NOVEL GADGETS FOR HOME DRESSMAKERS IN UNITED STATES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27012, 22 February 1949, Page 2

NOVEL GADGETS FOR HOME DRESSMAKERS IN UNITED STATES

While dress prices ,continue to soar American women are sewing their own. The home dressmaking movement has grown by leaps and bounds until the National Needlecraft Bureau estimates that there are now 23,000,000 home sewers. Sewing has been called the nation’s number one hobby, says a New York message. Manufacturers, to tap this large market, have gone to work to invent scores of small gadgets to help the home sewer. Among these is a device for marking the hemline at seven inches or more from the floor by means of a metal measuring stick and common pins. A needle threader that works in the dark and threads at the push of the button is another headliner. Sewing labels on clothes has been supplanted by a modern method of pressing identifying tape into the garment. The tape is of a plastic material that adheres to the dress or suit once the heat of an iron is applied. A portable electric presser makes it easier to iron parts of a garment, such as pleats, trouser creases, or collars. A good idea is the “ imbedded ” snapper used on gloves and in children’s garments. It can be “ hammered ” into place instead of being sewed on. A space-saving device makes it possible to put “ 12 garments in the space ordinarily allowed for two.” It is a metal contraption to be fastened on the door and is “ an additional closet within a closet.” A light but broadened hanger especially designed for fur coats is another novelty.