Stepford Stitching – The Singer Sewing Book
First published in the USA in 1949, the Singer Sewing Book was a mighty seller internationally. Apart from being technically excellent, sections of it are also eye-opening and jaw-dropping when read through today’s eyes.
By Susan Hurley
My, how times have changed. The days of talking down to women as wifely airheads with few capabilities beyond washing up and making beds have long gone – thankfully! But the spirit of those days can be revisited in any number of old books. Including sewing manuals.
Now, let’s make it clear right up front that this is in no way a slight on the reputation of the excellent Singer brand – it is and always has been a superior sewing-machine manufacturer with a scrupulous reputation and progressive outlook. But sprinkled throughout the introductory sections of its Singer Sewing Book (published back in 1949) are some pearls of condescension that were typical of the vintage – and clangers by today’s standards. We thought they might tickle our readers.
Check out our book review on Weekend Quilting with Jemima Flendt
The tone of the extracts below didn’t seem to be of any social concern at the time, since this book, by Mary Brooks Picken, was a roaring success, selling hundreds of thousands of copies worldwide and being reprinted again and again in various languages, despite a handsome cover price of 25/-. And the book’s shelf life spanned decades. Just goes to show how deeply ingrained these social mores were – and, more importantly, how far we’ve come since then.
Illustrations throughout the book show preened and primped females with nipped-in waists like Scarlett O’Hara. Under perfectly coiffed hair, their expressions are serenely content, and they are apparently blessed with mild manners (unlike Scarlett O’Hara). These women give birth to cherubic babies, live in fashionable-but-not-flashy, picket-fence homes and sew for their supper.
Hansel and Gretel have never looked cuter with this sweet doll duo pattern from Michelle Down
And that’s where this book comes in, with its 250 pages of helpful how-tos for the mid-century homemaker. Mary Brooks Picken’s insights represent a way of life that has gradually bowed out to more rational (certainly fairer) thinking. Dare we say it, but current home stitchers have our blessing to indulge in their crafts sans flawless makeup and a freshly starched frock! But before we go wild here, let’s share a few of Mary’s ideas for the not-so-modern stitcher:
DIRECT FROM THE PAGES OF SINGER SEWING BOOK, circa 1949
To Sew Successfully …
Physically – When you sew, make yourself as attractive as possible. Go through a beauty ritual of orderliness. Have on a clean dress. Be sure your hands are clean, fingernails smooth – a nail file and pumice will help. Have your hair in order, powder and lipstick put on with care.
Looking attractive is a very important part of sewing, because if you are making something for yourself, you will try it on at intervals in front of your mirror, and you can hope for better results when you look your best. If you are constantly fearful that a visitor will drop in or your husband come home and you will not look neatly put together, you will not enjoy your sewing as you should.
Therefore, ‘spruce up’ at the beginning, so that you are free to enjoy every part of any sewing you do. When her sewing is finished, the woman will find it necessary to do some light cleaning in order to remove the snippings, lint and threads which have accumulated. If one can possibly have a room or an area near the kitchen where she can sew while food is cooking or meals are in preparation, it is a great convenience.
Materially – If you are to get good results from sewing, remember that you must do it pridefully and skilfully. An uncoordinated sewing experience is not conducive either to enjoyment or best results.
Mentally – Prepare yourself mentally for sewing. Approach the job with enthusiasm. Never approach sewing with a sigh or lackadaisically. Good results are difficult when indifference predominates. Never try to sew with the sink full of dishes or beds unmade.
Keep all your sewing supplies in Gemma’s Crafty Bag
Plan for Sewing Time – Make an appointment with yourself to sew, just as you would with your hairdresser or with a neighbour to go shopping. If your intimates enjoy sewing, invite them to come and sew with you from 2 to 5 on a Wednesday or perhaps for an evening each week.
On the days when you are sewing, make the dessert in the morning, plan a quick-to-get dinner so that your afternoon can be given to the full enjoyment of sewing. Much happiness and benefit can be had from sewing if you plan what you will do; if you buy carefully; if you choose your patterns for smartness and appropriateness and if you
cut and sew in a planned, well-organised fashion.
Your Sewing Skills Are Like Money in the Bank – Many women want to help to earn. Experts tell us the first way to earn is to save. Ten shillings spent on fabric can, with intelligent planning and skilful workmanship, produce thirty shillings’ worth of finished product. Aside from the savings made, a woman who sews well always has a trade she can use in an emergency – she can always pay her own way with sewing skills. Isn’t such economy, such insurance, well worth any effort you expend in learning to sew beautifully?
Your Position at Your Machine – We all know the importance of good posture. It is talked of on every hand. It is essential from a health point of view; it is necessary for good appearance; and it is desirable if we are to sit at a sewing machine to sew efficiently. If you have been sewing for a long time and have incorrect habits of sitting at your machine, using your hands or guiding your work, correct them at once, not only for better results but for less fatigue and a more pleasing appearance.
Master Your Machine – A woman who breaks the thread short, thus unthreading her needle at the end of the stitching line or who dreads winding a bobbin or changing from the presser foot to a Fashion Aid, or who dreads changing one Aid for another as her work requires, has not taken the time necessary really to master her machine. Don’t allow such an attitude to handicap you.
Home Management Room – This is a room in which she can retire and carry on the business of running a household with at least some of the efficiency aids that a man has in his office to facilitate running his business:
As a Sitting Room: If the woman has a visitor who may care to bring her knitting or her sewing, this is an ideal room in which the hostess and her guest can sit, exchange the news of the day and at the same time make progress with their hobbies. The radio is available if there is an interest in a radio programme, and the room is decorative and feminine enough to be pleasant for visiting as well as being properly equipped with table space for serving tea or other light refreshments.
As a Sewing Room: This room has been designed to contain in a minimum of space all the requirements of an ideal sewing room. So often, the woman is forced to lay out her pattern and cut her material either on a bed or dining-room table, to remove knick-knacks from the top of the sewing machine and to have the dress form brought down from the attic, go elsewhere in the house to use an ironing board, etc, in order to have available the conveniences which aid so much in making sewing the real pleasure that it should be. Such difficulties she will not encounter in this room.
