Costume Sale

Announcing the Annual Goofing Off Sewing Supplies Costume Sale!

All patterns are 30% off until October 15. All of them….toddlers, children’s, adults. Everything, even these:

I feel like the white rabbit….late for a very important date.

If the costume pattern isn’t marked down yet just convo me and I’ll fix it. I’m a work in progress, still not perfect yet.

Post by GoofingOff

New Pattern Listings….Cocktail Dresses, Bridal Gowns, and American Girl

 

Here’s a few patterns to check out this week from GoofingOff Sewing Supplies.

 

McCall’s 3770 Bridal Gown and Bridesmaid Dress…..1973

See & Sew 5405 top and skirt, size extra small to medium

McCall’s Costume pattern MP266

Butterick 6228 Misses’ Halter Dress with shawl in size 6, bust 30.5 inches

Post by Miss Eileen aka GoofingOff

MissEileen vintage
Goofingoff Etsy Judaic fabrics, sewing patterns
GoofingOff Artfire Sewing patterns, plus size patterns
Metal Woods N Water unusual stuff and metal work

Designer Linda Allard Ruffled Wrap Tops

Here’s a few of the latest listings in the GoofingOff shop. Click on the title and you’ll go to the listing



Butterick 5370 Stylish, elegant wardrobe by designer Linda Allard for Ellen Tracy.




Simplicity 9895 M&M’s Candy Costumes




McCall’s 8037 Retro Sundresses by designer Bill Tice




Simplicity 8387 Easy to sew Top and Split Skirts




McCall’s 3111 Ruffled Wrap Tops

Local club stitches together friendships | SeacoastOnline.com

Local club stitches together friendships | SeacoastOnline.com

This post is from SeacoastOnline.com

In November of 1913, a group of 12 Exeter girls — all between the ages of 7 and 9 — got together to form a sewing club. A copy of their record book, written in clumsy school-girl script, was donated to the Exeter Historical Society in 1991 by the family of Faith Kenniston, one of the girls in the group. In a very grown-up way, they elected officers, decided on the purpose of the club (to learn to sew), set meeting dates as Saturdays at 3 p.m. and collected dues of 1 cent per meeting. Faith's mother, Inez, would serve as their adult advisor. It was all very business-like until the final entry: "After the business was over, the members danced for half an hour. Helen E. Redman, Secretary."

In 1913 clubs of all kinds were popular with all ages. It was an era with little outside entertainment. Men joined fraternal organizations like the Masons, Odd-Fellows, Foresters or Improved Order of Red Men. Women sometimes joined the auxiliary branches of the men's groups or they formed their own reading clubs, church organizations, social welfare groups or current event clubs. The girls of Exeter had plenty of examples of how to run a proper club.

They named their group after a character in Charles Dickens' "Our Mutual Friend." Jenny Wren was a sympathetic care-taker of her alcoholic father, who supported herself by making doll clothes.

The girls may have heard of this character, but it was more likely that they had not. "Our Mutual Friend" was not one of Dickens best known or easiest novels — certainly not the choice reading material for girls barely out of second grade. The Jenny Wren Club of Exeter was part of a larger program to encourage home sewing by one of the nation's largest makers of sewing patterns — the Butterick Corporation.

Butterick sales were lagging due to the expansion of ready-made clothes. It was simply no longer necessary for women to spend hours and hours hand sewing clothing for the family. It was just as easy (and sometimes just as inexpensive) to purchase clothes off the rack. To keep their sewing patterns selling, Butterick had to figure out a way to convince women that homemade clothes were somehow better than their more convenient store-bought counterparts.

The company began by publishing a fashion magazine called The Delineator — so named for the master dressmaker patterns that professional tailors and seamstresses used to individually fit a garment to a customer. The Delineator became wildly popular, setting fashion standards in a way that earlier women's magazines, such as Godey's Ladies Book, had done in the mid-19th century. But rather than encouraging women to purchase the new styles in the magazine, The Delineator reminded them that home sewing patterns, particularly those made by Butterick, were fully adaptable and would produce a garment that would conform better to any size woman. And, it would be better made, because you made it yourself. Home sewing was no longer seen as a necessity, it was a question of quality and womanhood.

But what about the new generation of girls who would not necessarily have to be taught to sew by overworked mothers? How could home sewing skills be encouraged in the next generation? To tackle these problems The Delineator created a national movement of girls' sewing groups called Jenny Wren Clubs. The Exeter girls were part of a much larger movement.

It was probably Mrs. Kenniston who suggested to the girls that they form a club, and they met at the Kenniston home for most of the first meetings. The club was duly registered with The Delineator and received a club certificate, membership pins and frequent letters of encouragement.

Even with the help of a national magazine, Mrs. Kenniston had her work cut out for her. School-aged girls 100 years ago were no more demure than girls of the same age today. And anyone who presumes that girls are quiet and happy to sit still sewing for an hour hasn't hung around with any of them. Once the girls met, took attendance, collected dues and settled into their project of the day, Mrs. Kenniston kept them amused by reading or telling stories — she once spent nearly the entire hour telling them about the girlhood of Helen Keller. The club eventually rotated meetings between the member's homes, inviting one another's mothers to host the group.

They would sew for a while, have a snack and then do something more active before the meeting adjourned. Sometimes they danced, ("with the phonograph for music, and Mrs. Kenniston for teacher, the members danced the Virginia Reel") or played in the snow or "played at magic writing." Who knows how much actual sewing the girls learned, but the club certainly provided them with companionship and an initiation into the world of club life.

And Butterick still makes home sewing patterns today, so the experiment proved to be a success for all involved.

Barbara Rimkunas is the curator of the Exeter Historical Society. Her column appears every other Friday and she can be reached at info@exeterhistory.org.

Organization: My Quest to Conquer Chaos

Damn, that sounds noble. The truth is I am disorganized. If it wasn’t for my daily “to do” list I would get little done. Even with it I am a little bit on the hurting side. So many thoughts and ideas go through my head that I fall off the path quickly. I have to constantly tell myself to finish what I start so I won’t have so many odds and ends to complete.

Well, yesterday was my lucky day. I was on the way to town when I spied a yard sale sign (I swore I wasn’t going to stop before I ever left the house but I shouldn’t swear. I just had to stop). The folks didn’t have too much I was interested in except for a big, 4 drawer file cabinet. Woo Hoo, my name was written all over it, even before I paid for it. Finally a place to keep my million and one patterns (authentic vintage sewing and knitting, of course). Cut a deal with the folks and called the hubby who very lovingly picked it up for me (too big to fit in my car).

After I got home from my shopping trip I found the file cabinet sitting on my front porch waiting for me. My hubby said he would help me with it but I was so excited I started moving things from the storage room. I measured the cabinet to make sure of where to put it then walked it in. Kept a towel under it to keep it from scratching the floor (a scratch would have totally sucked). By the time the hubby came it the cabinet was tucked away just where I wanted it. It is now the home for Butterick patterns and the “Not Yet Listed” books and patterns that were cluttering my storage room.

I still have a long way to go to get the room right but yesterday was a big step in the right direction. I feel like a champ taking control of my life. Therapy couldn’t have made me feel so good. Cheap therapy for $15.

Now all I have to do is put labels on the drawers so I won’t go crazy looking from drawer to drawer. Maybe I’ll get more listed in my Etsy shops now that I know where everything is.

Here’s to gaining control of one’s life. Feels damn good.

Fabric Roses

I’ve done it. Again. Over promised my time again. It isn’t enough that Prince William is getting married soon but he just so happens to be getting married the same day and a friend. OK, so I am not going to his. No problem. I am, however, creating the decorations (at least some of them) for my friend’s shower. In addition to that, another friend is getting married, too, and I am doing the decorations for her shower, too. The showers are 4 days apart. I am getting stressed.

I fell in love with the look of fabric roses. I don’t know about the silk ones, though. They are very pretty but I don’t work too much with silk and don’t think it is too good an idea to start now, especially with a deadline looming. I chose to make the roses with recycled linen (thrift store finds) and yellow dotted Swiss. I tried doing the rolled roses but I am out of practice with a glue gun and blistered my fingers. Back to needle and thread. I will keep y’all posted on the progress. Hopefully, they will be as beautiful as I plan.

In the meantime, here is a cute pattern from the 60’s. What a beautiful spring dress this would make.

60's Dress Vintage Sewing Pattern Butterick 4069 32 Bust

Post by Eileen Patterson of GoofingOff.etsy, GoofingOff.Artfire, and MissEileen.Etsy

Sewing for the Home

When looking for patterns to sew, I often think of clothing patterns. With every seasonal change there are new patterns and styles that come off the runways and having a guide is almost a necessity for me as I try to make fashionable clothes. Yet there are patterns available to guide a person through home decorating that make the curtain or bedspread project a success. I often forget about these patterns and dive into a project head first with great intentions only to be disappointed by my project that doesn't come out quite right. Here are two fantastic patterns from my Artfire shop for home decor sewing. Imagine having a storage ottoman in your living room to stash the afghan when company comes? Extra seating with storage, perfect for an apartment or small house. The window treatments could spruce up a kitchen quick. Shades and valances don't take a lot of fabric or time to make, yet the effect goes far. Happy Sewing! http://www.GoofingOff.etsy.com http://www.artfire.com/users/GoofingOff