The Falling In The Hippie Handcraft Movement

Falling in the hippie style influence, came the hippie handcraft movement. This involved the movement of sewing your own garments, as ways to go against the establishment and create your own new clothes out of second hand items. Ketteler states in his book (2010) that by the 1970s, sewing did become a kind of political statement. The early 1970s saw recessional and inflation; all of the idealism and youthful energy from the sixties turned to alienation. Consumer culture and mass produced cheapness had taken the place of true craftsmanship. Making things with your own hands became a more conscious decision and sewing, needlework, and other crafts had a real "back to basics" vibe about them. Second hand or handmade garments were must haves (p. 103).
The movement was such a hit, that even high end
We learned to sew. We learned to alter patterns and even design and make our own. We learned how to take a baggie pant pattern and turn it into the skin tight look we saw in magazines and on TV. Most of the styles in dresses and tops were extremely easy to whip out with the new ‘Simple’ patterns being produced by the 3 major pattern companies. Learning to sew was one of the life changing events for a girl. Suddenly she was master of her own wardrobe as well as home fashions. If you could understand garment construction and fabric capabilities, you were well on your way to independence from the fashion market availability in shops. We would have girl afternoons and overnights where everyone was sewing. We could whip 2 or 3 outfits each in that time. You could have tied me to a sewing machine then and I would not have complained. My mother even sewed my senior prom dress that I designed. It was lavender with lots of lace trim. She was a genius in her craft. Needless to say, I still have it" V. Templeton (personal communication, October 16, 2016). (See Figure