Better sewing here I come!

I got this fabulous book delivered this week

I'm a long term sewer/sewist/seamstress whatever but I have wanted to improve my techniques for quite some time however I didn't quite know where to start. I ordered this book hoping that it might show me something.

I follow Gertie's blog http://www.blogforbettersewing.com/ already and am always interested and inspired by her posts, her thirst for knowledge in all things sewing and her ongoing improvement!

Soooo when this landed on my doorstep I wondered if it would live up to my expectations. YES IT DID! It's absolutely fantastic, I've never been so engrossed in a sewing book.

It includes chapters on skills, preparation, essential and nice to have tools, essential techniques, stabilising and tailoring (the chapter that really gripped me!), pattern making and fitting. If that's not enough it contains some project along with patterns, now usually this I find unnecessary I buy the patterns I like and rarely do I like what is included with something like this, but these are great, I will definitely be trying several.

Has Gertie paid me? Nope. Did I get a free book? Nope. Do I genuinely love this and recommend it to all who sew, YES!

Turned on

Now that made you look didn't it? I'm talking about the book Turned On which is in fact about Decorative Lamps of the 50s.

In my little season of books I love, I had to feature this, it's not as glamorous as the last 2 but I do love lamps, I have talked about this before, lamps are my thing and if I could afford loads I'd have loads whether I had the space or not!

This is a nice little book, it does give you a bit of background to the electric lamp and in fact electricity in the home but for me it's all about the pictures. Sadly some of them are pretty small and haven't come out well through my scanner, but I've included a couple here.

It would be an exaggeration to say my life would be complete if I had these lamps below but boy it would make me happy for a very long time!

I adore the colours in this one and the overall styling, I also love the concertina shades, I don't have a lamp with this shade, they're usually only from the US and I haven't found one within my budget with the shipping within my budget also, shipping is really expensive when it comes to lamps like this!

Sorry about the scanning quality I suspect it's my fault, must mess about with the settings at some point.

Anyway my point is, if you love lamps from the 50s you'll love this book, it's a nice little one to flick through.

Talking of lamps, I spotted this beauty on ebay the other day.

I've never seen this design before, I prayed that no one else had spotted it but I started to see the bids build, I was even prepared to go over my usually stingy budget, however she started to go waaaay past even my top price. How much did she eventually go for? £282!! She is lovely though, but wow!

Hollywood at Home

Hollywood at Home A Family Album 1950-1965 is another book that I've had forever and absolutely love.

This is a gorgeous book of apparently candid shots, but we all know that this type of thing is usually staged candid if you know what I mean! Despite this the photos are beautiful and you also get to have a nosy at a 50s Hollywood lifestyle and home, ah to live in that world.

Here's the cover of the book, how Stately Manor House do Bogey and Bacall look?

Here's a fabulous picture of them both outside their house, in their open top jag, ah that's the life eh?

I absolutely love this picture of Rock Hudson throwing a BBQ party, the photograph looks very staged, but hey that's old Hollywood. I love all the different styles of the women, I love his apron with 'A Wolf in Chef's Clothing' on it, just gorgeous!

This is a lovely shot of Glenn Ford and his dog, don't know why this one caught my eye but I think it's cute!

I do love this shot of Joe E Brown and his wife Kathryn taken in 1951

And last but not least this great over the fence chatting shot of Jimmy Durante and Rossano Brazzi.

It's a really great coffee table book. There are pictures of stars, parties, homes you name it, I guess it does what it says on the cover, definitely worth a look and lots more glamorous shots than I've put here I just prefer quirky sometimes!

Life in Hollywood

This is a fabulous book that I've had for years. It's called Life in Hollywood, 1936 - 1952 Peter Stackpole.

Peter Stackpole was one of the four original 'Life' photographers. I don't know much about him but I think this statement alone kind of says it all!

This book pretty much does what it says on the tin, it is in fact Hollywood from 1936 - 1952 in pictures. It's absolutely fantastic, gorgeous pictures, unusual sometimes, intimate, ordinary, just as 'Life' was. Unfortuately the pictures have come out a little grainy, I scanned them but perhaps not at a good enough resolution, but they are still worth a look.

So if you get the opportunity to buy it, do you'll love it. I found it here on Amazon when I looked so I'm sure you'll find it in other places.

This is the gorgeous picture on the cover, it is Tennis Star Eleanor Cushingham using Raymond Loewy's Palms Springs solarium in 1947, I need to live this life and look like this!

I'm trying to think of other words apart from gorgeous, mmm, ok this is a beautiful shot of Starlets kicking their legs to stretch their backs at the Fox Drama School in 1937.

This lovely lady is a bored extra on the Paramount Set, I can relate to this as I did a lot of extra work when I was younger though I don't ever remember looking as glamorous as this whilst doing so!

This is really one of my favourites shots,well of the ones I've scanned now, there are so many favourites in this book. I love this dressing gown, her hair, the setting *sigh* it is Carole Landis by the way.

I love James Stewart and really think this picture of him after he returned from World War II on a visit to his hometown strolling down the street with his sister Mary, you've got to love James Stewart!

Then last but not least, for some reason I'm really drawn to this photo, it just labelled An Unknown Starlet, how intriguing!

I hope you enjoyed this little look at this book I'm going to have a look through my books and share some in the next few months, particularly ones I never really see mentioned anywhere else.

And finally and a totally unrelated plea! Word verification has just got waaaay more complicated, I removed mine ages ago and have had no problems with dodgy comments at all, it's certainly worth considering removing it if you have word verification on your blog as it's a right pain now. If you're reluctant just give it a go for a week and see if that works, honestly I've had no problems, but commenting on blogs yesterday just took forever. Thank you for listening to my plea ;o)