Butterick 7068 - Misses', Juniors' and Girls' Windbreaker

1920s.

This is the companion to the boys' windbreaker I posted in December 2010.

As with the boy's version, the maker has the option of knitting her own collar, sleeve, and bottom bands.  Since knitting yarns tend to come in a much broader range of colors than by-the-yard knit banding, the maker would have the potential to make a banding that complemented or contrasted with the windbreaker fabric in much more interesting ways.  Of course, that K1P1 banding is still pretty boring to knit, but sufficiently mindless to make a long bus or train trip go more quickly.

In the envelope with the pattern was this instruction sheet for the California Redwood Sleeve Board (Chicago Ill.)

This unprinted pattern shows some signs of wear.

Pictorial Review 9051 - Boys' and Men's Windbreaker

Late 1930s.

This seems like an appropriate pattern to feature now that we move into blustery March weather.  Pictorial's patterns descriptions are always cheerfully breezy sales pitches:

BOYS' AND MEN'S WINDBREAKER. A sure way to any man's or boy's heart is by making this windbreaker. He'll like either the one- or two-piece back and slide fastener closing. Elastic webbing at wrists and waist and welt pockets feature View 1. View 2 has buttoned tabs at wrists and patch pockets.

This is a later incarnation of the 1920's windbreaker we saw in Butterick 7031.  By the '30s the waistline has returned to its natural position - in fact, by this time it's probably a little higher than natural.  The economies of the tail end of the Great Depression that led Butterick to believe that makers might knit their own banding have given way to purchased banding and those nifty new slide fasteners.

Illustrations for men's patterns frequently show the men doing manly things.  I'm not exactly sure what Mr. 1 is doing - checking his watch, or possibly a compass.  Master 2, throwing a stick for his fox tarrier, illustrates a suitably rugged activity. (There was a very famous fox tarrier at this time in Asta, who shared billing with William Powell and Myrna Loy in the Thin Man movies, the first of which came out in 1934.)  Smoking is one of the more popular manly activities illustrated, here seen on the back of the pattern envelope.

And in case you didn't quite get the drift from both the front and back illustrations, the illustrators take a moment on the instruction sheet to show you that this windbreaker is also suitable for fishing.

Butterick 7031 - Boys' Windbreaker

After 1923.

I bought this pattern because I was interested in the use of the term"windbreaker" at this early date.  The earliest use of the term found on Google Books is a February 1919 review in the wonderful Outing magazine, while Boy's Life magazine for May 1928 recommends a windbreaker as part of a bicyclist's kit of gear.

The Youngstown Vindicator for November 10, 1925 contains an advertisement for "the new wind-breaker  The newest thing for boys and girls." The Montreal Gazette for September 30, 1926, shows an advertisement for suede windbreakers designed to appeal to young women.  Some more sleuthing might find a parent of the windbreaker in the leather jackets worn by aviators, who probably knew more about wind than anybody.

We've seen the banded bottom used a little earlier on Excella 1111, Men's Jumper, as well as the much earlier Working Blouse pattern put out by the Universal Fashion Company.

Recommended fabrics for the Butterick windbreaker include:

Plain or Plaid Flannel, Camel Hair, Fleece Coatings, Corduroy, Duvetyn, and Suede Coatings

Fleece in this sense means a heavily fulled wool fabric with a somewhat soft, fleecy finish (as opposed to a smooth, sheared finish.)   Duvetyn is a "soft, filling-faced fabric made in a satin or twill weave with a fine downy nap...Its appearance is similar to velvet.  Originally made of soft wool in France." (1)  The soft quality of the fabrics accords with the view expressed by the reviewer in Outing that this firm, fleecy quality is what cuts the wind.

But possibly the most intriguing aspect of this pattern is the "instructions for knitting collar, cuffs, and band for View D."

Commercially knit banding was certainly available for the 1930's, when it's called for in the DuBarry Children's Snow Suit, but a substantial wool banding may have been harder to find, so Butterick enhanced the value of their pattern by providing instructions for knitting the straight bands for the collar and cuffs as well as a slightly shaped collar.  I must admit that I find knitting 1x1 ribbing just about the most boring knitting task possible.  However, a thrifty, thoughtful maker might buy extra yarn so that frayed or badly stained ribbing could be replaced to extend the life of the windbreaker.  My recollection is that Shetland Floss is about like our fingering weight yarn.

This unprinted pattern appears to have been used and is in reasonably good condition.

(1) See Sources Consulted