Normal School Sewing Book

 

Today, a post about the Hamilton Normal School Sewing Book, loaned to me years ago by my friend Nicole Weppler, curator of the Gore Bay Museum here on Manitoulin Island.  Above, the sample for beautifully executed patchwork mending.

Patching:   a patch is a piece of material inserted for the purpose of strengthening worn or thin places 

The student's name was Helen J Scott, she was in the grade A class, room 4.  It was 1910. 

Normal school is not where you go to become normal.  Normal School is a term for what we now call teacher's college.  My mother went to Normal School in the 40's.

Sewing is the process of drawing thread through material by means of the needle. 
Cloth is the material made of animal and vegetable fibres

RUNNING

straight stitch

1.       stitches and spaces are of equal length

2.      Looks the same on both sides

3.      Stitches and spaces follow each other straight along the sewing line

4.      The stitch is as small as the cloth will permit 

OVER CASTING

slanting stitch

1.       Looks the same on both sides

2.      Stitches and spaces are of equal length

3.      Stitches and spaces are at right angles

4.      Stitches are always parallel and so are the spaces

Use – to prevent raw edges from ravelling

HEMMING

slanting stitch

Description 

       1.  looks the same on both sides. 

       2.   Stitches and spaces  form right angles.

       3.  Looks like overcasting, but the thread is carried through the body of the cloth and over the edge.

Use  to fasten an edge smoothly to the body of the cloth.  A) hems  b) facings 

 FRENCH SEAM

 FELLED SEAM

PLAIN BUTTON HOLE

Definition- a button hole is  a slit in the material with the edges protected and strengthened by thread and used to slip over a button to hold two pieces of cloth together

Marking – mark where the shank of the button should come.  If cutting with ordinary scissors, mark a point at both ends of the button hole

Cutting – when cutting stick point of scissors in at the shank end of the buttonhole and cut a straight slit the required length.

Do not double the cloth but cut through all the layers at once

Whenever possible, the cut should be straight with the warp or woof

Making – 

1. Make the stitches deep enough to prevent fraying but not to look clumsy

2. Stitches not crowded but close together – just showing the cloth between

3. Begin almost any place with two or three stitches in the same place about the width of the stitch from the edge, hold the thread down firmly with the thumb, throw the thread over the needle to make a loop then draw this firmly and smoothly in place.  

4. Repeat. 

EYELETS
HOOKS AND EYES
SEWING ON BUTTONS

DARNING

Definition:  Darning is the process of inserting new threads in material in order to repair worn or broken threads

 BAG
size of bag  width 5" depth 5"

 The book is hand bound with a shoe lace.

I appreciate this book.

Lace

Lace Camp starts next week and yesterday April and I drove to Gore Bay for a lesson in bobbin lace from the camp founder, Tini Pel. We also visited the Gore Bay museum where two art exhibits are up for the summer. Malgorzata Wolak Dault's watercolous of strewn carnations may have inspired me to paint again.






We stopped in to see my work at the Perivale gallery in Spring Bay and visit with the owner, Sheila McMullan.





It was a lovely way to spend time with my daughter. Shown are the lacy doors and windows seen last spring in Paris with Ned.