Weekend Review: Jackets, Coats and Suits

Jackets, Coats and Suits / Threads Magazine
Newtown, CT: Taunton Press, c1992.
94 p.

After last week's book all about pockets, I thought I'd pull out this Threads sources book all about jackets. I've had it for quite some time. 

It's a collection of articles from Threads prior to 1992, so the styles are a bit dated (some in a very fun way). But the techniques are thorough and solid, as expected from a set of articles written by people like David Page Coffin, Claire Shaeffer, Marcy Tilton, and more. 

There's an interesting look at the construction of Armani jackets, as well as Dior influenced styles. And specific articles on shaping wool with pressing, creating welt pockets, copying RTW designs, and even an example of brightly coloured, quilted reversible jackets. There's lots to learn. And if you're interested in American designers, you'll find a nice piece on Bonnie Cashin and the influence she had on fashion -- this article includes a pattern that you can copy using a grid or by measurements, for a Cashin Noh Coat. 

If you don't have all the hard copy back issues of Threads, this collection of articles is a useful one. You'll have lots to reference on classic tailoring and coat construction. There's a variety of styles and topics here to investigate and it may spark interest in something you haven't seen before. 

Finding a Cache of Threads

In the last couple of weeks, I've found some delightful thrift store scores. One of them was this stack of Threads magazines from the late 90s/early 2000s. There were 21 in the stack but I already owned two, so came home with 19 new-to-me magazines.

I really like having physical magazines to flip through when I'm in the mood for it. I can flag any technique or project I want to try; I can pick them up and put them down without fear of losing track of which website I was on when I saw something interesting! And I'm not a Marie Kondo follower, so I actually like having a row of magazine boxes on my shelf :)

In any case, I had a lot of fun looking through these old magazines. I found a couple of articles in particular that are really useful to me right now. Isn't it funny how styles may change, but the sewing info found in these articles remains golden for years.

And I found familiar names from today's sewing world on Instagram and Pattern Review, in the tips and letters sent in, even from the early 2000s! (TCSewhat, I'm looking at you LOL)

Something I really enjoy about older magazines (these ones are at least 20 years old now) is checking out all the advertisements, especially the ones in the back. Even with only a 20 year gap some of them feel ancient. But there are SO MANY Indie pattern designers advertising regularly; we'd be remiss to think that the Indie revolution started with Colette.

I was so intrigued by the advertisements that I started searching online to see if any of those indie designers were still in business. It was surprising to find that many still were, with a few no longer designing but still having their patterns available. So to close, here are just some of those originals who are still designing and selling in the Indie Pattern world albeit most of them with very retro websites. Have fun checking them out!

Islander Sewing Systems

Petite Plus Patterns

Christine Jonson Patterns

Cutting Line Designs

Green Pepper

Pamela's Patterns

WWWearables

Saf-T-Pockets Patterns

Silhouette Patterns

L.J. Designs

Great Copy

Pavelka Design (so 90s! No longer designing but patterns are still available to order)