Adventures in Vintage Needlecraft
In With Bold Needle and Thread, Rosemary McLeod takes the reader through the 1920s to the 1950s with projects, a bit of history and wonderful excerpts from women’s magazines of the time.
The projects are taken from items in Rosemary McLeod’s collection or from projects she found in the magazines, but she has written new instructions.
I’m liking
This book is beautiful. It’s filled with lovely pictures showing the colours and material.
It’s a great ride through part of world history (as seen from New Zealand) and the lives of women.
The projects (such as cushions, bags, aprons and tea cosies) all look more or less realistic and come with helpful comments about the potential dangers involved (ranging from “None. This is a benign project.” to “Fury.”). Rosemary McLeod describes her problems in finding similar materials to the original, and suggests suitable alternatives.
However, my favourite bits were the clippings from women’s magazines and the author’s own comments. For example, “What you will notice in drawings of women made in the 1920s is their complete lack of breasts. In this period all women grew up without them, quite mysteriously, and we only grew them again a decade later.”
Things that made me go hmmmm
The only thing I wasn’t keen on was the limited instructions for some of the projects. The list of materials and methods does include “A friend/neighbour/family member to teach you” and I think part of the idea of the book is to just have a go, but I thought that some of the projects (particularly the first one) could have done with some more details. The projects later in the book seemed to have a bit more information.
The conclusion
This book would make an excellent Mother’s Day present, particularly if the recipient grew up during the period covered by the book. However, I think anyone who is interested in crafts, home decorating, fabric, needlecraft, social history or women’s history would enjoy it. Trying to make some of the projects could also lead to some fun – maybe a mother/daughter bonding time?
