Making Good Use: How To

I picked up this 1974 'How To' magazine at the 'Bargain Box' in Basildon last week. Somewhere in the back of my mind I vaguely remember this magazine and may even have a different copy somewhere in the loft as I was heavily into crafts when I was a teenager and really liked these sorts of publications. I know I've definitely got some mid-1970s Golden Hands mags stashed away up there.

I mainly picked it up for the lovely knitted blanket that is featured. I hope it will be an insipiration for me should my enthusiasm for the blanket I'm attempting to knit start to wane.

There are some very dated items in there - like this uber-70s project for making tie cushions which offer a 'flexible furnishing system'!! And a section on making decorative wall collages. The prices are also amazing - a long-sleeved cheesecloth shirt for £3.90. Oh, how I loved cheesecloth shirts when I was a teenager, although mine were of the stripey, fairly coarse variety, whilst the one featured in this magazine is obviously much more 'Margot Leadbetter.'

The article on how to change a plug would have proved very useful to me a few weeks ago. But the one article that does somewhat surprise me is how to sleep with a man! Now, bear in mind this a publication from that stalwart of middle England - Woman's Own. Needless to say the article is very prim and proper and merely deals with how many blankets to have on the bed if there are two of you in it - 'continental quilts' are only briefly mentioned. And what to do if your man snores. They suggest sewing a cotton reel into the back of his pyjamas to stop him sleeping on his back, or getting him to do jaw-strengthening exercises like holding a pencil between his teeth for ten minutes before going to sleep. And they say romance is dead, I think it probably died more than 30 years ago!!

Comments

That article is hilarious :) Thanks for sharing! I especially like the sentence from the second paragraph - 'If he's your regular man'!!! Made me laugh :) joanne x

Posted by: Joanne | 07/09/2008 at 08:18 PM