I had a nice surprise today when the postman came. These two books arrived from my cousin Bernadette in the UK. Thank you!
The one on the left is from 1987 and has some interesting ideas for using different materials in appliqué such as cords, ribbons, beads and buttons. There are also ideas for ways of using the appliqué itself from lampshades to leather jackets.
The one of the right is from 1957 and is called “Werkliches Schaffen”, which is a wonderfully quaint title in German that I am having trouble translating. (Leo my favourite online dictionary had never heard of werklich!) It roughly translates as artistic creating. It covers all kinds of handcrafts from the usual knitting, crochet to leather work and pottery. According to the introduction it is aimed at girls, women and mothers (are they not women?), kindergarten teachers and teachers. They should not spend their free time sitting their hands in their laps but should develop a creative hobby.
Despite some rather old-fashioned and somewhat strange ideas –
for the non German speakers “This laundry bag is useful for storing dirty laundry not just in the household, but particularly for single girls” Why single them out? – it has lots of interesting and yes useful things to try out.
Here’s another quaint photo showing girls weaving tapes and ribbons.
I actually really like these old fashioned books. Despite the rather strange language and ideas they are usually full of techniques and handicrafts that are in danger of dying out and getting lost altogether. I have a few pamphlets that were my mothers with things like making shepherd’s smocks and some handicraft magazines from the 1960s from the next door neighbour to my parents.
