Favorite Vintage Advice: Control Your Hands

Happy Friday! Let’s share another laugh and a look back at one of my favorite findings from my vast library of vintage resources. Each week, I’ll post amusing advertisements, articles or advice, spanning the topics of domestic arts, fashion, beauty and more. If it’s weird, witty or wacky, you’ll see it here.

This week’s tip is another gem from Dressmaking Made Easy by Mary Brooks Picken. According to Mary, a lady should avoid “hand-talking” and other “ugly gestures.”

Be in control of yourself at all times, and make no movements or gestures that are not easily graceful. Little habits sometimes are so big that it takes years to correct them. Right now is the time to stop drifting and to grasp the younger way.

All this talk of hand habits makes me think of this YouTube video featuring two pairs of happy hands… No “hand-talking” or “ugly gestures”, but I wonder what Mary Brooks Picken would think about hand dancing?

Check back for more quirky quotes and images each week (and find more of these timeworn tips in my book Vintage Notions)!