1925 McCall Needlework Eye Candy

In my vast collection of pattern dating resources, I have quite a few editions of McCall Needlework, McCall's former quarterly for embroidery and other not-always-sewing patterns.

Nearly all of them in the 1920s had a full first page "article" advertising for the Woman's Institute of Domestic Arts & Sciences.

This page comes to us from the Autumn 1925 McCall Needlework quarterly.

I have transcribed the text below for your enjoyment.

“Julie’s a Wonder!”

By MARJORIE ADAMS

The town-people see Julie going down the street in a dress that’s like burnt maple for color and Fifth Avenue for smartness. “Julie’s a wonder!” they say.

Ask her (if you can catch her when those laughing eyes aren’t laughing too much) how she’s earning enough to dress herself and mother and sister beautifully . . . to take little joy-trips where they’ve always wanted to go . . . and is having fun doing it! Chances are she’ll say, with brown eyes flashing even more laughter, “Oh, I got tired of ginghams and serges. Don’t you think just getting tired of ginghams and serges is enough?”

But later, out comes the pathetic little story of drab dresses that had fairly made her cringe. She wanted bright things, she says. Gold in them, tawny yellow, bluish mists. Not only for herself, but for her mother and her grade-school sister. She had little money; not much notion of styles or right silhouettes. But she earned it, learned it in happy night-time hours after working in an office by day.

“How?” you ask, and then she’ll say, quite simply, “The Woman’s Institute.”

Then perhaps she leads you down a darling hallway to a bright wing of the house, and opens a door. “I want to show you the dresses first.” But you scarcely hear her in your amazement. You are staring at a filmy silk, looped with chiffon; an exquisite cornflower, smartly trimmed in white; or a violet like crushed grapes, touched with cobwebby lavender lace. And slighter things—demure with lace berthas; a blueness edged with soft frills; a laciness exuberant in pale pink and white. Richness is in that simple, clean, gay little room where Julie stands looking at you, laughing!

“I’ve been making mostly evening things this last year,” she explains. “I design them myself.”

“But how?” you insist.

Then out rushes the story. “I wanted beautiful dresses—dresses that were more than clothes with price-tags on them. So I sent a coupon to the Woman’s Institute.

“And I’ll never forget the night I stood before my mirror and tipped it slowly, slowly, so as to see every inch of the first lovely party dress I’d ever made. Lessons put a kind of spell upon me. I’d work way into the night, stopping only when mother would come to my room and insist that I go to bed.

“You know what the Institute does. It starts you making things you want most . . . shows you the loveliest, easiest, quickest way to make them. My new clothes cost less than anything attractive I could get ready-made—much less—and were far more becoming. It was fun making things for mother too. She had never had such good-looking clothes. And the precious things I could produce out of almost nothing for ’Lizabeth! The girls at the office begged me sew for them. The Institute helped in every way! Helped me copy high-priced things in windows. I turned out dresses so fast I won customers as much by speed as workmanship—Institute methods are surprisingly quick! And the first year’s earnings seemed like a fortune.

“I soon saw that I could give up the office work entirely. So I started a shop. The Institute helped with that too. Oh, they’re the loveliest people! They taught me wonderfully of color, style harmony, little tricks of trimming. I had more orders than I could handle.

“People ask if I’m happy. Do you think they need to ask? I’m doing what I like best to do and getting paid for it. The Institute keeps on giving me the friendliest help. Their magazine, Fashion Service, lets me know the coming modes. We have the clothes we want—mother, ’Lizabeth and I. A lot of luxuries we couldn’t otherwise afford. And—come meet mother! Then I’ll show you the silvery gray coat I’ve just finished for her, and ’Lizabeth’s whole wardrobe!”

Many, many Institute members are “doing what they like best to do and getting paid for it.” Some are making dresses for friends just when they want extra money . . . making dresses as attractive as rich ready-mades at a cost startlingly low. Others, like Julie, have opened costume shops, or are designing. Perhaps they show babies’ white soft things, or school frocks, or evening gowns.

Some are personality experts. They can tell just by looking at a woman the colors, styles, materials she should wear to make her far better looking than her mirror has ever told.

An attractive 32-page booklet tells how quickly the Woman’s Institute can teach you, too, all of costume art. How you can create, with methods so easy you almost marvel at your own skill. You can make an evening gown in an hour . . . a smart sports dress in 57 minutes . . . a becoming house dress in even less time! You can fashion daring bits of adornment with twists of ribbon and lace. You can learn everything of dressmaking—and learn it swiftly. Save surprisingly. Earn! Just this coupon will bring to you by return mail the whole story of what the Woman’s Institute can teach you to do. You will enjoy it, and it’s free. Don't you want to send for the booklet now?

The booklets referenced varied in page count a bit, but of the several in my collection, I do have these few digitised.

The books all include a description of each book and advice from Mary Brooks Picken on studying the course.

These booklets were printed from 1916 to circa 1934 and though they vary by name, they all contain the same sales pitch.

What the Woman's Institute Means to Me

Dressmaking Made Easy

Making Beautiful Clothes Circa mid-1920s

Making Beautiful Clothes Circa early 1930s

Stay tuned for more posts where I share a page at a time of this marvelous piece of pattern history!