Vive Ste Anne

26 January is probably the most inappropriate date possible for this subject, but I realised that I hadn't explained the first picture in last week's post, so here goes.

Some time ago, when looking online for a particular image of a woman sewing, I kept coming across picture postcards of women sitting at sewing machines with a vase of flowers placed somewhere totally unsuitable.

Accidents waiting to happen

All of the images, like the three above, had "Vive Ste Anne" on them. I discovered that St Anne's Day is 26 July, i.e. six months from today, and that she is the patron saint of seamstresses. St Anne's Day cards seem to have been very popular, with manufacturers producing lots of variations on a theme.

Clearly all taken at the same time

That particular huge vase appears to have had a lot of use.

Different flowers, sewists and machines, same vase

If you didn't want a vase (or you had already accidentally knocked it onto the floor and broken it), you could just scatter the flowers around instead.

From 1916, one of the earliest examples I found

Or you could relegate them to a nearby table, and have a photograph in the way instead.

A variation on the theme

What almost none of the images show is any understanding of how to actually sew. I'm going to be charitable, and assume that the first one of these was the result of a printing mix-up. The other examples just seem to have completed garments placed randomly under the needle.

Left-handed sewing machine?

How could you even sew like that?

The world's clumsiest alteration

How is she going to get out?

This one is a rare example of something which looks almost realistic. The fact that there is a pin rag wrapped around the machine suggests that it was actually used for sewing, and not just a prop.

The pin rag obscures the last two letters of SINGER

This lady in her very chic 1930s top does also seem to know what she is doing, but I'm intrigued by the fact that two photographs obviously taken in the same session have different names on them. Perhaps the photographer took a lot of shots, and then offered them to different printers. (Also, the only time I ever look that pleased to be interrupted when I'm sewing is if the person is bringing me a cup of tea, but that's by the by!)

"PC" and "FOX"

Then there's a whole category of images which would give health and safety officers nightmares.

Do not point scissors at your eye . . .

or cut things without looking . . .

or guide fabric through the machine with your elbow

All of this (apart from the 'danger to life and limb' pictures, obviously) prompted me to try creating my own St Anne photos. The first one I did aimed for a 1940s look with my Autumn Roses dress, and the second was teens era using my Armistice blouse.

'Sewing' through my press cloths

More random fabric, and an antique thread spool

I was wondering what to do next, as St Anne's Day cards appear to be a 1910s to 1940s thing, and I don't have many 1920s or 1930s clothes. But then, I found this.

1960s?

Challenge accepted. So now I have six months to create something similar!