McCall's 3009 - Snowmobile Suit

1971
It's getting to be that time of year.  A deep snow pack is developing and the ponds and lakes are beginning to develop good thick ice.  For the vintage snowmobile enthusiast, this may be the best way to complete your look.  If you get a crack on, you can get your entire family kitted out (in maybe matching!) vintage snowmobile suits.

Notice the groovy two-color version B, shown only on the back of the envelope.

I had to look up one of the recommended fabrics - Cire, or more properly, Ciré,  is one of the family of fabrics with a hard, shiny surface finish.  Traditionally achieved with wax, heat, and pressure, by the time this pattern was printed ciré finish fabrics were beginning to be available in synthetic fibers.

Here's what snowmobiling looked like in 1971, when the price of Ski-doo's elan model would just about cover the cost of today's snowmobile suit.

Patrone-Modele - Sport Ensemble

First half of the 1950s.  Mes amis, it is time to get the Citroen out of the garage and take a tour into the wine country to see the grape harvest.  Monsieur will be correctly dressed for the country in this sport ensemble of plus fours and jacket in wool.

The waist length jacket (blouson) is interesting.  In the Unites States, we've seen this style in working clothing as early as the late 19th century, with Cosmopolitan 800, the working blouse, and then around World War I, with Excella 1111, the men's jumper.  In the 1920s, even with the somewhat loose definition of "waist length," the style, now called a "windbreaker" shows up in outerwear for boys, Butterick 7031, and women, Butterick 7068.  By the 1930s, when the waist had risen just past normal to being a little high, the style was still popular, as seen in Pictorial Review 9051.  From here, it's a short hop of a few years to World War II and the British Army's re-design of its battle dress which included the waist-length jacket (also referred to as a blouse.) Today we typically refer to this style as an Eisenhower or Ike jacket, but it turns out that he himself borrowed the style from the British.

This is a nice interpretation, with a zip front closing, substantial pockets with flaps, and the large, wing-like spread collar so popular at the time.

The plus-fours are referred to simply as "pantalon" on the front of the envelope.  The slightly more detailed description on the back of the envelope calls them "culotte de golf," which Google Translate tells me is "knickerbockers."  It seems a slightly old-fashioned look, yet it must have been popular enough for Le Petit Echo de la Mode to produce a home sewing pattern for culotte de golf, particularly as patterns for men's clothing represent just a tiny fraction of their pattern offerings.

Although not visible in the illustration, by looking at the layout one sees that the fullness of these culotte de golf is darted into bands.

Even though it's tempting to explain away these plus-fours as a style for older gentlemen who had worn them in the 1930s and saw no reason to change, some fairly stylish interpretations of plus fours show up in the men's fashion magazine L'Homme in  Summer 1954 for young men, and as late as Spring-Summer 1959 for older men.  (Despite multiple searches in two languages, I've not yet been able to come up with any documentary evidence that french gentlemen actually wore plus fours for golfing in the 1950s.)

Source

Source

This unprinted pattern is unused.

And we're off!

1950s Citroen Traction Avant Six 15

McCall 4653 - Ladies' & Misses' One-Piece Overalls or Shorts

1942

Once you get your Victory Garden watered, you can change into a cool play suit and take a nice picnic out to the lake (provided you have enough gas coupons.)

Here's another fine entry into women's war-time work wear.  Miss A. wears the very get-the-job done overalls, probably made up in denim or chambray, with plenty of white top-stitching  The banded sleeves will be a little faster to make than struggling with sleeve plackets and buttoned cuffs.  The over sized right pocket with its pencil slot borrows from men's work shirts.

Miss B, who has finished her work for the day, looks cool and comfortable and ready for a game of badminton.  With her one-piece play suit, she won't have to worry about becoming untucked following one of her wicked overhand serves.

From the Kenneth Spencer Research Library, University of Kansas

This printed pattern has been cut out in Version A.

McCall 7963 - Ladies & Misses' Blouse

Copyright 1950

The selling point for this sporty, elegant shirt is the short sleeves, which can be unbuttoned for greater ease of arm and shoulder motion.

Even though this is a relatively informal shirt, the silhouette of the day still called for shoulder pads.

(I never look this nicely turned out when I'm gardening.)

This printed pattern appears to have been used.

Pictorial Review 6972 - Women's and Misses Blouse and Shorts

Mid 1930s, probably after 1932.

Only thirty years earlier, in 1901, here is how England's Charlotte Cooper dressed to play tennis at Wimbledon.

But in 1932, Alice Marble made history by wearing shorts in professional play. Here's a beautiful Alfred Eisenstaedt photograph of Marble from 1937:

Pictorial Review usually provided wonderful copy for their patterns and this one is no exception:

Straight from the French resorts comes this ultra-smart sports costume.  The tailored blouse may be worn with high or low neckline, and long or or short cuff-trimmed sleeves.  The shorts have a buttoned placket closing and inserted pockets.  The sash slips through straps and ties jauntily at the side.  

The espadrilles in the pattern illustration, while very fashionable resort wear at this time seem a bit odd for sportswear, but really, it's more about the look than the actual sport.  The fashion editors at Pictorial really seemed to know what they were talking about.  The odd little cap in the Pictorial illustration shows up in several of Lartigue's photographs of Renee Perle, most of which were taken in the South of France in the early 1930s, so there may have been a fad for them.

Vogue 8364 - Skirt

 1954

There isn't anything particularly unusual about this skirt pattern.  However, along with the released pleat at the center back to accommodate striding energetically across the greens, the designers have provided an attached "saddle" pocket for your tees, divot tool, and lipstick.

This is somewhat similar to the earlier Pictorial 7559, though in that case, the pocket is detachable.

This pattern doesn't appear to have been used.

Those of us who spent time in the Philadelphia area will probably feel a little nostalgia for the old John Wanamaker department store.  By the time I knew Wanamaker's in the 1970s, the sewing department was gone, though only 75 miles upstate, I patronized the yard goods department in little Hess's department store until the late 1980's.

McCall 1435 - Misses' Skating Ensemble

1948

There are plenty of options here.  The outfit could be made of woven material or felt (back when good quality wool felt was still available.)

The decorations could be appliqued or embroidered, and the embroidery could be carried out in either knitting worsted or embroidery floss.

Slide fasteners were used for both the jacket and the skirt, using colors that harmonize with the decorations.  The jacket is lined, and consistent with the big-shouldered look of the period, pattern pieces are provided for shoulder pads.

View B shows how to put together a very sporty ensemble by making up the jacket on its own and wearing it with a hat and skirt made up in a tweed that harmonizes with the jacket.

I can't quite make out the inscription in blue ink found on the front of the envelope.

The skirt pieces as well as the transfers are missing.  I can imagine a young skater's mother making up a whole wardrobe of skating skirts in different colors, to be worn with a variety of jackets and sweaters.

Here's some lovely 1940's home movie footage of skaters.

Pictorial Review 1438 - Ladies' Riding Breeches

Mid 1920's.

Given the proximity of the pattern numbers, my guess is that this is a companion piece to Pictorial Review 1435, the Semi-fitted Riding Jacket.  It's also clearly related to Butterick 4147, which is calling itself knickers.

Like the Pictorial Review Riding Jacket, the only layout given is for 54" material.

Part of reading clothing is observing it on the body.  Here's a wonderful photo from Shorpy of a young Louisita Wood in 1913.  Wood's family had money, so I suspect that her riding clothes were custom made for her and that this was considered a good fit.

And here she is seated.

It's not uncommon to find names written on the pattern envelopes.  There are several possible explanations for this.  One is that patterns sometimes had to be special ordered, and the purchaser's names were written on the envelopes by the store clerk when the patterns arrived from the supplier.  Another possibility is that the garment was made up by a dressmaker, and either she or her customer wrote the name on the envelope.

In this case, we have Mrs. Flora Grove, on Winchester Avenue.

Advance 1471 - (shirt, divided skirt, and sash)

Mid 1930's.

Note how similar this is to McCall 9094.

I recently ran across a very funny bit of dialog in Margery Sharp's Cluny Brown in which an older lady, Lady Carmel, observes one of her young house guests crawling around the tennis court on her hands and knees, and asks another house guest to "...make her get up, dear, I don't know what she's wearing." and is reassured that "It's a divided skirt, Lady Carmel."

Pictorial Review 1435 - Ladies' Semi-Fitted Riding Jacket

Mid 1920's.

Note that underfacing E may be cut of rubberized material.  You can see the outline of the underfacing on pieces L, F, and H.

The finished length of the jacket is about 34".  The pattern is not printed.  No fabric recommendations are made, though interestingly, the layout is given for 54" material only.

This was probably meant to be worn with Pictorial Review 1438, Ladies' Riding Breeches.

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.

Butterick 4147 - Knickers for Ladies, Misses, and Girls

Probably the first half of the 1920s.

There is an enormous amount of information embedded in this pattern.  Let's start with terminology.  I wouldn't call these knickers, I'd call them breeches.

By way of contrast, here is a nice pair of ladies' knickers illustrated on page 61 of the Charles Williams Stores catalog for Spring/Summer, 1926.  This illustration appears in the ladies clothing section of the catalog dedicated to rugged, unfussy skirts and suits classified as "sport apparel."  It's one of two models of knickers offered.

Charles Williams Stores also carried ladies breeches, but you need to turn to page 284, in the men's section of the catalog, to find them:

This is the only model offered for ladies' breeches in this particular catalog.  By contrast, there were four different models offered for men.  Historically in the world of bespoke clothing, ladies' riding apparel was generally made by tailors (who were men) rather than dressmakers (who were women.)  It may still be for all I know; that's not a world to which I have much visibility.

In 1926 Charles Williams didn't seem to offer any other trouser-type garments for ladies.  Knickers and gym bloomers were offered for girls.

The most obvious difference between the two garments is the enormous amount of ease through the seat of the breeches, necessary if one intends to wear them for riding, but really very practical as well for skating, strenuous hiking, etc.  Taking a rough measurement of the pattern pieces, I estimate that this pattern with a stated hip measure of 38 inches will be about 54 inches through the hips.  Note that modern riding breeches aren't anywhere near as full-seated, so even in utilitarian garments, styles change.

Returning to the Butterick pattern, the description states that these "knickers" were

Suitable for General Sports Wear, Riding, Motoring, Hiking, etc.

This is not a trivial garment to make at home.  Here are the instruction sheets.

On top of the fairly complicated construction, the idea of making these in a napped fabric makes me a little light-headed.  Also, by my count, at least 22 (hand-worked) button holes are required.  It could be more. The illustration seems to show that in view B, the breeches legs are laced up the back; the instructions are entirely silent on the details of this view.

Further research will be required to determine if Butterick offered patterns for both breeches and knickers, or if this was their only offering of trousers for women.  Fashionable slacks for women won't show up until the 1930's.  It would be fascinating to know how many women simply opted for wearing men's trousers for sport or work wear.