Friday, September 17, 2010

Advance 1686 - (Boy's Coat)


Latter part of the 1930's.  The yoke and lower back pattern pieces have been replaced with newspaper tracings from a Detroit paper that indicate a date of 1938 or '39.

I would describe this as a reefer or pea coat (the terms seem to be largely interchangeable.)  View 1 is a particularly elegant interpretation, having both hand-warmer and patch pockets.

With sixteen pieces and an expectation that it would be lined, this coat represents a lot of work for the maker.  As we did in the discussion of McCall 5327, we should consider the challenge to the maker in spending money on (remember that at this time the Great Depression is a recent memory for all and still a reality for many) and considerable time in constructing a garment that would be outgrown before it wore out.  Of course, if there was more than one boy in either the immediate or extended family, possibly the maker planned to make the coat for Older Brother who would hand it down to Next Younger Brother or Cousin.  It would be interesting to know if clothing was handled and maintained with greater care when it was planned to be handed down.  

Many of the pattern pieces are torn - something that often happens when you're working with thick fabrics - winters in Detroit are cold!


Although Advance is touting an improved step-by-step instruction guide, the entire set of instructions, including the layouts, is printed on one side of a 15" by 16" sheet of paper.  The written instructions are reasonably complete but necessarily very brief.  The maker is assumed to have good basic sewing skills such as basting, grading and finishing seams, pressing, etc.

Friday, September 3, 2010

McCall 5327 - Child's Jumpsuit and Hat


1976

Children's clothing is a little tricky to talk about because its purposes are different from clothing for adults.  Most important with regard to the time and effort involved in home sewing, children's clothes are more or less disposable because children grow out of them.  It's unlikely that a child will wear out an article of clothing before they outgrow it, so while a home-made garment may have been intended for one particular child, its lifespan will probably extend to that child's siblings, extended family, or even to the larger community as part of a clothing exchange.

How children's clothing is used is also a little different.  There is the clothing children are required to wear for what are essentially adult functions; little suits for boys and dresses for girls that are worn to church, to Christmas parties, and weddings and the like, and which almost always itch or pinch in one way or another.   Pajamas and bathrobes, sometimes sewn annually at Christmas time combine a labor of love with deep practicality, though the recipients may not appreciate this.  Clothing that is appropriate for school (at least during the elementary grades when parents still have some control!) is essentially occupational clothing that conforms to current styles.

And then there are play clothes.  Play, I think, is the truest occupation of children, particularly young children, so it makes sense to provide them with appropriate occupational clothing.

What makes this pattern so attractive is the matching hat - an occupational necessity for all railroaders, regardless of the size of their rail operations.

This pattern does not appear to have been used.


This one is for Jim and Olen.

Friday, August 27, 2010

Ladies Home Journal S-33 "ITALY"




After 1905, probably before 1920.

Ladies' Home Journal apparently produced a series of these country-themed fancy dress patterns.  We've also seen the pattern representing 
England.  Here is how Italy is described:
ITALY In representing Italy a composite Dress taken from the peasantry garb has been designed in the colors of the Italian national emblem. A pleasing satisfaction can be derived from the attractiveness of this Costume, for it is typical of brilliant colors, regardless of harmony, and an abundant display of jewelry.
The illustration is obviously in black and white, so I assume that references to colors (and the designers' opinion that the Italian national colors lack harmony) refer to a color illustration that appeared either in a Ladies' Home Journal Magazine or pattern catalog.  The designers get honesty brownie points for admitting that they've designed a composite of peasant dress.  I like the instruction for "an abundant display of jewelry."

And earlier maker made some pencil notations on the pattern envelope for the colors of the blouse, bodice, apron, skirt and bodice facing including red, green, and dark blue.  The bodice was also cut a bit lower, with the cut-off piece carefully folded into the envelope.

I believe that the young lady in our illustration may be reading her dance card, a clue that this type of costume could be worn to fancy dress balls.

Here is my grandmother in another interpretation of "traditional" Italian folk garb from about the same time that this pattern was published.


While we "read" the red, green, and white in my grandmother's costume as typically representing Italy, the Italian tri-color flag with which we're now familiar wasn't formally adopted until 1948, though there were many variants of these colors in earlier Italian flags.

Friday, August 20, 2010

Standard Designer - Ladies' and Misses' Apron Bathing-Suit


Mid 1920s.

Here's a nice photo from Shorpy from 1920 showing what was probably a purchased bathing suit made of knitted fabrics.  By now we've definitely abandoned the earlier dress-and-bloomers style that we saw in May Manton 7853 but some sort of skirt is still thought necessary.


For this pattern the designers recommends Jersey for the "tights," as they're are calling the undergarment.  At this time Jersey would have been a fairly sturdy knitted fabric of wool.  Recommendations for the "apron" include taffeta, shantung, satin, printed crepe and crepe de chine.

The print on view A looks very much like Egyptian hieroglyphics to me.


As it happens, King Tut's tomb had been discovered by Howard Carter in 1922, and worldwide Egyptomania promptly ensued.


Friday, August 13, 2010

McCall 2243 - Misses' Casual Tunic or Cobbler Apron


1958

By the 1950s cobbler aprons were very popular.  With its bust darts, curved sides, and pocket detailing, Cardin's interpretation for McCall's is a little tonier than the completely unstructured tabard-style aprons offered by most pattern companies at this time.

Pierre Cardin was trained as a tailor and worked at Paquin, Schiaparelli, and Dior before setting out on his own and showing his first couture collection in 1953.  He would release his first ready-to-wear collection in 1959, but in 1958 he enters American popular culture with a series of patterns for McCall.  The elegant little suits and cocktail dresses one understands, but the thinking behind the apron and "casual tunic" is a bit mysterious; can you imagine a Calvin Klein apron pattern, for example - or better yet - Karl Lagerfeld?

But compare the tunic to Cardin's "Cosmos" dress from 1967.  The evolution is very clear.

Victoria and Albert Museum
The perky little bows provide a rather strange counterpoint to Cardin's generally very clean design aesthetic.

Friday, August 6, 2010

Butterick 3120 - Women's and Misses' Hospital Gown


1940s.

Patterns for hospital wear still up now and again in the backs of the big pattern catalogs, but they don't stay in print very long and can be hard to find.  Really, this is just a nightgown pattern cut off short and modified to tie in the back, but wouldn't it be comforting to go into the hospital supplied with gowns that somebody who cared about you had made?  And wouldn't it also provide some measure of comfort and purpose to the maker to have done something so useful?

Friday, July 30, 2010

McCall 1332 - Men's Western Shirt


1947.

This is the earliest western shirt pattern I've found thus far.  Unlike some of the later western shirt patterns, this is purely a fancy dress shirt - no workaday checks or stripes are illustrated here.  Note the spectacular embroidered cuffs on Mr. A's shirt.

McCall was based in New York City, and I suspect their illustrators were mostly local talent, so their knowledge of cowboys may be based almost entirely on the oaters they took in at the Saturday matinees.  Any Saturday would do; between 1943 and 1947, almost 500 westerns were released in the United States, starring the likes of John Wayne, Randolph Scott, Joel McCrae, Roy Rogers; even Errol Flynn and Robert Mitchum did their time in a Stetson during these years.  (Mr. B. would appear to be related to both Randolph Scott and John Wayne.)

A few of Roy Rogers's costume changes, courtesy of LIFE magazine
But why did McCall think this pattern was necessary to their product line?  Who was buying such flamboyant western shirt patterns?  Did ranch wives make these shirts up for their menfolk for rodeo days and Saturday night dances?  Did wealthy dudes wear these while carefully rusticating at ranches catering to their dreams of a simpler, more direct life?  Did anybody east of the Mississippi wear these splendid shirts?