Thursday, May 3, 2012

Elegant Designs for Easy Living

Yesterday was what I call I near perfect day for a sewing enthusiast. Visiting Toronto and taking in the sights, sounds, tastes and smells is a treat for the senses. One important stop on the itinerary was the Textile Museum of Canada.

Tucked away in a corner behind City Hall, the museum is the place I often escaped to on precious lunch hours when I worked on Bay St. While others ate their power lunches hoping to make a big connection, panted away on treadmills in the local gym, or toiled in stark grey cubicles wolfing down fast food while staring into flickering screens, I would slip off to this little oasis of tranquility and creativity.

The Textile Museum shop on the second floor has so many books on all sorts of textile art. They also have used books for sale, donated to the museum to help raise funds. This book by Maggie Lane was a treasure that I purchased yesterday. It was published in 1978, over thirty years ago. I've not heard of Maggie Lane or this book previously, and patchwork is not something I'm particularly interested in. What attracted me was that the book included patterns for oriental clothing; Indian pant, Magyar coat, Dofuko, tabard, kangaroo shirt and several more. Typical for books of that time, it contains colour plates of the garments. This $18 find will give me hours of enjoyment as I pore over the construction details and marvel over the simplicity of the designs that are functional and yet have an aesthetic that I am attracted to.

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