May Manton 6599 - Boy's Base Ball Suit

1910. This patterns seems to have been advertised in the newspapers only in 1910, but appeared in newspapers across the country, from St. Albans, Vermont to Butte, Montana.

The ad from Butte provides some nice details in the ad copy.

Note the padded pants, a feature that seems to have originated in the 1880s and disappeared around the first World War, as far as I can tell from looking at high school team photos of the period. (1)  The advertisement notes that "padded trousers mean smartness and correct costume quite as well as protection, and they are sure to be in demand."

The pull-over shirt is a pretty standard outing shirt design, with three sleeve options: long, short, and convertible. (We've seen these convertible sleeves before, with Pictorial Review 5969) According to the advertisement, the lower sleeves are removed when the game is in progress. 

The advertisement recommends serge, flannel, and khaki as appropriate materials.

Although the uniform could be made for team play, a baseball suit could simply be made for a baseball-mad boy, in his favorite team's colors.

Despite the ad copy's assertion that "There is really very little labor involved in the making of such a costume..." consider the amount of work involved in making this uniform: colored facings are sewn to the shirt; button holes must be worked (by hand) for the convertible sleeves, the shirt, and the fly front of the pants; the pants must have padding sewn into them; the cap is lined, and team insignia patches or appliques would be sewn on.

Could you buy boys' baseball uniforms? Indeed you could. In Wichita Kansas, F. G. Orr Book and Stationery Co. could set you up for as little as 98 cents.

The D. B. Loveman Company in Chattanooga, Tennessee put their boys' baseball suits on sale in August, with both the $1.00 and $1.25 suits going for only 69¢

Chattanooga (Tennessee) Daily Times, Friday, August 5, 1910, p. 10.

A few years later in 1912, Sears Roebuck offered stock uniforms for boys for $1.50 on p. 923 of their catalog.

Using the same 1912 catalog, the cost of the materials for making a uniform looks like this:

Item                                        Cost

May Manton Pattern 6599                     10¢

White wool flannel 27" wide @ 18¢/yd        95¢

Buttons from the 2¢ sale page                2¢

Spool of Clark's sewing thread*              4¢

TOTAL                                    $1.11  

* Sears sold thread by boxes of a dozen spools. Assume a single spool could be bought locally for about 4¢.

This excludes the padding for the pants, which could probably be made from odds and ends of quilt batting, and of course, the value of the time to sew the uniform.

And because I know you'll ask, here is what the cap pieces look like.

 

The three perforated crosses in the brim indicate where it's placed on the fold of the material.  It's interesting to see that the cap sections are shorter toward the fronts, which will give the cap a jaunty set. I've been told this is a "Boston" style cap, but it looks like it could also be a "New York" style. May Manton were based in New York City.

This pattern was available in sizes for 8 to 14 years. I wonder if an adult pattern was available that would fit older boys in high school as well as men playing in their local leagues.

"B C", I assume, very cleverly stands for "Ball Club,"  but wouldn't it have been fun if the illustrator had had the imagination to use "M M?"

(1) See the history of baseball uniform pants on the web site for the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Originally posted on May 5, 2012. Updated on March 16, 2025.

Butterick 2209 - The American Red Cross Volunteer Special Service Outdoor Uniform

"1/14/43" is written on the flap of the envelope of this one.

Women's Red Cross uniforms had been re-designed around 1941 by Elizabeth Hawes to be more contemporary looking.  "Red Cross Lassies Get Snappy New Uniforms,"  burbled the St. Petersburg Times on May 4, 1941.  Indeed, without the epaulettes (and the cap) this is a pretty standard women's suit of the time.

Wool gabardine in blue-gray would have been used for View A, the winter uniform.  View B, the summer uniform, would have been made up in a rayon-mohair mix for summer weight or seersucker for tropical weight.

By April 1942, about 20,000 women wore some type of Red Cross uniform.  The Red Cross had to walk a fine line between complying with the overall need to economize in every possible way and to assure that its workers were properly recognized.  The New York Times reported on April 3, 1942 that the bellows pocket with flap that had previously been used on jackets was being dropped in favor of pockets using less material.  In the same article, Mrs. Dwight Davis, the Red Cross's national director of  volunteer special services stated that uniforms should be reserved for women who spent the bulk of their time performing Red Cross-related activities - particularly if this work took them out in public:  women working in chapter work rooms were not to wear uniforms.

This wool jacket offered for sale on eBay in May, 2024 is very similar to the winter uniform in view A, but still has the bellows pockets.

Even though uniforms could be purchased at department stores, making or having a uniform made might have been a good option for a woman who required special care in fitting.  This uniform pattern was available in bust sizes from 30" to 46" - a much wider range than that of patterns for civilian clothes.

While the envelope for this pattern is rough around the edges, this unprinted pattern does not appear to have been used, possibly because there was less demand for the generous size 46.

The American Red Cross was founded on May 21st, 1881.

Originally posted on 5/21/12, photo of surviving jacket added on 5/24/2024.

McCall 1015 - Clothes to Fit the Little Lady Doll

1942

During World War II, even dolls could help the war effort, either by nursing with the Red Cross or by working for the U.S. Office of Civilian Defense as an Air Raid Warden.

It's interesting that the two occupational garments are given top billing in the illustration, while the party dress and school clothes provide hope for the future.

The Office of Civilian Defense was established on May 20th, 1941, a little less than six months before the attack on Pearl Harbor.

The designers were careful to be accurate in rendering the insignia for the armband, though they had to simplify it a little due to the very small size.

Simplicity 4626 - American Red Cross Uniform

No earlier than 1942, as this is when the older style veil was replaced by the trimmer coif illustrated here.(1)

The description reads:

American Red Cross Volunteer Special Service Corps, Washable Uniforms for Administration, Staff Assistant, Production, Braille, Canteen, Home Service, Hospital and Recreation and Paid Staff Workers (Except Hospital Workers).

The uniform on the right would appear to be that of a Gray Lady (part of the Hospital and Recreation service.)

Even though commercially produced uniforms seem to have been readily available, the Simplicity company must have thought there was enough of a demand for a pattern to make this one available, as well as number 4694, home nursing pinafore and canteen apron.

Here's an example of a commercially produced uniform in the collection of the University of North Carolina.

No fabric recommendations are given, presumably because the ARC would have issued their own specific instructions on this.

(1) Shirley Powers's web site, http://www.collectarc.com/ was very helpful here.

Butterick 4202 - One Piece Dress...Suitable for Nurses or for a House Dress

Mid 1930s.

The design of this uniform is very similar to Simplicity 7006.  While some nurses probably made their own uniforms, I suspect that others may have bought the pattern, material, and findings they preferred and had their uniforms made up by a local seamstress.

Advertising this pattern as also suitable for a house dress seems to me wishful thinking on Butterick's part, as there were much more attractive house dress patterns available.  Patterns for maids' uniforms were generally advertised as such.

These detachable uniform buttons date to about this period or a little later.

Simplicity 4267 - Boy's Baseball Suit, Shirt, Shorts, and Cap

1953.

Recommended fabrics for the baseball uniform include cotton, denim, flannelette, and wool.  About four yards of military braid is required for the baseball uniform.

The little guy on the lower left is really nicely turned out, in his cool summer seersucker outfit with matching blue socks and saddle shoes.

Only the pattern pieces for the shorts appear to have been used.

Updated to add instructions for cap.

Simplicity 4694 - Official Red Cross Home Nursing Pinafore and Canteen Apron

World War II (probably after 1941)

LIFE photograph by George Strock, 1941

Interestingly, no fabric recommendations are made, and yardages are given only for 35" wide material, so I'm assuming the Red Cross made recommendations or supplied the fabric.

The Red Cross museum site has a nice overview of WW II canteens here. Make sure you scroll all the way to the bottom for a link to a PDF that will tell you how to recreate a WWII canteen.

The Red Cross also offered home nursing courses during the war, in part to mitigate the shortage of doctors.

Butterick 1700 - Official Brownie Scout Uniform

I'm going to date this one to the 1940s.

View A is the Official Brownie Scout Uniform, for which the Official Fabric is Brownie Chambray. You'll also need five Official Brownie Buttons and Buckle.

Here's the transfer for the embroidery for the pocket:

View B is a (pretty boring) Girl's Frock with Attached Four-Piece Skirt.

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.

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.