I trust you are all having a lovely summer (or winter...), I know I am!
My three weeks of holiday is almost up, and it has been wonderful to just be. And not so much do! That is not to say I have been sitting on my patootie, oh no! There has been sunbathing (lying on my patootie), kayaking (ok, that's sitting), doing lots of yoga/human pretzel impersonations, some sewing and knitting. Basically, every and any thing my heart desired!
I have also made a new friend! A sewing friend!
This lovely woman is named Hilde, and I met her last spring on our annual sportscar gathering. She is a seamstress by profession, and works with our national treasure, the Bunad. She has her own sewing studio her husband made for her in their barn. It's better than I make it sound, I am so envious!
We have had some on and off contact, as we live a couple of hours apart and are, well, busy. We met again this spring at the same event, and she told me she had some stuff that she wondered if I could use. They were apparently some patterns, but I had to come visit her to get them. Done deal!
To make a long story short (and get to the good stuff) I went to see her last weekend, and OH MY!
I really dont know where to start.
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| Spot the third one from the left. a complete holiday wardrobe! |
To kick off, there's some Norwegian mailorder patterns from the 50s. The big green book is a gem! It is printed in 1964 and contains heaps of techniques and how-to's for the home seamstress. Also knitting, crocheting, how to make lace (!), needlework, everything. It is in Norwegian, and finally I can communicate the sewing lingo in my own language! It is hard, when you are self taught and have googled all you know in English... To my greatest joy, there is a tailoring section in there, and I sense my two piece suit is drawing near:)
Next, there is a huge lot of German patterns, that has been pulled from a subscription magazine. The subscriber was Norwegian, and collected these for what seems like some years. They range from about 1966-69, and contain lots of fun stuff! There must be over a hundred of them!
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| Cool sailor slacks. This pattern had several variations. |
The coolest item of all (if there is such a thing!) is this Silver Scissor booklet, complete with the special ruler/ tape measure. It is similar to the Lutterloh system, where you draft your pattern from small drawings of the pattern pieces using the ruler. Quite genious, and I look forward to have a go at this :) It seems the patterns were released in intervals, so you could collect them over time. I haven't counted these, but there must be about 50 or so.
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| Will you look at that purple set! And the top suit...swoon. |
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| This should be fun! |
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| I just adore adore the white ensemble....! |
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| Fabulous dressing gown alert, top left corner! |
I am just over the moon over these things! The total number of patterns is probably 200+, and worth a pretty penny if sold separately. Needless to say, I am not letting go of any of these, I feel so blessed to have recieved such a generous gift! She even gave me two pairs of chrocheted gloves, but they are getting a post of their own. Utterly gorgeous things! Here's to new friendships!
Thank you, Hilde :) You're a star.
