your daughter’s confidence naturally.

Her advice rings true for me today, as that is more or less how my mom “taught” me how to sew. When I was little, mom would just give me the space to create. She would be there for emergencies or last-minute questions but, overall, she just had me answer my own questions and figure things out for myself.

I would say that The Complete Book of Sewing is easily one my favorites in my collection.

This book is just so exhaustive. It literally covers every conceivable topic under the sewing umbrella. Today, this book would have been released in 10 or so volumes. They just don’t make books that are this useful and well-written anymore.

Ok, I’m off to the post office to mail my eBay treasures and I need to go grocery shopping and tidy up the house before I pick my mom up at the airport! This is going to be her first time seeing my new place so it should be a treat.

Love, Erin