This book is not only about the tailoring industry and its trade unions; it is about the experience of eastern European immigrants in a trade as old as the Bible and yet as new as the electric sewing machine; it is about the role of women in a new industry and about the impact of socio-economic change on fashion. Finally, it is about the way in which sub-divisions and differences were accommodated under the umbrella of one particular trade union.

He's been called "America's greatest living tailor" and "the most interesting man in the world." Now, for the first time, Holocaust-survivor Martin Greenfield tells his whole, incredible life story. Taken from his Czechoslovakian home at age fifteen and transported to the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz with his family, Greenfield came face-to-face with "Angel of Death" Dr. Joseph Mengele and was divided forever from his parents, sisters, and baby brother. In haunting, powerful prose, Greenfield remembers his desperation and fear as a teenager alone in the death camp--and how an impulsive decision to steal an SS soldier's shirt dramatically altered the course of his life. He learned how to sew; and when he began wearing the shirt under his prisoner uniform, he learned that clothes possess great power and could even help save his life. Measure of a Man is the story of a man who suffered unimaginable horror and emerged with a dream of success. From sweeping floors at a New York clothing factory to founding America’s premier handmade suit company, Greenfield built a fashion empire. Now 86-years-old and working with his sons, Greenfield has dressed the famous and powerful of D.C. and Hollywood, including Presidents Dwight Eisenhower, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama and celebrities Paul Newman, Martin Scorsese, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Jimmy Fallon. Written with soul-baring honesty and, at times, a wry sense of humor, Measure of a Man is a memoir unlike any other--one that will inspire hope and renew faith in the resilience of man.

SEWING! NO ONE could hate it more than Dina Kirk. Endless tiny stitches, button holes, darts. Since she was tiny, she’s worked in her family’s dressmaking business, where the sewing machine is a cranky member of the family. When 13-year-old Dina leaves her small town in Germany to join her uncle’s family in Brooklyn, she turns her back on sewing. Never again! But looking for a job leads her right back to the sewing machine. Why did she ever leave home? Here she is, still with a needle and thread—and homesick to boot. She didn’t know she could be this homesick, but she didn’t know she could be so brave either, as she is standing up to an epidemic or a fire. She didn’t know she could grow so close to her new family or to Johann, the young man from the tailor’s shop. And she didn’t know that sewing would reveal her own wonderful talent—and her future. In Dina, the beloved writer Patricia Reilly Giff has created one of her most engaging and vital heroines. Readers will enjoy seeing 1870s Brooklyn through Dina’s eyes, and share her excitement as she discovers a new world.

La 4e de couverture indique : "A comprehensive guide to making period clothes for living history, re,enactment, plays and pageants..."

Create perfect, historically accurate Victorian menswear, from morning coats to shirts and trousers Contains detailed patterns and practical instructions adapted from original Victorian pattern-cutters’ books Covers the whole of the Victorian era, with outstanding designs from every decade A valuable sourcebook for costume designers, dressmakers and those involved in historical re-enactments, this book contains all you need to create authentic menswear from the Victorian period. Historically accurate patterns enable you to make a wide range of garments, including morning coats, waistcoats, frock coats, trousers, shirts and hunting clothes, and full instructions are given for tailoring and construction. The book is illustrated with evocative contemporary fashion plates showing the essential wardrobe of a Victorian gentleman, which demonstrate the subtle changes in style that occurred across the decades.

In the late nineteenth century, most jobs were strictly segregated by sex. And yet, despite their separation at work, male and female employees regularly banded together when they or their unions considered striking. In her groundbreaking book, Ileen A. DeVault explores how gender helped to shape the outcome of job actions—and how gender bias became central to unionism in America. Covering the period from the formation of the American Federation of Labor in 1886 to the establishment of the Women's Trade Union League in 1903, DeVault analyzes forty strikes from across the nation in the tobacco, textile, clothing, and boot and shoe industries. She draws extensively on her research in local newspapers as she traces the daily encounters among male and female coworkers in workplaces, homes, and union halls. Jobs considered appropriate for men and those for women were, she finds, sufficiently interdependent that the success of the action depended on both sexes cooperating. At the same time, with their livelihoods at stake, tensions between women and men often appeared. The AFL entered the twentieth century as the country's primary vehicle for unionized workers, and its attitude toward women formed the basis for virtually all later attempts at their organization. United Apart transforms conventional wisdom on the rise of the AFL by showing how its member unions developed their central beliefs about female workers and how those beliefs affected male workers as well.