Pictorial Review 2619 - Raggedy Andy Costume

Mid 1920s.

Description from the back of the envelope:

RAGGEDY ANDY COSTUME.  A clever costume for a masquerade party is this one, consisting of a front-closing blouse, side-closing trousers and a hat.  A collar finishes the neck of the blouse.  The wide trousers button high on the blouse.

No instructions are given for the floppy bow tie, the mitten hands or yarn hair.

My pattern is a size 14 for a 32" breast measurement.  The side length of the trousers in this size is 40," making this a costume for the demographic now known as "tweens."   More research is needed into costume parties of this period.

According the Wikipedia article, the first Raggedy Ann book was published in 1918, with a book of Raggedy Andy stories appearing in 1920.

Simplicity 7006 - Nurses' Uniform

About 1929.

From the description on the back of the envelope:

A uniform whose trim lines always look smart.  The absence of fussy detail assures perfect laundering.

Style 1: Patch pocket model with tailored collar.  A simple good-looking style.

Style 2: A notched collar model with button-trimmed sleeves.

Style 3: The back view of Style 1

It's entertaining that Simplicity's marketing scheme of "3 patterns for the price of 1" fizzled on this one, with the designers simply unable to develop a viable third style for a garment that really does need to be uniform.

McCall 3720 Men's and Boys' Union Suit

Late 1920s.

This short-legged version of the union suit doesn't seem to show up much past the 1920s.  I'm still waiting for an expert on vintage men's underclothes to stumble across this blog and explain all the things that I can't quite fathom.

One of my Women's Institute books of this same period recommends that if making these in quantity, one buy a knit men's undershirt and cut it up to use for the back waistband.  This is an extremely sensible idea.

It's interesting to see this garment made up in prints and stripes.  From a sartorial perspective, was it acceptable for a gentleman's print undergarment to show through his white shirt?

At this time McCall didn't offer a separate instruction sheet, but printed some minimal instructions on the pattern pieces themselves, must as Pictorial Review did.

Hollywood 1101 - Overalls

Mid 1930s.

Suggested fabrics include novelty cotton, seersucker, gingham, corduroy, pique, broadcloth, flannel linen, and denim.

The pattern pieces have been very carefully pinned up to make up at least one size smaller.

McCall 5345 Ladies' and Misses' Coverall

1943.  The illustrator wants to make sure you understand the function of this garment; one wears this coverall with sensible (but very cute) little flat shoes in the kitchen, where the carpet sweeper awaits you once you doff your bright red rubber gloves.

This war-time dress, cut from about four yards of 36" wide fabric is wrap-fronted but not reversible fronted like the earlier Hoover aprons.

The instruction sheet still gives directions for making hand-worked button holes, and also expects that you'll baste the sleeves in by hand before sewing them on the machine.

Pictorial Review 7389 - U.S. Army Shirt

I'm going to give this a provisional date of early 1920's.  The illustrator makes this shirt's occupational role explicit by showing our model wearing his hat.

This shirt is a relative of Butterick 4078.  A few minor differences are observable.  The pockets of this shirt are pleated, and if the illustration is accurate, the sleeve plackets are much longer.  The back yoke is pointed.  Note that this shirt is pull over only ("Closed front" as the catalogs call it.)

It's still a puzzle to me why an "Army Shirt" is something that (presumably civilian) men would want.  However, as late as 1929, Montgomery Ward was still offering an "Army Style" shirt, yours for $1.98:

The price of the Pictorial pattern is 15 cents.  In the 1929 Montgomery Ward catalog, I find that 36" wide, half-wool shirting flannel can be had for 39c a yard.  The colors available were khaki tan, gray mixed, wine, dark green, dark brown, navy blue.  It's interesting that khaki is the first color listed.

The Pictorial Review Army shirt in this size (36) will require three and quarter yards of fabric.  I would buy a half yard extra because I'm pretty sure this fabric will shrink, and perhaps I'll buy a little extra for patching, so call it four yards.  A spool of thread will run about 23 cents.  Buttons will run about 20 cents for a dozen - that's good, it gives me some spares.  Out of pocket cost:

Pattern - 15 cents

Fabric - 4 yards @ 39 cents/yard  - $1.56

Thread - 23 cents

Buttons - 20 cents

Total = $2.14

Of course, if the man of the house is a little hard to fit, I'll be able lengthen the sleeves or make the neck a little larger.

McCall 9094 - Ladies' and Misses' Divided Skirt & Blouse

1937.  "...with or without Slide Fastener Closing"

McCall pattern illustrations of this period are incredibly lush.  The models' faces seem like pure Greta Garbo to me.  And indeed, Garbo was nominated for an Academy award in 1937 for Camille, which was released in 1936.  The total look however, brings to mind Kate Hepburn.

Slide fasteners (Zippers in the United States now) were new in the mid 1930's, and McCall is doing a nice job of marketing them here; they appear on both the blouse and the skirt.  They're appropriate for a casual outfit because at this time they tended to be rather heavy and stiff, so weren't yet suitable for fine clothing.

The suggested fabrics listed on the back of the envelope include linen, pique, knitted fabrics, percale, gabardine, flannel, and wash silks.

Included in the envelope is a collar cut from the May 28, 1937 evening edition of the Ogden (Utah) Standard-Examiner.  It's been cut about a half inch narrower than the original collar pattern piece.