"Heirloom Sewing Book Catalog - Page One"

Ginger Snaps Designs

The Busy Mother's Guide To Sewing Children's Clothes - Nancy Coburn

This book has been around since 1985 but is still the best.  It is perfect for beginners as everything you need to know about sewing garments (smocked and heirloom sewn) is here.  Includes more than 25 basic yoke variations, 18 collar variations and 19 sleeve variations.  Also has instructions for the construction of the basic yoke dress and the smocked Bishop dress.  Includes methods to prevent a "turtle-neck" and 3 easy bishop plackets.  It has some of the best clearly written detailed instructions with 215 illustrations and 103 photographs.

Price $20.00
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A must have for every sewing smockers library.

Nancy Coburn is the designer for Ginger Snaps Designs Smocking and Heirloom Sewing Patterns as well as a wonderful series of beginning heirloom sewing books.  You can see all of her patterns and books on this page:

Ginger Snaps Designs

A to Z Sewing by Country Bumpkin

A new wonderful reference manual for sewers of all skills. Topics have been gathered together from the pages of Inspirations and Australian Smocking and Embroidery magazines creating one of the most comprehensive sewing manuals to date. In the usual A to Z style topics are arranged alphabetically and shown in step-by-step color photographs with over 600 entries. Convenient covered spiral binding makes it easy to find your topic. This is a wonderful reference guide for beginners and intermediate sewers alike. A must have book for your sewing room library.

Price $33.00
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Answers to All Your Questions about Measuring and Fitting Girls by Nancy Coburn

If you have ever wonder how to measure and fit a pattern properly for a young girl then this is the book for you.  As the title says all your questions about measuring and fitting girls and making minor adjustments are answered in this book.along with suggestions for making dozens of dresses from your favorite pattern.

Price $12.00
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The Complete Slip Collection by Nancy Coburn

This booklet contains patterns for all the slips shown on the cover in the following sizes:

  • Baby Slip - sizes Preemie, Newborn, Infant
  • Christening Gown Slip - Sizes NB, S, M
  • Toddler Slip - Sizes 1/2 - 3
  • Basic Yoke Slip - Sizes 1-6
  • Empire Slip - Sizes 6-12

Along with beautiful photograph instructions, basic heirloom sewing instructions for completing embellishments on your slips there are also included embroidery designs for you to trace off and embroider.

Price $16.00
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Answers to All Your Questions about Sleeves by Nancy Coburn

If you have ever wanted more info or craved for more options on sleeves this is a handy reference guide to variations of all kinds of sleeves from heirloom sewing to smocking. Contains numerous photographs and illustrations. Topics include:
  • Heirloom sleeve variations
  • Smocked puff sleeve
  • Sleeve bindings and bands
  • Infant sleeve adaptations
  • Straight sleeves on boy shirt
  • Sleeve embellishment
  • Constructions techniques
  • Troubleshooters
  • Heirloom sewing by machine techniques

Price $12.00
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Dresses for Toddlers Book I

Nancy has had many requests over the years for daygown designs for older children, this book is in response to those requests.  The dress designs included are suitable for toddlers who have begun walking and have outgrown daygowns.  By the time babies begin pulling up and crawling, they do not need to have their movement restricted by the daygown length.  

The designs in this book feature unique combinations of tucks,lace insertion, and embroidery.  Many of the design ideas maybe interchanged with designs and patterns in Baby Daygowns, Book I, requiring only a few small adjustments.  Pattern, instructions, 10 variations and embroidery designs are included along with a slip pattern.

Also included are designing guideline and techniques.  Excellent publication.

Price $20.00
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GS Baby Boy Christening Gowns

These patterns are perfect for little boys as they are not too frilly (a common complaint) but perfectly tailored for a boy.  The gowns included feature simple construction and several design options using a variety of unique trims and fabric textures that are perfect for little boys.

Fabric selections such as linen, linen batiste, Swiss flannel,  Heirloom Crepe, silk dupioni, satin batiste, as well as the more traditional Swiss batistes, pima cottons, and polyester-cotton batistes are perfect choices.

"Embellishment options presented in this book include a pointed collar, tucks used with tiny pearl buttons, cording, or Swiss eyelet trims, and neckline treatments that include the use of entredeux-edged Swiss trims, tatting, and cording. The sleeve options are all ideal for use on gowns for baby boys and there is the additional option of adding hand shadow work or machine embroidery, if you desire."

Price $20.00
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The Bonnet Collection Book 1 by Nancy Coburn

Each of the bonnet styles included in this book features construction with an open back casing.   This is the easiest bonnet construction to sew and it affords a small growth allowance.   The casing can be adjusted to fit the baby's head, both when it is first made, and as the baby grows.  There are three bonnet styles - the smocked bonnet, the heirloom bonnet and the handkerchief bonnet.  The smocked bonnet has elasticity and can probably be worn longer than the other bonnet styles.  The handkerchief bonnet can be made from any of a variety of handkerchiefs which can be found in linen shops and antique shops.  This bonnet is fun because of the variety of materials to work with and because the construction is so easy.  You will find detailed size guidelines in this book for making a handkerchief bonnet.

Price $20.00
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Ribbon Rosettes, Sashes and Hair Bows by Nancy Coburn

One of the most fun things to make in heirloom sewing are ribbon rosettes but directions are few and far between.  This book fills the gap beautifully with a wide variety of projects that make embellishing with ribbons easy and quick to do.  Great directions and as always great illustrations.

Price $12.00
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For Ginger Snaps' - The Baby Daygown Series, click here

Price $27.95
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Fine Machine Sewing - Carol Laflin Ahles

Completely revised and expanded, the second edition of Fine Machine Sewing is a comprehensive guide to producing details that look handsewn with the ease of the machine. Whether working with a purchased garment or one you have made yourself, you can create beautiful, delicate effects with the help of clear, step-by-step instructions. This reference can be used by sewers of all skill levels for mastering classic finishing and embellishing techniques and for learning how to get the most out of any machine. Techniques include:
  • Instructions for hemstitching, fagoting, pintucking, and appliqueing and for making perfectly close-up scalloped hems and decorative edges
  • Specific machine settings for decorative techniques
  • A new chapter on replicating vintage lace and entredeux techniques
  • Tips for sewing on lightweight fabrics
  • Troubleshooting advice for common problems
  • Beautiful photos of finished garments and close-up views of techniques in progress

Heirloom Sewing/French Handsewing Books

How to Make Handmades for your Baby

First published in the '50s, this treasury of design ideas for christening dresses, button-on suits, rompers, sacques, bonnets, day gowns and dresses is a must have for any seamstress' library. Many techniques and embroidery designs are given along with illustrated instructions. Paperback. Black and white. 94 pages.

Price $16.00
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Interlace in Lace - Judith Marquis    $18.00

If you are tired of the look of lace scallops on hems or straight bands of lace but want to experiment with some basic heirloom sewing then this is the book for you. Judith Marquis is a very talented Canadian who has published many of her original designs in various sewing magazines. She is also the designer of the Grace Knott Christening Ensemble. This book explores using sculptured lace designs which go beyond the simple basic shapes that so many of us tend to get stuck in. She has samples of lace shaping on garments where you would least expect them. The designs included are very elegant, celtic and beautiful. Also included are excellent instructions for applying lace to ready-made garments. A must have book for those who love the look of heirloom sewing but who are not into frou frou.

Price $18.00
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A to Z Whitework - Country Bumpkin Publications

Whitework is a category of embroidery encompassing many styles of techniques reflecting the different cultures inspired from working with white cloth and white thread.

This book, another fantastic volume in the A to Z series, covers the styles and techniques of every form of whitework embroidery from:

  • Ayrshire Embroidery - Scottish Embroidery
  • Broderie Anglaise - English Embroidery
  • Candelwicking - American style of tufted embroidery
  • Carrickmacross Embroidery - Embroidery on netted ground
  • Cutwork - Button-hole stitch worked on fabric & cut to form a style of lace
  • Hedebo Embroidery - Danish Embroidery
  • Madeira Embroidery - Portuguese Embroidery
  • Mountmellick Embroidery - Irish Embroidery
  • Shadow Work - Best instructions for this technique
  • Tambour Embroidery - Chain stitch worked with hook on net or fabric, beading on fabric

Treat yourself to this volume which explains all of the hand embroidery techniques which are rapidly dying out due to the proliferation of machined substitutes.

Price $33.00
Quantity requested    


Click on book for table of contents.

A to Z Sewing for Smockers - $33.00

From the pages of Australian Smocking & Embroidery magazine comes this 7th book in the A to Z series and wonderful it is.  Every question a sewer of smocking & heirloom sewn clothing could ask is answered in this book with step by step photographs and excellent instructions.  A necessary companion to A to Z Smocking.  Over 580 superb step-by-step color photographs, hints and tips from the experts, fabulous finishing touches for sleeves, collars & hems.  So if you missed out on the Mildred Turner Series or Elizabeth Travis Johnson's collective wisdom you will find their voices echoed in this publication. A must have for your sewing library.

From the introduction: "Have you ever been frustrated by sleeves that won't sit properly or a hemline that droops?  What is the difference between a sleeve cuff and a sleeve band?  Does the stitching show on your piping no matter how hard you try to avoid it?  How do you trim a collar so that it has a perfectly curved edge?  The answers to all of these questions, plus many more, are contained within the pages of this book, the perfect companion to the A-Z of Smocking."

Price $33.00
Quantity requested    

A to Z of Heirloom Sewing - $35.00

FINALLY!!!!!! We've all been waiting for a replacement for Mimi's Heirloom Sewing Books and here it is. A book dedicated to every facet of heirloom sewing that will satisfy every heirloom sewers' craving for the how to's of working with delicate laces, swiss embroideries and the many fine fabrics featured in Sew Beautiful, Inspirations and Australian Smocking & Embroidery magazines. The editors of Inspirations Books has outdone itself by completing the series of A to Z Smocking and Sewing for Smockers with those delicate heirloom sewn touches that abound on garments presented in their magazines Inspirations and Australian Smocking & Embroidery. A wonderful addition to an already fine legacy.

From the back cover: "The use of delicate fabrics trimmed with lace, entredeux, ribbon and tucks are common characteristics of this beautiful technique. Perfect for adding that extra special touch to christening gowns, children's clothes, wedding dresses and delicate garments, this book has methods for every skill level.

"Filled with detailed instructions and useful hints, this reference book offers over 700 clear step-by-step photographs to help you achieve the perfect finish.

"Topics include:

  • Material and equipment
  • Garment care and storage
  • Working with lace and entredeux
  • Handworked edges and finishes
  • Construction techniques particularly suited to fine fabrics"

Price $35.00
Quantity requested    

The Laundry Room $16.95

A practical guide on how to clean, repair and store treasured antique linens, lace and quilts plus new items that you want to preserve for their beauty and sentiment for generations to come.

Price $16.95
Quantity requested    

For Conservation Supplies - click here


Go to page 2 of Heirloom Sewing Books


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