Butterick 4972 - Misses' Jumper

1970s.

One of the interesting aspects of this pattern is the cover photo, which manages to evoke a rather romantic rural British atmosphere, with the white and red painted stone barn in the slightly misty background and the model's wellies (long before the current craze for Hunter wellies!)  This seems very much in line with some of Laura Ashley's similarly evocative designs of the period, though Butterick's design has abandoned Ashley's fondness for sprigs and flounces and is much more functional.

At first glance this looks like it might be a hoover-fronted dress or apron, but the description called it a "sandwich board jumper."

And here's how you wear it:

Although I always have very poor luck in getting wrapped garments to stay wrapped, this is on the whole a nice design.  It would make a splendid full-coverage kitchen apron.

This printed pattern has not been used.

Marian Martin 9624 [Smart Apron Frock]

July 25, 1933, as per the The Gettysburg Times.

Between the pattern and the envelope, there is quite a lot going on here.  Let's take a look.

For those of you unfamiliar with Marian Martin patterns, they were advertised in newspapers and were generally quite economical - this one sold for fifteen cents when some of McCall's elegant embroidered smock patterns from the same period sold for three times as much.  A seasonal circular was also produced for fifteen cents.  These patterns didn't come with paper envelopes in addition to their mailing envelopes.  Now and again these patterns show up with glassine envelopes, but I haven't pinned down the exact time period when this was the practice.

The illustration above is from the instruction sheet.   The instruction sheet, which is in very poor condition, refers to this garment merely as a "dress" while the newspaper article refers to it as a "smart apron frock."

The newspaper copy is wonderful:

"Here's a new recipe for housewives!  Send for this pattern, buy a few yards of fabric...cotton prints are pretty and cost so little, add a bit of contract, (sic) make it during leisure hours and you'll have a most attractive frock.  It has reversible fronts, perky flares and handy pockets.  You'll want several different colors."

I guess that the copy edit department at the Gettysburg Times was overworked during the Great Depression and "contract" just slid by instead of "contrast."  The article just above this pattern advertisement is titled "Washington Highlights" and in passing mentions former president Hoover, for whom this style of reversible-front apron is often called a "Hooverette."  And indeed, that's how the maker Mrs. L.L. Long thought of her smart apron frock: note how she's written that across the front of the envelope:

This address appears to have been consumed by the Interstate highway

Note also the small insignia at the top center of the envelope.

This tends to stump those who are new to vintage patterns, and they wonder what on earth the National Rifle Association had to do with anything.  At this time, NRA stood for National Recovery Administration, which had the responsibility for implementing the National Industrial Recovery Act.   NIRA was passed in 1933 as part of the New Deal, but was declared unconstitutional in May 1935 shortly before it was set to expire.

NRA was strongly pro-union, so by putting the logo on their envelopes, the Des Moines Tribune was making a statement (those of you with expertise in unionization in the newspaper industry, feel free to chime in here!)  In color, the logo was known as "the blue eagle."  With the eagle holding an industrial gear in one talon and the power of electricity in the other,  this is quite a striking image.

On the reverse of the envelope, Mrs. Long made a note to herself about the amount of fabric required.   Because the pattern and envelope are so battered, I suspect that she made up her Hooverette multiple times, as the newspaper copy suggested.

But honestly, I bought this pattern entirely because I thought the illustration was so engaging.  It's very tempting to supply a caption for it:

"All hail to the god of sweet iced tea!  Sing Lipton!  Sing Tetley!"

or

"That's funny, in those nice Agatha Christie novels the poison just dissolves"

What's yours?