Welcome to the Vintage Made Modern blog tour! I’m so excited to share with you my new fabric line, Vintage Made Modern Centennial Celebration. This fabric was inspired by the art in my book Vintage Notions. Vintage Notions featured original content from the Woman’s Institute of Domestic Arts and Sciences, which was founded by my muse, Mary Brooks Picken. Today I want to share with you a little more about Mary, as well as my new fabric line, Vintage Made Modern.
Over the years, I’ve shared with you Mary Brooks Picken’s role as an authority on the home arts and as an innovative entrepreneur. But through her work with The Woman’s Institute (which offered fashion-focused programs in Millinery and Dressmaking and published the Fashion Service Magazine) —and especially after her arrival in New York City— Mary also became a well-known figure in the elite world of New York fashion.
In 1925, Mary moved to New York to serve as the dressmaking editor for the popular magazine, Pictorial Review. As Mary’s renown grew, her expertise was sought out by colleges and schools across the country, as well as major department stores and fabric manufacturers. For years, she maintained a studio in New York City to hold classes and workshops. She wrote over 100 books about the various steps of dressmaking and sewing— but it is important to remember that these books often doubled as a style guides. Fashion, hair, makeup, and beauty tips of the times were all topics that Mary wrote about in her sewing books. In 1957, she became the first woman to publish a dictionary, The Language of Fashion.
Some of Mary’s accolades in later years included serving as co-founder and President of the Fashion Group, becoming the first woman trustee of The Fashion Institute of Technology, and being one of the five original directors of the Costume Institute (now part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art). She also knew the fashion designer Eleanor Lambert, and was part of the group who started New York Fashion Week in 1943. Mary maintained a permanent presence at New York Fashion Week throughout her life, faithfully attending well into her 80’s.
Mary founded the Woman’s Institute in 1916. I wanted to honor the Woman’s Institute’s upcoming 100th anniversary and thought that it was a perfect time to bring their vintage art to modern sewists through a fabric line. Vintage Made Modern, which is through RJR Fabrics, uses the art featured in Vintage Notions as well as text and illustrations from Mary’s dictionary, The Language of Fashion, which is now available (in two parts) as a digital download here. I designed the line to work with all different kinds of sewing projects from fashion and accessories to organizational pieces.
When I designed Vintage Made Modern, I chose colors that would work back with my Crossroads Denim fabric line. Below you can see how nicely the pink Dressmaker print looks with my Downtown Teal Crossroads in the Banded Basket. If you want to see more about using Vintage Made Modern in the Banded Basket, check out this video.
Inspired by Mary’s fashion career, I wanted to use Vintage Made Modern for a fun accessories project. We incorporated vintage jewelry pieces, notions, and techniques from Indygo Junction’s Yo-Yo Blooms patterns to create some one-of-a-kind pieces. Aren’t they fun? I think they would be Mary approved!
In an effort to share more of my vintage content, including the work of Mary Brooks Picken, I have started a Facebook Group! This group will be a little different than my Facebook page, in that it will be focused on my vintage collection and sharing fashion and sewing history. I hope you will join me on the group, I can’t wait to talk more with you on my favorite subject – vintage sewing & fashion!
Enter Indygo Junction’s National Sewing Month Giveaway! You can win sensational prizes including a sewing machine, sewing table, Indygo Junction patterns, Vintage Made Modern fabric and more! Also, if you want to bring some vintage style in your life, check out Indygo Junction – take 20% off your order with code VMM15!
