Miss Celie

Book Review: Sewing Lingerie from the Singer Sewing Reference Library

Guys, I’m so busy these days between work (larger projects, running a Fellowship program) and extra curricular activities (election season). I don’t want to tell you I’m on a hiatus from blogging since I may have a whim (like now). But, I will be posting very little until the end of September. I can only *dream* of new projects! Heh. Not all that different than the last month really 🙂 But, I do plan to write a few book reviews over the next month — mostly my Singer Sewing Reference Library.  I was lucky enough to buy the bulk of them for less than $20 a few years ago.

Trena and I are engaged in 15 minutes of cleaning challenge. Each day we have to spend 15 minutes cleaning a room in our respective abodes. She’s been actually scrubbing / cleaning. I’ve been putting things away / sorting. For each day we don’t, we put $2.50 into a pool. I think we’re doing this for three months. At the end of the three months to the victor goes the spoils. Hopefully, we will both have new habits in place.

Last week  I cleaned out my bedroom drawers. What I found were a lot of sorry tee shirts that I sleep in and absolutely nothing ‘nice’. Nothing at all attractive or cute to walk around the house in. When I was dogsitting Frida, I also noticed I had very little ‘walk the dog’ ‘run out the street’ clothes. I’ve focused hard on work outfits because that is where I spend most of my time. Yet, I had to buy a whole new top from H&M two weeks ago for a morning brunch date! I’ve been increasingly more interested in sewing sleepwear and lingerie. I’m not a person who hates slips and pantyhose. I rather like them! In fact, I started looking for slip material last year when I finally admitted my three high school era slips no longer fit (they are going to Trena).

Enter, Sewing Lingerie.

I was most interested in the slips portion and ways to embellish with lace.

The book also covers making dartless FBAs for chemise tops and slips

The intimate apparel section covered garments that I didn’t quite understand

But, I emailed Lindsay T and she explained the point of a teddy. Yes, I didn’t know what a teddy was for! If you think about it, when they were popular I was in Converse and undershirts.

Tap pants! They seemed so silly when I started looking through the book. Now, I think they are super cute.

Luckily, Burda also has a sleep set pattern that I can adopt perfectly for the outfit below.

The book also covers laying out pattern pieces to use the lace best and gain the most stretch

Even better, some great tips on making those itty bitty, teeny tiny, skinny minnie straps

Overall, I recommend this book if you’re interested in basic intimate apparel. The book doesn’t cover firm foundation garments like bras.

But, if you want to make slips, chemises, pajamas, sleep sets and work with lace I think this one is worth the find. Plus, at its age and availability it’s fairly inexpensive.

28 comments

  1. My Mother bought me that series back in high school and it has come in handy so many times! Great review- I love your cleaning challenge idea,too!

  2. Sigh…I’ve been SO good recently keeping my Amazon habit in check. But this post coincides with me needing more slips. The photo showing the FBA sold me and I’ve ordered my copy. £1.59 plus shipping. It would be rude not to.

  3. I took a lingerie sewing class once…I loved it but there were little interest in the class so the teacher didn’t offer it again. But think about it…we all at least need undies even if you don’t dig teddies, slips, etc. That aside, if you do decide to make teddies, invest in a Tube Turner, it will change your life and how quickly you make self fabric straps.

  5. My mother worked in a lingerie factory for most of her adult life. It was called Ka-Res Lingerie. She added the lace to the bottom of the slips. She also made slips for me to wear under various garments, including my wedding gown.

  6. Cool. Did you get my email about Mom’s library? The Carol collection of sewing books and Burdas is now available…

  8. I found this book recently in a thrift store and bought it, so great timing! Now I’ll know to crack it open.

    What a great cleaning idea! I should do that.

  10. This is a great book. It also has instructions for making a custom sized kimono in it too. I believe it’s toward the back. I do like all of the Singer series books.

  11. Wait, you’re not going to tell us what teddies are for other than visual appeal while romping around the boudoir??? D’oh!!

    I have that book, too – it’s a good one. I really got a lot out of the parts on using lace, too.

  13. I have this book in my sewing library and have it very useful. I have been wanting to beef up my sleepwear and I need some slips as well. Thanks for sharing.

  14. I lost my Kwik Sew Lingerie book somehow and was going to go ahead and replace it. Now, I’m thinking this one might be the thing! Looks much more current, much better photos. Thanks for the great review!

  15. “I don’t want to tell you I’m on a hiatus from blogging ….”

    Doesn’t matter. That’s the beauty of my using an RSS reader.

  16. Got to rub it in about how much younger you are, doncha.

    Hubby is in campaign mode too and is spending about one third of his time on vacation here in Maine on the blasted phone. Ick.

  17. Why are they called tap pants? Over here (UK) we call them french knickers; probably because we think the french are far more interested in the boudoir than we are.
    I can’t imagine anyone tapdancing in those, eek.

  18. Off to check my bookshelf – I don’t have that book but I DO have a big Singer book which seems to include many of the smaller books – maybe the lingerie section is included. I’ve no use for pantyhose but do like slips actually, a few in the drawer would not go amiss.

    You know you’ve got a few of us on edge waiting to find out exactly what a teddy’s for, right ?

  19. True confessions: I own (and sometimes wear) a pair of tap pants. My high school job was working in the lingerie dept. of a local retailer. Have to admit though, I had no idea that a teddy had a purpose – do tell!

  20. I’ve had this book for years and it’s one of my favorites from the Singer Library particularaly as I used to wear teddys all the time in the 80’s!!
    I really like the idea of your cleaning/sorting programme. Whoever wins will, no doubt, sped the monies on adding more neccesities for the sewing room?!

  22. It came to me last night just before I fell asleep: teddies are so you can wear a camisole but keep it tucked in! Is that the right answer? lol

    Love the Singer Lingerie book!

  24. I have this and several of the other singer reference library books. I just love them all! I didn’t know there was a purpose for a teddy either. I am with everyone else I guess I don’t know what that is. I have owned a few but well they weren’t really for wearing under clothes. mmm well I guess that could be a purpose ROFL…

  26. I hope you don’t mind that I’ve linked back to your post on my blog as I’m currently giving away a copy of this book.
    Perhaps you’d like to let your readers know that there’s a copy up for grabs as I’m happy to ship internationally.

    http://pendlestitches.wordpress.com/

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