It's July in the Lehigh Valley and that means heat waves and humidity. It doesn't help that most of us are all experiencing near drought conditions; my neighbor tells me we are about 5 inches below our normal yearly rainfall. When I was young, most people didn't have airconditioning like we do now. It makes one wonder how our fore-mothers dealt with the heat in bygone eras.
Well it certainly could be worse; we could be wearing these kinds of garments AND dealing with a lack of air conditioning. One of my favorite headlines from old publications is a common advice that I find in the early twentieth century: "Pick-Up Work for Hot Summer Days."
The articles that I have read from the late 19th century and into the early twentieth century usually mean some kind of handwork, often called fancy work. "Commence now." The Cultivator and Country Gentleman advised in 1896, "The long summer days are grand for such work."
In 1915, The Young Woman's Journal reminded young women of their duty to always be working and that, "During the summer there will be many opportunities for taking our sewing or crochet work into all sorts of odd nooks..."
I don't know about you but even with airconditioning, it feels too hot to be binding a quilt. These months I often spend completing embroidery projects and small sewing pieces. If you are interested in some kind of embroidery work, I suggest Pinterest, Q is for Quilter, or the Antique Pattern Library for free patterns.
What kind of sewing do you complete during the hot summer months?
Oh Mickie that little diving doggie is too delightful!!! I have no idea how women survived the heat in those clothes. I think they were made of sterner stuff, lol. I do small projects in summer...my attention span is shorter, with all the loveliness outside.
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