UK Series (?): Sewing with Confidence
Hi Everyone,
Recently I was in the UK and stopped at a charity shop and bought a binder called Sewing with Confidence. It’s pretty interesting and I now realize that it is part of a set. There is absolutely no publishing information on any the pages or the binder that I can see. It looks like it may have been published in the 80’s. I’ve since called the charity shop to see if they have the other binders and they don’t (nor did they think they had ever had them). Do any of you remember or have this series and if so what can you tell me about it? Was it from a magazine? Was it something that you got a chapter at a time through the mail? Or did you buy it all at once? And how useful has it been to you?
Any info would be appreciated.
Thank you!
JT
Replies
Hi, I remember buying from an Australian Newsagency, something similar, leaflets, patterns and binders, each week in the 90's. I did not get the complete set.
This SewingWithConfidence is on ebay.co.uk if you are chasing; 5 folders plus a few smaller sewing leaflets
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Sewing-With-Confidence-Magazine%2FBinder-Series_W0QQitemZ200245716278QQcmdZViewItem?IMSfp=TL0808111121a16056
Thank you Cherrypops. I saw that but she is only shipping within the UK.
JT
sorry, i thought you were in the UK..
thanks for filling out your profile...........it helps... I will double check next time.
is there time to send the seller an email?
i've done that before, just to ask what the shipping to other areas would be, and if they would consider shipping oustide the specified location... costly probably.
I e-mailed her to see if she could tell me anything about the books but she couldn't. I told her I was outside of the UK and would have bid otherwise. I might have asked her outright if she'd break her rule except that she doesn't take PayPal and I have no way of paying her in £'s without it and now she has a bidder. When I discovered the set on eBay last week she didn't have any bidders. Oh well. Hopefully someone, somewhere can shed some light on this set of books. Thanks for your help.
JT
no broblems with helping. not much came up in a google search. you've done all you can with this ebay listing. something might turn up.
Hiya,
In addition to scanning eBay you might also like to try Bookfinder:
http://www.bookfinder.com
It's a "metacrawler" search engine of most of the major online sellers (new and used) online. If you read the seller list carefully, you can spot them by country.
Good luck! That set sounds terrific!
:) Mary
Thank you Ckbklady! I just looked there and I don't see it in there now but I will keep the website and check back from time to time.
JT
I'm sorry there isn't a set available at the moment, but do keep checking. I discovered Bookfinder about 10 years ago and since then have had in my calendar to search for my most hard-to-find items there on the first of each month. It's taken a decade, but with the site I've whittled my lifetime list of 24 uncommon books down to 11. Keep looking - it WILL turn up!
I'll keep my fingers crossed!
:) Mary
That's good to know! I will check back there often - probably for a few books. Thank you for the site!
JT
P.S. Just curious - what are your hard to find books? What did you find and what are you still looking for?
Hi!
Some of my finds have been marvelous - both of the Sincere's sewing machine repair manuals, the 1927 Butterick fashion sewing manual, and the Liechty, Pottberg & Rasband book called Fitting & Pattern Alteration - the early 1980's hardcover that won't disintegrate with constant use. I got a college text discard of that one for a song online. One man's trash is another's treasure!
And the sewing books I'm still after are these below. Some are readily available on Bookfinder; some are rarer than hen's teeth. I usually put off getting the easy ones until I can find a seller who has more than one of them so I can save on shipping and make a nice game of it.
I can also hold off the "wannas" by getting them at the library from time to time, too. I did that with Betty Kirke's magnificent book on Madeleine Vionnet when it was out of print. When it resumed printing, I got a lovely new and cheap copy from Amazon. Sometimes it pays to hold off!
There are a couple titles I added a couple of days ago, but I can't think of them offhand. So here goes:
Time-Life The Art of Sewing: Index to all volumes, 1974
Time-Life The Art of Sewing : (three volumes still to get, possibly only published in Europe) The Professional Look, Shortcuts in Tailoring, Design Wear, 1974-1976
Threads - Sewing Tips and Trade Secrets circa 1990
Threads - Fitting Your Figure circa 1990
Threads - 50 Heirloom Buttons circa 1990
Threads magazine back issues: 2,4,14,23,26,52,53,56,60,88,89,90,91,93
Quilter's Home magazine back issues - June 2006, Oct 2006, Mar-April 2007
Cutting and Draping Special Occasion Clothes: Designs for Eveningwear & Partywear - Dawn Cloake
Making Your Clothes Fit - Patricia Burkhardt Smith
The Complete Guide to Patternmaking - Barbara K. Nordquist
I like having a list at all times. It's a great excuse to go into every used bookshop I see! :) Do you have a list too?
:) Mary
Wow - they have Threads magazines? I'll have to check that out, too! I've been lucky - I've been able to find most of the out of print books that I've looked for from secondary sellers on Amazon. I found Secrets of the Couturiers, Classic Millinery Techniques and The Make It Yourself Boutique on Amazon. I also picked up a copy of The Bishop Method although I don't actually have that one yet. I need to start on a new list. Somewhere down the road when I couldn't find something after looking for a while I would just give up on it. Clearly I don't have to do that anymore!
Thank you for sharing the site. I will become a regular customer, I'm sure!
JT
Yes, sellers sometimes list Threads magazines, but usually only the oldie-goldies for top dollar. I've sometimes found eBay can actually be a better deal (with BuyItNow, not in bidding). But eBay in the US will shortly be eliminating the check/money order option and requiring credit cards/Paypal, neither of which I'm willing to use online, so it'll be down to Bookfinder for me.
You'll notice that the Bookfinder listings include the Amazon secondary sellers. It's a whopper of a search engine (and, by the way, I have no commercial connection with Bookfinder, or Amazon or eBay, for that matter - I'm just a huge fan!).
I was just reading through Secrets of the Couturiers yesterday! It's so inspiring, especially for fall sewing like jackets, coats and party clothes. I bought an incredible length of cashmere at Fabric Depot in Portland, Oregon last weekend and am looking for a nice Vogue or Marfy pattern to make a car coat. The Secrets book got me fired up to search the Vogue and Marfy collections online for just the right pattern.
Ahh, fall - sewing and books and sewing! :)
:) Mary
You know - if I remember correctly I think you may have been the person who suggested that book! I had posted a request for good, inspiring books. Thank you - I have actually really enjoyed that one!
JT
Hallo, I'm in the Uk and I wondered why I wasn't familiar with this. I had a browse. It seems to be connected with "Needlecraft " magazine or perhaps"Needlecraft Magic" thru Eaglemoss Publications. If you Google the Needlecraft link quite a bit comes up including one ot two .com sites. Hope this might prove helpful. There may have been an upholstery bias or something which usually shuts me down. Will be interested to hear - didn't go very far with it - left it to you !! Busybee
Hi Busybee,
I didn't see anything that looked like the series that I'm trying to find but I emailed a couple of the sites to see if they are affiliated somehow. Thank you for the names. Hopefully they will get back to me next week.
Thank you!
JT
Are there any authors to the leaflet?
I have just done a search on the title Sewing with Confidence.
The ebay seller does take Paypal payment and I have asked her who the publishers are.
This way you can direct your questions directly to the publisher
You need to ask the seller if he/she will sell to where you live.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200247848840&fromMakeTrack=true
Hi Rekha! I have seen that listing and have asked her about the publisher and they are not identifiable from the whole series either. I have also asked her about shipping and she has gotten back to me. The shipping is ridiculous to where I live but I think I'm going to bid on it anyway. I'm probably going to be moving in a month or two and I'll likely never find it where I'll be since I believe it's a UK publication.
Thank you for the info!
JT
I find it hard for a publication around the 80s not have publishers'/authors' names. The ebay seller shows the series in hardback binders, more the reason that such information must be there. Does your copy have anything in small print beginning or end of the magazine?
If you want I can bid for you and send it surface mail which would be far cheaper.
You are too kind! But I think I'll just go on and bite the bullet - unless someone outbids me - which is entirely possible!
My binder has virtually no publishing info on it. I've looked on every page and I see nothing. I also see nothing on the binder itself. It's unbelievable.
I will be moving back to the US soon. How soon I don't know - waiting for the company my husband works for to decide. I suspect that once they do decide we will be shipped out of here pretty quickly so I'm hoping to bid and get this shipped asap. Hopefully I'll be able to get my hands on a full set before I leave Europe.
On a side note - I've loved it here. I hate to go home. You Europeans are a lucky bunch.
JT
Good luck. There are 9 visitors of which two are known, you and I, so it should be safe to say you will win.
I would ask the seller for a quote on surface posting.
Edited 8/24/2008 2:23 pm ET by rekha
Rekha,
Thank you so much for your offer and your advice. I really appreciate that. I'll let you know if I actually do win! And I'll let you know if I ever figure out who the publisher is!
JT
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