Mary Brooks Picken

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Mary Brooks Picken was an influential American author of numerous books on needlework, sewing, and textile arts. Born in Aug. 6 1886, she attended the Women's Institute of Domestic Arts and Sciences. A fashion expert and author, Picken was an authority on dress, fabric, design, and sewing. She taught "Economics of Fashion" at Columbia University and was one of the five founding directors of the Costume Institute. She was the first woman to be named a trustee of the Fashion Institute of Technology.

She was a member of the National Academy of Sciences National Research Council Advisory Committee on Women's Clothing that selected Hattie Carnegie as the designer of the United States Army's women's uniform and provided advice and assistance on all elements of the women's uniform beginning in 1949.^[1]

Picken was a founder of the Fashion Group and served as its Chairman of the Board.

Among her ninety-six books on sewing and fashion, Picken is notable for being the first female author of a dictionary in the English language (The Fashion Dictionary, 1957.)

Picken died March 8, 1981, in Williamsport, PA.

Contents 1 Publications 1.1 1915 1.2 1916 1.3 1917 1.4 1918 1.5 1920 1.6 1921 1.7 1922 1.8 1923 1.9 1925 1.10 1927 1.11 1929 1.12 1930 1.13 1931 1.14 1933 1.15 1939 1.16 1955 1.17 1956 1.18 1957 1.19 1993 1.20 1999 2 Notes 3 References

[edit] Publications

[edit] 1915

• Corsets And Close-fitting Patterns - No. 4
• Drafting and plain dressmaking - 3 A-2
• Fancy aprons and sunbonnets

[edit] 1916

• Woolen Materials and Tailored Plackets - 12
• Harmony of Dress, 11-2
• Fancy aprons and sunbonnets
• Underwear and lingerie 10 B
• Tailored Skirts, Woman's Institute of Domestic Arts & Sciences ^[2]

[edit] 1917

• Maternity and Infants' Garments - No. 19-2
• Miscellaneous garments 22

[edit] 1918

• The Secrets of Distinctive Dress

[edit] 1920

• Drafting And Plain Dressmaking - Part 2 - No. 3 B-2
• Patterns For Children And Misses' Garments - No. 18
• Pattern Drafting - No. 2-3
• Tight Linings And Bonings - No. 5-2
• Laces, Silks, And Linen - No. 6
• The Dressmaker And Tailor Shop - No. 25-2
• Embroidery Stitches Part 1 and 2, Woman’s Institute of Domestic Arts & Sciences Inc., Instruction Paper with Examination Questions

[edit] 1921

• Underwear And Lingerie
• Harmony of Dress - No. 11-2
• Corsets and Close Fitting Patterns
• Tailored Skirts - No. 13
• Woman's Institute Fashion Service

[edit] 1922

• Tailored Pockets, Woman's Institute of Domestic Arts & Sciences ^[3]

• Tight Linings and Boning, Woman's Institute of Domestic Arts & Sciences ^[4]

• House Aprons and Caps, Woman's Institute of Domestic Arts & Sciences

[edit] 1923

• Woolen Materials and Tailored Plackets, Woman's Institute of Domestic Arts & Sciences ^[5]

[edit] 1925

• The Mary Brooks Picken Method Of Modern Dressmaking ^[6]

[edit] 1927

• How to Make Dresses the Modern Singer Way (Singer Sewing Library No. 2) (reissued 1928, 1929, 1930)

[edit] 1929

• How to make draperies, slip covers, cushions and other home furnishings the modern Singer way (Singer Sewing Library)

[edit] 1930

• Sewing Secrets, Modern Methods of Stitching, Decorating and Finishing, The Spool Cotton Company (reissued 1934)

[edit] 1931

• Laundering and Dry Cleaning, Woman's Institute of Domestic Arts & Sciences ^[7]

[edit] 1933

• Principles of Tailoring, Woman's Institute of Domestic Arts & Sciences ^[8]

[edit] 1939

• The language of fashion: Dictionary and digest of fabric, sewing and dress, Mary Brooks Picken school, Incorporated

[edit] 1955

• Needlepoint Made Easy

[edit] 1956

• Dressmakers of France: The who, how, and why of the French couture, Harper, 1956.

[edit] 1957

• The Fashion Dictionary, Funk and Wagnalls, 1957. (1973 edition ISBN 0-308-10052-2, 1999 Dover republication ISBN 0-486-40294-0)

[edit] 1993

• Old-Fashioned Ribbon Trimmings and Flowers

ISBN 0-486-27521-3 EAN:978-0486-27521-5 UPC:800759275212

[edit] 1999

• A Dictionary of Costume and Fashion: Historic and Modern (unabridged Dover Books republication of The Fashion Dictionary, 1957). ISBN 0-486-40294-0 EAN:978-0486-40294-9 UPC:800759402946

[edit] Notes

1. ^ U.S. Army Quartermaster Museum Archives Technical report 68-41-CM "The Army Green Uniform"
2. ^ Tailored Skirts, Woman's Institute of Domestic Arts & Sciences pamphlet, as HTML at VintageSewing.info
3. ^ Tailored Pockets, Woman's Institute of Domestic Arts & Sciences pamphlet, as HTML at VintageSewing.info
4. ^ Tight Linings and Boning, Woman's Institute of Domestic Arts & Sciences pamphlet, as HTML at VintageSewing.info
5. ^ Woolen Materials and Tailored Plackets, Woman's Institute of Domestic Arts & Sciences pamphlet, as HTML at VintageSewing.info
6. ^ The Mary Brooks Picken Method Of Modern Dressmaking, scan at HEARTH, the Home Economics Archive at Cornell University
7. ^ Laundering and Dry Cleaning, Woman's Institute of Domestic Arts & Sciences pamphlet, as HTML at VintageSewing.info
8. ^ Principles of Tailoring, Woman's Institute of Domestic Arts & Sciences pamphlet, as HTML at VintageSewing.info

[edit] References

• Picken, Mary Brooks, The Fashion Dictionary, Funk and Wagnalls, 1957, dust jacket biography.
• Obituary, New York Times, March 11, 1981