July 17, 2022

Hackaday: A Home Made Sewing Machine May Be The Only One

Hackaday: A Home Made Sewing Machine May Be The Only One. “The sewing machine is a tool that many of us will have somewhere around our workshop. Concealed within it lies an intricate and fascinating mechanism. Some of us may have peered inside, but very few indeed of us will have gone to the effort of building our own. In case you had ever wondered whether it was possible, [Fraens] has done just that, with what he claims may be the only entirely homemade sewing machine on the Internet.”

Other Things I Think Are Cool 0
June 20, 2022

The Verge: The Archive Saving Home Sewing History From The Trash

New-to-me, from The Verge: The Archive Saving Home Sewing History From The Trash. ” The Commercial Pattern Archive is one of the few projects in the world that safeguards these documents that are fragile, easily forgotten, and born to die. A labor of love and insistence on the part of a small team of historians, costume designers, archivists, and hobbyists, the archive began in the 1990s and includes a physical stash and digital database of English-language patterns unparalleled in its scope and depth. CoPA is home to around 56,000 physical patterns going back to the 1800s, along with books, pamphlets, journals, and other related material.”

New Resources 0
January 11, 2022

Yahoo: White House Historical Association and NYU Partner

Yahoo: White House Historical Association and NYU Partner. “Who designed former First Lady Rosalynn Carter’s inaugural gown in 1977? The fact that this question would stump even the sharpest of history buffs is indirectly the impetus for an unexpected new tie-up. In an effort to call attention to some unsung or little-known designers and seamstresses who worked with former first ladies, the White House Historical Association has formed an academic partnership with New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development.”

Around the Search & Social Media World 0
September 24, 2021

Refinery29: Sewing TikTok Is Social Media’s Own Project Runway

Refinery29: Sewing TikTok Is Social Media’s Own Project Runway. “The public’s interest in fashion’s behind-the-scenes process has long been a pillar of reality entertainment. It’s what shows like Project Runway and Making The Cut owe their success to. Now, as fashion communities grow on TikTok, people are using the app to showcase their own kind of reality show via short videos, diving into sewing challenges worthy of a Tim Gunn compliment.”

Around the Search & Social Media World 0
June 19, 2021

New-to-me: Curvy Pattern Database

New-to-me: the Curvy Pattern Database. From the About page: “I started sewing when I was young – my grandmother is an award winning quilter and my mother is a well versed garment sewer. I picked sewing back up in early 2020 (like many) and realized that garment patterns that I didn’t have to alter extensively to fit my body (most commonly by grading up a TON to fit my butt and belly) were very hard to find. When I did find a pattern or designer made to fit my body I started keeping it in a spreadsheet. Thus, the designer database was born!” The database is available in Imperial or Metric measurement and includes filters for bust, waist, and hip size. Excellent work.

New Resources 0
November 23, 2020

The Conversation: What fabric should you make your face mask from?

The Conversation: What fabric should you make your face mask from?. “You have probably become used to wearing a face mask in public. And you probably wear a fabric one, as we’ve been urged to save N95, FFP3 and other ‘clinical grade’ masks for healthcare workers. This is despite science not knowing how well fabric masks work. To overcome this, a team that I am part of at the University of Cambridge decided to test various fabrics to see how well they would protect the wearer and the public when used in face masks. One element of fabric mask efficacy can be discovered by looking at how well various materials block virus-sized particles (from 0.2 to 1.0 micrometres).”

COVID-19 0
October 1, 2020

The Verge: The Mask Barons Of Etsy

The Verge: The Mask Barons Of Etsy. “Between April and June, shoppers purchased $346 million worth of masks from Etsy stores, more than 5 percent of which would be pocketed by Etsy itself. It was an enormous surge for the site. Masks accounted for more than one out of every 10 dollars spent on the platform that quarter. For sellers, it was also a huge opportunity: a lucrative new market that existing shops hadn’t cornered. There was money to be made for anyone who wanted it — and for those who already knew the ins and outs of manufacturing, there was a lot of it.”

COVID-19 0
September 18, 2020

Refinery29: 13 Insta Accounts To Follow If You Want To Start Making Your Own Clothes

Refinery29: 13 Insta Accounts To Follow If You Want To Start Making Your Own Clothes. “The pandemic has given us the space and time to sit down and make alterations to our existing wardrobe and create new pieces from old. Whether it’s to open up your wardrobe to plus-size possibilities, take a stand for sustainability or embrace a slower pace of life, there are countless reasons to dive in.”

Useful Stuff 0
April 28, 2020

Phys .org: Toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and now elastic? Mask makers cope with unexpected COVID-19-related shortages

Phys .org: Toilet paper, hand sanitizer, and now elastic? Mask makers cope with unexpected COVID-19-related shortages. “With protection against COVID-19 spurring demand, hobbyists skilled in sewing have turned to making masks and are hunting down materials and sewing machines. That’s led to shortages of elastic and high demand for less pricey sewing machines and even the services of people who repair old machines.”

COVID-19 0
April 6, 2020

New York Times: Facebook Hampers Do-It-Yourself Mask Efforts

New York Times: Facebook Hampers Do-It-Yourself Mask Efforts. “As health workers on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic plead for personal protective equipment, volunteer efforts to create hand-sewn masks and deliver them to medical professionals have quickly sprung up across the internet. But those efforts were hampered by Facebook’s automated content moderation systems over the past week, according to sewing organizers who have used the social network to coordinate donation campaigns.”

COVID-19 0
March 24, 2020

The Mask Movement: How to Help Out From Home (StyleBlueprint)

StyleBlueprint: The Mask Movement: How to Help Out From Home. “So with the task of mask-making at hand — and many Americans confined to their homes — now seems like the perfect time to dust off the sewing machine and put those home ec skills to good use. Whether you join a formal group that is uniting in the cause or you simply want to make your own and deliver them to your local healthcare facility, here’s how you can get started.”

COVID-19 0
March 22, 2020

Hollywood Reporter: Costume Designers Guild Sewing Masks for Health Care Facilities

Hollywood Reporter: Costume Designers Guild Sewing Masks for Health Care Facilities. “IATSE’s Theatre Wardrobe Locals, the Hollywood Costumers Local and Costume Designers Guild are leading an effort through which its members will sew protective masks for immediate distribution to health care facilities. The effort addresses the enormous shortage of masks, gloves and additional protective gear that doctors and other health care workers rely upon as they treat individuals with coronavirus symptoms.”

COVID-19 0
July 17, 2019

Embroideries, Facebook, and Virtual Sovereignty: How One Student Is Making History Accessible (Bowdoin College)

Bowdoin College: Embroideries, Facebook, and Virtual Sovereignty: How One Student Is Making History Accessible. “Ariana Smith ’21 has a Gibbons grant from Bowdoin this summer to continue researching the history of the Arctic Museum’s collections of Inuit embroideries—and to share this past with the people whose ancestors created them.”

Around the Search & Social Media World 0
December 21, 2017

Hyperallergic: An Important Archive of New York Quilt History Is Being Digitized

Hyperallergic: An Important Archive of New York Quilt History Is Being Digitized . “The vast majority of these quilts are not at the New York City museum, but are heirlooms in private collections, whether an attic in the Catskills or a quilt trunk in Brooklyn. AFAM received a grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) in January of 2017 to digitize the New York Quilt Project and add its records to the Quilt Index, a joint project of the Alliance for American Quilts, Michigan State University, and the Michigan State University Museum. The Quilt Index has quilts from across the United States, from Hawaii to Kansas, allowing users to compare various quilts between distant collections. AFAM has so far put about 1,500 quilts online, and expects to finish the digitization in 2019. AFAM also has related oral history recordings that they’re working to digitize.”

New Resources 0

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