The Silver Thimble

Does anyone else remember Jane Shaner and her Silver Thimble monthly newsletters? She wrote it from the mid 70's to the late 80's. I loved how she would recommend patterns and then show how to switch things around or duplicate ready-to-wear details. She was always so conscious of the pattern prices - wouldn't she flip over $25+ Vogues today? But she was a good pattern picker and going through the old newsletters was a trip down memory lane, as I sewed many of the Vogues she suggested. (I loved Vogue 9064 from 1984!) The wonderful illustrations throughout were by Carol Gilfillan. Foolishly a few years ago I sold on eBay Volumes 7 and 12 (May 80, 85 through April 81, 86) and the ones after May 1988. I don't think they went much further than the late 80's as she developed health problems and the newsletter ended. In addition to the newsletters, she also self-published books with spiral binding. If you are lucky you might be able to find them on eBay, Amazon -- maybe even check your ASG Chapter library. Some of the titles were -- "Start Making Your Own...Classic Separates", "A Gift You Make is a Gift of Love", "So What's Wrong with your Wardrobe", "Sewing with Silk", "Tailoring and How to Do It", "Sewing with Leather and Suede", "Ultrasuede and What to Do with It", "Scarves, Scarves and More Scarves", even a cookbook! She even designed a pants pattern (Pants #100) and a book to go along with it, "Pants, Make Them Fit!"

Even if the patterns are out-of-date, her tips and suggestions how to get more mileage from the ones we currently have are even more applicable today. (One article even showed how to take a man's knitted sweater and turn it into a sweater vest, mittens, hat and scarf!) Classic sewing ideas, suggestions and tips never go out of style.