The best free vintage sewing books
One of the good things about studying history is: eventually everything about your subject becomes public domain. Because it was made so long ago, there are no more copyright restrictions. And that means, we can all share these books, completely free!
Below are six books on historic costumes and how to make them. To read them, all you have to do is click on them and it will bring you to the digital file
And off course a book on embroidery had to be included in this list. Because embroidery is one of the basic techniques to add decoration to a garment, and it was much used throughout history. Artistic Embroidery by Ella Church, published in 1886, is a wonderful book, which gives basic stitches as wel as more elaborate designs, and it is full of illustrations.
Most of these books are from the few decades before and after 1900. This is because these books are old enough to be in the public domain, but not so old they are hard to come by. I am still looking for older books on sewing and historic costumes which are freely available online. When I do find them I will make sure to make another post. If you have any links to good online books, please share them in the comments.