Vintage Sewing Academy
If you were to combine all the brains of the We Sew Retro community (in a blender, perhaps), you would get a delicious and nutritious vintagey, sewingy, fashiony, patterny protein shake that would make you immune to craft disasters and supercharge your vintage adventures.
In other words, collectively we know quite a bit about a lot of stuff that you might also like to know about too.
Here’s a quick guide to some of the great reference information to be found on the We Sew Retro blog…
Croquis
Dating Vintage Patterns
- How to determine a date for vintage mail order patterns by Katherine
- Dating pattern using newspaper archives by mkonieczki
Drafting / Pattern Alterations
Making Your Own Bras + Panties
Fabric
- Heading to New York City? Here are the fabric stores we love
- A silk fabric comparison by Katrina: the difference between dupioni and shantung
Shopping for, using & collecting vintage patterns
- Pattern envy: how to overcome by puu: how to locate a copy of a vintage pattern you’ve fallen in love with, recommended books for pattern drafting, and patterns for making a basic fitting shell
- Differing amounts of ease across pattern companies and decades can make a pattern run larger or smaller than you would expect. See opinions here on the sizing accuracy of 30s, 40s and 50s patterns and here on the sizing accuracy of patterns from the 60s and 70s
- Commenters share advice on caring for vintage patterns
Sewing Machines
Vintage attire
Other Resources
- If there’s one thing that all vintage pattern fans agree on, it’s that Wade Laboissonniere’s books are awesome. He’s written two, and they’re widely considered the vintage pattern bibles. Published by Shiffer Books, they’re usually most affordable from Amazon.com: Blueprints of Fashion: Home Sewing Patterns of the 1940s
and Blueprints of Fashion: Home Sewing Patterns of the 1950s
