Novel sewing advice from the past!

Oh wow, thank you so much, Jenx. I hope all our members and lurkers will go wallow in the wisdom of this one. It's the strangest thing, but I can sew regardless of the mayhem including Hurricane Katrina. OTOH, I can not paint unless there's some semblance of a decent meal available and at least a path cleared from front door to back. It would scare the pants off Mr. Esther if I applied lipstick and powder to do either. Polly

"Put on a clean dress"

The closest thing I have to a dress is either my Hakama

for sword class, or I suppose my bathrobe. Which one should I wear, or do I need to get busy making myself one?

Brian Christiansen

DD3 sews in her hakama sometimes. So I reckon that counts. I knit her some tabi socks because in the winter her feet look cold, and since those sandals don't work well on foot pedals she often just wears the socks to sew.

We don't have a sword class, so sometimes I am "Mom, the sparring partner and living practice post". I kill her a lot and she keeps telling me that my form is terrible, my moves are cheating, and posts are supposed to be stationary so it is bad of me to parry. Yeah, when I get to wear armor and she starts using something other than a solid wood bokun then I will stop parrying!

The things we do for our kids.

NightMist

What about a sarong? That wouldn't take too much sewing >g< Great response, Brian - I enjoyed the early morning chuckle! . In message , Brian writes

Brian - how about an old fashioned man's night shirt? Sure looks like a dress, or one of those garments that sheikhs wear.....

Thanks for the the laugh Jen, I especially like the updated version, that's my sort of sewing!

Lizzy

"barnyowl" schrieb im Newsbeitrag news:jud01r$6me$ snipped-for-privacy@speranza.aioe.org...

Very good! I just had to post the link at alt.sewing; after all, that's where it belongs. ;->

U. - ROTFLOL

I was thinking about something. Although the proportion of men who sewed at home (not professional tailors or sailors who might repair torn sails as part of their job or whatever) was probably a lot smaller back then, there must have at least some.

Were they given the same, or at least equivalent advice such as "put on your best suit" or "be sure to shave before you start so you don't look like Scruffy Mcgee."

Or was the prevailing attitude of the time kind of like Mr. Ropers from Three's Company, that an man who sewed and it wasn't part of his job, such as tailor or sailor, was "that way" and needed to put on his best dress as well.

Brian Christiansen

funny! the scary thing is, I agree with most of it. Except the dress code and the nose-powdering -I'm way beyond that. But I'm GOOD at housekeeping! The bed gets made as soon as we're out of it, dishes go straight into the machine, so what's the big deal? Check this out:

Roberta >This snippet of 'need-to-know' sewing advice, dated 1949 is posted by one of

I found at a yard sale "The Complete Book of Sewing" Dated 1943. (A little before my time) I kept it because I wanted to!! Nana

>

While researching my paternal family history, I found that two of my GGF's brothers became tailors and his stay-at-home sister was a dressmaker - all other siblings, including my GF were farm workers. My GF was raised by his GM and became a businessman who later married a dressmaker and then his widowed sister/law, another dressmaker (my grandmother). She died in 1917 and there were no other 'sewist' until I was born 2 generations later. I often wonder what made those two young men leave the country to learn the art of tailoring in the 1880's.......

My Mum told me that when she asked my Dad for a sewing machine before I was born, he went right out to buy one for her. It was a Singer and it was the first machine that I learned to use. Dad put the hand crank on it for me and there was no stopping me after that. Barnyowl

Brian, there's an exhibit right now at the Shelburne Museum [VT] of quilts made by men.

They range from quilts made by recovering wounded soldiers in the Civil War to modern art quilts.

i love it! having the sink cleared is the job of DD. she leaves for college in three weeks. the DH and/or DS is going to have to take over this job. i cook, there is no reason why someone else can't stack the dishwasher.

and like Miss Polly's hubby, fred would think i was ready for either a wedding or a funeral if powder and lipstick went on....