I remember when I was young, (Yes I can remember back that far.) My mother would always make clothes using this type of pattern. Dresses, shirts, jackets trousers, just about anything you could wish for. She was actually very good at it and people would bring her patterns and fabric and pay her quite well for making clothes for them. If we needed a shelf for the kitchen, my father would buy the wood and make one. Most men of his generation would learn basic woodworking skills.
We seem to have lost these arts over the years. I suppose there is always a starving third world work force we can exploit and get them to do our manufacturing for a pittance. I suppose that is why the western world is in no rush to end poverty in these countries.
i learned to use patterns like this from my mum, i enjoyed making myself dresses, when i was a child she made just about everything, even tried underwear! but when my kids were small they just wanted track pants and t-shirts...
i remember now going to the haberdashery and perusing the great big albums of designs, getting the number and having the clerk rifle through the drawers to find the pattern, people dont know what they are missing nowaday, just do a google search and press the buy now button.
It is a lovely photo. Patterns, however, have not disappeared of the face of the earth - you can still buy them. When I was young it was cheaper to make your own clothes than buy readymade clothes, and generally the reverse is true now. When my Mum was young (in the 1930s) she used to make a new outfit every Saturday!
