A dear friend of mine gifted me with a wonderful series of books recently- my sewing life is about to be enriched, I feel it.
Have you ever wanted to sew and felt like ‘the Man’ was keeping you down? Do you ever feel stifled by the institutional strait jacket of fit and structure? Don’t let it get you down and harsh your mellow- The Illustrated Hassle-Free Make Your Own Clothes Book is here for you!
I have long envied bloggists that do book reviews so I am very excited to take you thru the process of this marvel of a book that will soon liberate us all from darts, bras and societal beatdowns! Here is a quote from the dust jacket:
‘Yes, here is the straight-out dope on how to make your own clothing. No more mystique, no more sexism.’…’ Homemade clothes should not only be a ‘chick thing’. Does your old man need a new sarong? Has his hemp hoodie worn out? Don’t replace- ’embroider on a pretty little patch’!
One more stirring quote before I begin gathering my supplies and we get started on our adventure!
‘There’s a thing about high fashion- it’s pretty much a hype. All this raising and lowering of hemlines, these do-dos and don’t-don’t’s seem to us to be just a way for the clothing industry- big business indeed- to keep their thing going. We find Vogue and Bazaar magazines best for cutting up as collages. They are not under any circumstances to be taken seriously.’
Alright. I feel less uptight already. Or maybe it’s the incense I’ve started burning in the sewing room. Boy, I wish Bruderlein would stop coughing.
Ok, our list of supplies seems reasonable and I already have most of them. Well, except the Raavi Shankar cassette and the copy of Prophet that I’m supposed to have. Well, I’ll pick those up later at the Co-Op I was told to join in the preface.
Now, what to make first.. No, don’t run ahead Anne, that’s a downer. Enjoy the vibrations of the cosmos and read some more Gibran. ‘If you reveal your secrets to the wind you should not blame the wind for revealing them to the trees’. Hmm. This incense is making me really wants tacos..
Basic sewing section:
Casings, clipping curves, elastic, facings, no darts. Wait, what?
Darts:
‘We don’t use darts on tops because we don’t use bras- they give your clothes a funny shape. If you want to make darts, you can figure out easily enough how to add them to the tops.’
Um, I’ve never really been a fan of the braless ness. My bunnies need a hutch, you know? You really don’t get good cleavage without a bra- I can’t go thru the day lying on my side to maintain cleavage in my braless state?! Ok, chill. This is my homogenized, sanitized, commercial, heavy, repressed upbringing making me sweat this. So I’m going to remove my foundation garments (clearly a man shackle, right?) and my little bracelet that says ‘What would Dita Von Teese Do?’ for this review. Dedication to my craft- I have it. I think I have to adjust my chair now.
Sewing tip:
‘When you first need to have snaps for something you are making, buy a large card full of assorted sizes; then you have them for next time. Same with needles and hooks and eyes.’
Phew! I was really thinking that my hoarding of textiles and such was going to be a problem with this books principles; luckily I will take this as a consumer compromise.
Another handy tip involves using nylon zippers as the metal is cold and scratchy against bare skin. Why must I have so much bare skin????? You know what else is cold and scratchy? My nipples. Sorry for that info, but I’m still a little bummed about not getting to wear my underwire. I’ll try to stop bringing it up. By God I will try.
Most of our manuals instructions are for hand-sewing. You can’t always depend on having power to run your big business hype sewing machine and as the landfills slowly fill with Berninas and Singers, our planet dies. I’m now so overwhelmed with images of the rainforest glutted with old overlockers that have become nests for toucans..sigh…
I’m torn- to accurately review this book, I should hand sew everything I make, but, as I would like to review this book within the year, I will break down and use this corporate tool- my Singer. Please forgive my lack of dedication.
The section on embroidery and hand-stitching is detailed and thorough. I can now embroider a butterfly, crescent moon or a peace sign on all of my old mans dress pants. He is thrilled. 
Special tips about fabrics:
Nap- nap feels groovy. Nuff said. 
Grain- grain is well-defined and explained in the paragraph and additional thoughts on working with bias ‘ala Harlowe’.
Taking care of materials-
‘It’s better to take off crepe clothes before frying potatoes, if you don’t like the idea of having them dry-cleaned.’
‘Constant dry cleaning knocks the hell out of a fabric and gives it an unpleasant, chemical smell. Clean wash smells and feels a lot better. Also, washing cuts down on non-bio-degradable plastic bags which end up over the head of your favorite cat or child.’ Folks at home, I did not make that last part up, I swear. Even I would place a cat ahead of a child, even a favorite cat..
For our next installment, I will cover the section on Remodeling Your Old Clothes. I hope that you have enjoyed this peek into a classic, please stick around for more!
In the meantime, I would like to leave you with a thought from the subject of our authors other works:
“The period between four and six in the morning is called the Brahmamuhurta, the Brahmic time, or divine period, and is a very sacred time to meditate.”
― Swami Satchidananda, The Yoga Sutras
I think I will go put my bra on and watch Project Runway. Oh, and Father- that was parsley. Don’t worry.
photo credits: google Images, The Illustrated Hassle-Free Make Your Own Clothes Book, meadhawg, little me. All images remain the property of their original owners.
Holy Crap, Anne! Wish I had my Iron Butterfly album with the 17 min version of “Inagaddadavida”! Have to make do with the Doors and “Light My Fire”…makes you wonder where all this happy hippy folks are now….start the search in Northern California and Oregon and follow your nose…parsley, my ass, Girlie! Just the thought of seeing embroidery on your “old man’s” pants, your faithful photographer…how could he hold his head up ever again? Tuck your titties under your waistband and get groovin!
LikeLike
I think I am enjoying this far to much!!!
LikeLike
Heeheehee! I’m having too much fun with this! Wait until I actually follow the directions!
LikeLike
Oh no!! I must have this book, but all of the booksellers I know are corporate, big business types! Where’s my incense?
BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!
Where did you get your WWDVTD bracelet?? I need one. And I’m off to Big Girl Bras for a Rago longline. That might cleanse my palate.
LikeLike
Its hard to keep out of The Mans dirty corporate clutches, isnt it?! This is a jump for little consumer Anne!!
LikeLike
You are hilarious! “My bunnies need a hutch” Hahahaha! I completely agree and can’t wait for the next installment.
LikeLike
Being liberated can be cumbersome!!
LikeLike
I’m still laughing. I’ll have to ask my ‘old man’ if he needs a new sarong! Groovy review – I can’t wait to see what’s in the next installment.
LikeLike
Liberate his loins from the confines of corporate khaki!!!
LikeLike
Ha, ha – with that description, he might just go for it!
LikeLike
I love this post. Groooovy! book. How interesting! One of the best smiles I have had today!
LikeLike
Aw! Have some oregano brownies!
LikeLike
Oh, the old hippies, I swear, many of them are still in Woodstock. I kid you not…
It seems rather pointless to worry about washing vs. drycleaning when clearly, the easiest thing to do is wear the clothes while you, on occasion, wash yourself.
Now where did I put my copy of My Generation, or should I break out “Shaken All Over….hmmmm Better yet, Purple Haze….!!!
LikeLike
Hilarious. Love the post and the pics and is that a gratuitous glimpse of Rob Lowe on the tele?
LikeLike
It just might be!
LikeLike
Oh, you are so clever! Living in Oregon, I see sarongs occasionally, and nowadays, kilts. I’m going to fire up the iPod and listen to CS&N.
LikeLike
Yup, perfect music for ‘firing up’……
LikeLike
“non-bio-degradable plastic bags which end up over the head of your favorite cat or child.” The “non-favorite” cat or child would be in less danger?
LikeLike
I wondered about that too!!!
LikeLike
Oh, my! I had that book and it actually made me believe I could sew! What a relief when I found the Big Four!
LikeLike
You wanted darts and inset sleeves, eh? How crazy of you!
LikeLike
Illustrated item #14: “…Sew over pins. Remove pins.”
*shudders*
*races to sewing room to pat my horribly consumerist, much-beloved sewing machine, and reassure her that I would never, ever, EVER allow her to drive over um, ah, ACK – a PIN!*
LikeLike
Its a totally different mindset, isnt it?
LikeLike
“Funny about driving over pins. I’ve seen videos from workrooms where the seamstresses regularly drive over pins while putting together those $4000 RTW jackets sold in Chanel boutiques,” said the devil’s advocate. 😀
LikeLike
I guess if you are handsewing in a hemp strewn teepee it isnt an issue!
LikeLike
OMG, Tia Dia – seriously?!?!? ACK ACK ACK~!! I used to drive over pins with reckless abandon, sewing needle often hitting them dead square, chopping them in half, & pile-driving the halved parts straight into the throat plate. This may or may not have on occasion messed up the shuttle race, timing, & whatever other mysteries live in the dark space under that needle plate. *innocent whistle* I don’t drive over pins any more. *wink*
LikeLike
Thanks a million for making me laugh. I needed it! This post is priceless.
LikeLike
Dont forget to meditate…
LikeLike
Oh my. I haven’t thought of Ravi Shankar in years. I will have you know I saw him in concert back in the day, along with George Harrison and Billy Preston. Oh god I am old. Or wait, am I , or am I just brainwashed by the Establishment? Peace man.
LikeLike
Last week on Fresh Air they interviewed his son- new album- you can renew your love!
LikeLike
Ha ha ha ha. Who knew there was a book like that? Peace, love and hand sewing.
LikeLike
Dang! Thats a better title than mine!!!
LikeLike
Oh No What are you doing to me! I lived much of that. Long hair down to my hips, home made caftans, embroidered cheesecloth tops..growing herbs…the commune, the Kombi vans. Where did the summer of love go…..
LikeLike
Glad I could help you relive! Throwing out your machine yet?
LikeLike
Ahaha, excellent! I can’t see ditching my bra any time soon either!
LikeLike
I could not be an investgative journalist!!!
LikeLike
Priceless! Here’s me thinking sewing was complicated – and I always fry potatoes in the nude – just trying to protect my crepe you know…….
LikeLike
Its full of decent basic knowledge wedged between potato frying, damnthe man and cat asphyxiation references!
LikeLike
I’m so glad that this post is still here. I read it really late Saturday night after watching Dr Who in the cinema and I honestly thought that I’d had some weird time-travelling/sewing/blogging dream.
This blog post and this book *actually* exist. Awesome, maaan.
LikeLike
Heehee!
LikeLike
When they said there would be no more sexism and not a chick thing anymore, I thought they were going to teach men to sew, but apparently they meant that ladies CAN sew for men. No more sexism is because men wear handmades too – handmades that their ladies made for them.
LikeLike
I think book 2 gets your old man into his own caftan experience- baby steps!
LikeLike
You just made my morning. My mom once got me a book on how women should behave. It was a book dating back to the 1930’s and I can assure you, I took it very seriously and I have my husbands’ slippers and dinner at the ready when he comes home. I also never sew when I should be cleaning and I never bother him with any of my questions or opinions because they are just not worth his precious time 🙂
I wish I also got this book though. So I would stop giving all my money to the big corporate fabric stores 😉
LikeLike
I dont know if I can give up fabric shopping! Im just too shallow to save the planet……
LikeLike
I normally go with ‘They’ve made it anyway, so someone’s got to buy it.’
LikeLike
Oh holy hell, you are so funny! These people are still living here in Northern California. I gotta stop reading your blog @ 2 AM, cause I laugh out loud & wake up DH & the dogs.
LikeLike
Why thank you!
LikeLike
Oh that’s too much! I want clothes that are groovy to look at! That quote about high fashion was pretty spot on though. Go you hippies! But yes, leave my bra alone.
LikeLike
Give me freedom and some darts!
LikeLike
The freedom to choose darts! This is progress!
LikeLike
Hilarious! Can’t wait to see what you make from this book!!! Free the bunnies…
LikeLike
HAAAAAA HAAAAAAAA! Am I to be evicted from the hippie commune for my love of darts? At least I can smuggle in some bras inside the stash. 😉
LikeLike
I personally think not wearing a bra gives my clothes a funny shape!
LikeLike
Yeah, me too. I like the bunnies to be elevated, if you know what I mean.
LikeLike
It makes them happy!
LikeLike
BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I can’t believe this book is real! Wow, what a gift you’re giving to all of us!
LikeLike
I officially need to go to my favorite used bookstore and scour it for a new gem. My favorite vintage sewing book from the 50’s advised a girl to always put on her lipstick when she sews… never know when hubby might come home and you wouldn’t want him to see you fraying at the edges over a hem, now would you?
LikeLike
Slovenliness is still grounds for divorce! A man deserves so much better!
LikeLike
Yes he does. He deserves to pick up his own damn drawers off the floor. Goodness, if I’d known I could divorce my ex husband for slovenliness instead of waiting around for the differences to become irreconcilable, I could have saved so much time!
LikeLike
They should just make being a jackass grounds- it would be easier!
LikeLike
Actually, if I’d been thinking clearly, being a jackass was sufficient grounds for not starting in the first place.
LikeLike
Dang- I wish Id known that too!
LikeLike
I adore those pictures, in fact I think I was playing in Golden Gate park in some of those photos. You have just summed up the visuals of my childhood in SF in the 70s. I swear my second grade teacher (who left mid year to join a commune – I shit you not) is in one of those piccies.
And fyi, I’m now cleaning up the coffee I snorted onto my screen when I came across “my bunnies need a hutch”.
LikeLike
All my elementary teachers ever did was lead odd bachelorette lives- i envy your stories!!
LikeLike
this might be of your best posts ever!!! like the commenter above, I was a child in those years here in the SF area. we used to ask dad to take a detour around SF when we went to visit the grandparents so we “could see the hippies.” We would drive down the length of Haight St.and check them out. My sis and I thought they were funny but who knows what my folks thought. For all I know we could have seen rock legends strolling down the street. Anyway, I have found some good books at garage sales but nothing compares to this one.
Now, try not to be so uptight and embrace your inner hippie chick ! 🙂
LikeLike
I will let the sun shine in- if you insist!!!
LikeLike
LOL! The whole book sounds like a bad comedy sketch. 😉
Maybe as a compromise you could sew your own bras? Would that sufficiently “stick it to the man”? I don’t think I’d go without mine either, my nipples hurt just thinking about it.
LikeLike
It makes me think of that Tina Fey SNL natural birth sketch with the sweat lodge
LikeLike
You have just reignited my desire to be beautiful and wear liberatingly oversized dresses, dancing the day away with men in dreadlocks, in my own little self sufficient bubble! But doing it all in my good old Berlei ‘smoother-underwire’ bra ~ easier to run, dance, and float around the place ~ all without added back pain … J
LikeLike
Mp
LikeLike
I do my best moves with full support!
LikeLike
You might think a bra is about supporting your bosom but really it’s been designed by the man to restrict and confine you. Down with bras! Haha groovy baby
LikeLike
I wont burn my bra until Joan Holloway does!!
LikeLike
Right on.
Oh man, I grew up reading cheap paperback books like this that described how to “stick it to The Man”. I may still have a few around here about growing your own food, living off the grid, brewing your own moonshine, building your own home and furniture….
Ah, but here’s my favourite one! “The Grub Bag: an underground cookbook. The practical, philosophical and political aspects of food – with recipes and metaphysics”, by Ita Jones. It even has a chapter on cannibalism, ending with the quote, “I offer up no recipes. Most people these days aren’t fit to eat”.
!!!!
LikeLike
Cannibals have high standards- you are what you eat….hey wait a minute…
LikeLike
Oh, I could die laughing but that might not be conducive to sewing. More, please. I need to get my groove on.
LikeLike
i wondered what that green medicine was 😉
LikeLike
It said I needed it, huh…..
LikeLike
Your friend is a gem. I recently borrowed from the library the book with the comment about not wearing bras. That was a strange sentence to write. Vintage sewing, home ec, and etiquette books are endlessly entertaining.
LikeLike
So true! Changing language and attitudes make for great reading!
LikeLike
Omg that is amazing! I had a wonderful chuckle at the quotes. Good luck with your first garment from it. 🙂
LikeLike
I think i have my threads all picked out!
LikeLike
Groovy 🙂
LikeLike
ROTFLMAO!!!! This is so fabulously funny. I’ll be looking out for a copy of these books in opshops. The picture of the cat wearing a plastic bag is priceless!!
LikeLike
Googling ‘cats in plastic bags’ probably inched me higher on that watch list the FBI has….
LikeLike
Duuude. I totally have a Ravi Shankar cd and have read (and own!) a copy of “The Prophet”.
LikeLike
You must get some great sewing done!!😃
LikeLike
Oh god, I haven’t laughed this hard in a while (bunnies needing a hutch, oooh boy). “Incense”. HAHAHAHA. I think all this groovy instruction should result in some sort of hassle-free threads, free from the shackles of the man, right? Which is to say, please make a dashiki or bell bottoms, star child.
LikeLike
Just you wait!
LikeLike
What a great book to have in your collection! I think I may be suffering slightly from sewing book envy! I wonder what the author would write today? … Let me know how the parsley worked! 😉 ~Laurie
LikeLike
It will have its own easel display in the sewingroom!!
LikeLike
Trying to laugh quietly so the husband doesn’t try to have me committed but I just sound like Muttley. Him in a sarong?, bunnies, parsley. OH boy, all too far out man……
LikeLike
I love Muttley- thats the best kind of laughter to produce- the cynical twisted kind!
LikeLike
I’m still in danger of being carted away in a tie down jacket! The husband looks very worried (and so he should….)
LikeLike
Husbands need to stay a little worried, its good for them!
LikeLike
Oh they do, they do!
LikeLike
Oh my! 94 comments! I so hate being late to the party and I hate not having time to read them all but it’s Thanksgiving week and the big event is at my house this year and I’m stressing. Anyway, hilarious book. I might try to hunt down a copy for myself.
I must proudly note that I, myself, am kind to Mother Earth. No I don’t hand sew everything but I do use my grandmother’s 100+/- year old treadle Singer which is the next best thing as it uses not electricity. Oh wait… I have a big old adjustable floor lamp that I use so I can see what I’m sewing. [sigh] I can’t help it. I’m addicted to electricity.
LikeLike
You wasteful consumer, you! A lamp! Im appalled!
LikeLike
Ahhh, LOVE these books and your review! I wish I had these in my collection, I’m amassing quite a lovely collection of sewing books. The pics are fantastic! Love that VW.
LikeLike
It’s all been said…but an interesting side note…Shankar’s lovely daughter Norah Jones just released a duet album “Foreverly” as a tribute to long forgotten Everley Brothers overlooked masterpiece “Songs our Daddies Taught Us” recorded in 1957….her duet partner… Billie Joe Armstrong!!. Serendipity….Peace out!!!
LikeLike
Aaah! I was going to email you that bit of info!! Like minds, right?
LikeLike
This blog post is hysterical. i have read similar minded reviews of this book but not in as much detail and minus the giggle inducing quotes! Thanks for making me laugh!!
LikeLike
Wait until you see my old mans harem pants!
LikeLike
So awesome!! i have a bunch of my mum’s sewing/knitting magazines from the 60’s and 70’s and I adore going through them, but this book absolutely takes the cake!! I can’t even imagine what my “old man” would say if I presented him with an embroidered sarong LOL. Also, fortunately for me, my children ARE cats, and none of them are in danger of having their heads covered in drycleaning plastic, as I am not in the habit of a) drycleaning LOL, or b) passing out on the floor in an incense and herb-induced coma, surrounded by my peace-love-groovy hand sewing LOL.
LikeLike
If i pass out, usually the cat is busy trying to steal my soul- not sorting my drycleaning!
LikeLike
BAHAHAHAHA! Ditto!! 😀
LikeLike
Eesh. I can smell the patchouli and BO from here. SO MANY MUSTACHES.
LikeLike
And thats just the groovy chicks!!
LikeLike
Oh just the book for me since my bunnies hopped away.
LikeLike
It has great appeal!
LikeLike
Hi! I found your blog while looking for an excerpt from this very book. I own it and the sequel, but of course can’t find it in my workshop. I actually made several items from the book, by hand because I couldn’t carry a machine on the 3 hour round trips to and from HS way back then.
Your review made me laugh and brought back fond memories of the “parsley” shared in my sewing circles. 😉 I also did have one “old man” who wanted a sarong made by me (it was out of a cool tie-dyed recycled sheet).
I still use some of the techniques from those books, but I now use darts and keep my bunnies firmly in their hutch.
Did you ever make anything and post your results? I can’t tell.
LikeLike
Hey! I’m so glad to see someone got inspired by the books- I added some panels to some jeans, but never got it blogged- got to revisit that!
LikeLike