Vintage Notions: An Inspirational Guide to Needlework, Cooking, Sewing, Fashion, and Fun

Vintage Notions
By Amy Barickman
Gifted by Amy Barickman, LLC
www.amybarickman.com
Reviewed by Melissa Conner


Welcome back to the days of inspirational essays, clever sewing patterns, cooking basics, and beautiful illustrations all jam packed into one colorful and fun publication. Welcome back to femininity, inspiration, and the simple pleasure of pulling a string through a canvas.

Vintage Notions, inspired by the works of Mary Brooks Picken (the founder of The Woman’s Institute of Domestic Arts and Sciences in Scranton, Pennsylvania), is a treasure of a book by Amy Barickman. It is a testament to other publications like “The Ladie’s Home Journal”, “Country Living”, and “Better Homes and Gardens”. Filled with beautiful vintage sewing patterns, old traditional recipes, and lovely illustrations scattered throughout the book, Vintage Notions highlights everything that’s wonderful about the creative woman…and offers helpful tips on how to be a vintage inspired domestic goddess.

Broken down by season, this book has all the recipes and patterns you’ll need for the coming year. Each season contains a little storage pocket at the beginning of every chapter, a great place to store recipe clippings or fabric scraps. Scattered throughout the book are helpful and inspiring essays, secrets to making the perfect soup and pies, the ABC’s of looking beautiful, and even some helpful advice on how to look good in lacy undergarments. There are also several vintage sewing patterns for everything from hats to aprons.

I couldn’t help but smile looking through Vintage Notions. I loved the essay titled, “Carrying Your Problems Cheerfully”, a helpful guide on how to look beautiful and put on a smile, no matter what’s getting you down. I also book marked a recipe for Cranberry Meringue Pie, which sounds absolutely delightful for Thanksgiving or Christmas.

Vintage Notions is a book every girl should have on hand. From helpful advice on how to set up the best summer picnic to great suggestions on how you can reuse your husband’s large shirts to create stylish attire, Vintage Notions is proof that the domestic diva still reigns supreme!