The Internet has been an incredible resource as I’ve been learning to sew, pattern draft and maintain machines. There are so many people who give freely of their time and knowledge to share their interests with others that no list could be comprehensive, but here are a few of my favorite go-to blogs and groups:
Sewing Blogs.
Threads Magazine‘s website (here)is difficult to click on and not get sucked in for an hour because it’s so full of helpful information and techniques.
Fashion Incubator (here) is written by Kathleen Fasanella from an industrial sewing perspective. Fascinating stuff that might change your sewing worldview completely. No pins?! Cutting jigs?!? Yes, yes, please!
The Coletterie (here) for tutorials, patterns and sew alongs. They are a wealth of helpful, clear visual guidance as well as a source of interesting related reading material and musings.
Tailor Made Shop (here) is one of my go to sources for laces and elastic and all things bra related. Her website also is full of tutorials on some of the tricky elements of lingerie making, and it’s so visually inspiring too.
Male Pattern Boldness (here) This link takes you directly to Peter Lappin’s exquisite list of reasons to buy a vintage sewing machine. His blog is one of my favorites: full of humor, helpful information and quirk.
Brian Sews (here) This link actually takes you directly to his guide on surviving sewing machine addiction.
Unsung Sewing Patterns blog (here) showcases vintage patterns that are more utilitarian and everyday than some of the fashion forward styles that go for high prices all over the web. Full of fashion history and inspiration.
A Perfect Nose (here) turns a contemporary eye toward vintage sewing and offers up great humor, vintage sewing treasures and miscellaneous sewing adventures. Thanks to the efforts of the author, several excellent and rare vintage sewing books are offered for free download.
Michou Loves Vintage (here) is a gorgeously laid out German language blog specializing in early to mid 20th century clothing design. Michou offers some great downloads of pattern books in the Downloads section. My college German is pretty pathetic but Schnitkonstruktion = Pattern Construction, Stil = Style, Stricken = to knit, to construct. Wunderbar!
Vintage Sewing Machine Guidance.
The Archaic and the Archane (here) is a great site full of information about the workings of vintage sewing machines, complete with photos.
The Vintage Singer Sewing Machine Blog (here) has very clear step by step tutorials that break down daunting processes like rewiring a motor.
Yahoo Group Wefixit (here) covering vintage sewing machines in general.
Yahoo Group OldKenmoreSewingMachines (here)
Yahoo Group OldPfaffForum (here)
Yahoo Group VikingSewingMachinesPre1980 (here) for information about vintage Husqvarna Viking models.
Facebook Necchi Sewing Machine Group (here) for a great community of people who know all about vintage Necchi machines
a word is elegy to what it signifies 