Deborah Chmielewski

Haume Couture Fashioned by Betty Sacker: Folklore of an American Home Dressmaker and Her Students Deborah Chmielewski

Barbara Burman¿s, ed. The Culture of Sewing: Gender, Consumption and Home Dressmaking addressed the larger issues of gender, consumption, and home dressmaking in England. As the first study of its kind, it inspired me to extend the field to examine the lives of American home dressmakers. I developed a four-part model: oral histories, observation, ¿An Archeological Dig in the Closet,¿ artifacts and garments. I documented the anecdotes, stories, and folklore embedded in the oral histories of my family intertwined with the family of my high school home economics teacher and her students. Betty Sacker¿s sewing life began in the 1920s and spanned the period when haute couture designs made their way into middle-class homes via commercial patterns and fabrics aimed at fashion-conscious American women, creating what I have entitled ¿Haume Couture Fashioned By Betty Sacker.¿ Passionately written by a woman who sewed since age nine, Betty embodied the glamour and mystique of haume couture. The work revealed the rich tapestry of the life of home dressmaker Betty Sacker, her family and students. I have found that everyone has a story about sewing--this is the every home dressmaker¿s story!