1921 Woman's Institute Tailored Skirts Detailed Sewing Course Book No. 13
Woman's Institute of Domestic Arts & Sciences
Early Correspondence School Sewing Course
Book 13 – Tailored Skirts
1921 Edition
This original 1921 Woman's Institute Sewing Course booklet, written by Mary Brooks Picken, teaches the principles of designing, drafting, and constructing tailored skirts. Part of the famous Woman's Institute correspondence course, these lessons helped thousands of women develop professional sewing and dressmaking skills during the early twentieth century.
Topics Covered
- Development of skirt styles
- Materials for separate skirts
- Skirt waist lines
- One-piece circular skirts
- Inside stay belts
- Facings
- Hem finishes
- Skirt braid
- Stiffening the lower edge
- Hangers
- Six-gored circular wash skirts
- Plain six-gored skirts
- Six-gored inverted-plait skirts
- Box-plait skirts
- Eight- and nine-gored skirts
Illustrated throughout with detailed fashion drawings and construction diagrams demonstrating authentic early 1920s tailoring techniques.
Edition Details
This is the 1921 edition of Book No. 13, Tailored Skirts. The lesson captures the transition into early 1920s fashion with practical instruction for constructing tailored skirts using period techniques and proportions.
Condition
Good vintage condition with expected age-related wear. The cover shows light handling wear and a vertical crease near the lower left corner. Interior pages are clean with tight binding and clear text and illustrations. Please review all photographs for the best description of condition.
About Mary Brooks Picken
Mary Brooks Picken was one of America's most influential sewing educators and authors. Through the Woman's Institute of Domestic Arts & Sciences, she helped train thousands of women through correspondence courses and went on to author dozens of books on sewing, dressmaking, textiles, and fashion education.
Why Collect Woman's Institute Lessons?
Beginning in 1916, the Woman's Institute published one of the most comprehensive home study sewing courses ever produced. Today these original lessons are valued by collectors, costume historians, vintage sewing enthusiasts, and fashion researchers for their detailed instruction and remarkable insight into early twentieth-century garment construction.
