Cotton day dress with leg-of-mutton sleeves

The catalogue of machines used by Glenis Hollard serves to chronicle her sewing endeavours and the advances in machine technology. At the age of eight, Glenis worked on a treadle machine creating baby gowns for her niece. She then graduated to a Singer, but as a straight sewer, buttonholes had to be done by hand and consequently "choosing styles without buttons was high on the agenda". A Necchi 544 followed her marriage in 1967. She then upgraded to a Husqvarna 2000 in 1975, which was recently replaced with a computerised Janome CS995. Glenis, recalls that her friend Judith would bring her sewing machine to her house and once the children were dispatched to school, the pair would spend the day sewing together. Read more about the history of home sewing in the New Zealand Fashion Museum publication Home Sewn.

Details

Credit: Garment loan courtesy of Glenis Hollard
Copyright: Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 Licence
Maker: Glenis Hollard
Garment type: Day dress
Material: Cotton
Exhibition: Home Sewn: Original New Zealand Fashion (Auckland 2012)
Date: 1976