July 1964 Woman's Day: Make an Embroidered Denim Coverlet

Has it been fifty years? Now 1964 styles and decor are so old they are all the rage. Thanks to Mad Men and nostalgia for the past. Our son wants Mid-Century Modern inspired furniture. Renovating not remodeling Mid-Century ranch homes is a fad.

Women's magazines at the grocery store check out line offered crash courses in consumer education.  Magazines alway taught women about style and decor, going back to Lady Godey's and other Victorian magazines that came available then. More people could read and the printing press offered cheap reading material. But the huge color ads and pics were a post-war luxury.

They look so small by today's standards. Love that gold fridge!

Big innovation! Moms no longer needed to add the sugar. What a time saver.

Debbie Reynolds was in The Unsinkable Molly Brown at this time, a novel about a woman who survived the sinking of the Titanic 

Hair and makeup advice based on skin tone. Notice the absence of women of color?

Egad! Is that Don Draper at the phone? Pay phones! When did you last see one?

I never asked to go to Disneyland, but I did ask about going to the New York World's Fair. I had friends who went. We lived in Western New York State. I mean we were in the same state after all. To my kid's mind it was like going to the Hamburg Fair. Only bigger. And a little farther.

The great thing in this magazine was the coverlet quilt! it is pretty cool. 

Denim quilt with embroidery embellishments!

Instructions for the quilt:

Blue Denim Quilt
56" x 72"
Each square is 4"

Materials: The original quilt was made from scraps of overalls and jeans. Or buy 4 yards of 36" wide denim materials. Scraps of printed and plain cotton fabric, rickrack, and embroidery floss. Lining requires 4 yards of 36" percale. You also needed 'bedspread cotton' in assorted colors and black to crochet around each square and a steel crochet hook No. 6

Squares: cut 252 each 4 1/2" squares from denim material. Trim as desired with appliqué, rick rack, etc. The appliqué is edged or trimmed with embroidery. Stitches included buttonhole, herringbone, feather stitch, lazy daisy, French know, and outline stitched worked with s strands of 6-ply floss.

Edges: turn under edges of the trimmed squares 1/8". With colored bedspread cotton, work single crochet sc around each square. Space stitches close together and work 3 sc in each corner. Break off. Attach black and work sc in each sc around, working 3 sc in each corner. Break off.

Finishing: Arrange and then sew squares together at edge of crochet to form a rectangle 14 squares wide by 18 squares long. Cut and piece lining to fit top, allowing 1/2" for seams and turn under. Turn under 1/2" all around outer edge and sew to top. Tack through both layers in several place to hold lining in place or tack at corners of each square.
THE END