Thursday, October 6, 2011

Women's Day 5024 - Two-Piece Apron-Dress

January 1952

There is a lot of common sense in this ensemble designed for housework.  Both the skirt and the tunic wrap to the back - the skirt ties and the tunic is closed with snaps, so no need to work button holes.  Wrap garments are handy because they open flat for easy ironing.  Having a separate tunic and skirt allows the maker to make up enough multiples so that she can more easily put together two clean pieces when either the tunic or the skirt becomes soiled.  Both the skirt and the tunic have good, deep pockets.

In some cases Woman's Day patterns were co-branded with Advance, and the layout sheet for this one looks like Advance's work to me.

I didn't realize until I saw this pattern that Woman's Day was the house magazine for A&P stores.  A&P  apparently sold the magazine in 1958.  I have fond memories of A&P; I recall that they smelled of laundry detergent and freshly ground coffee from the coffee grinders at the ends of the check-out lanes (When I was a very small child I found the grinders a little frightening - there was no telling when they might unmoor themselves, run amok, and attempt to eat small children.)
This unprinted pattern has been used.

2 comments:

Lynn said...

I love this pattern, Andrea, especially the pockets. These days, I think you could make it up as an evening dress and have a lot space for your iphone.

andrea.at.the.blue.door said...

Sometimes when I look at a pattern I'll wonder how it would look if made up in a dressy rather than a practical fabric. I think in some cases the results could be quite fabulous. In this case you could pick up a contrast color for a little trim and pocket linings and have something quite smashing.