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.

Woman's Day 5107 - Down-to-Earth Smock

February 1956.

On its own, the "Down-to-Earth" smock appears to be a nice utilitarian design enlivened with some easy machine embroidery.  But in this case we have additional documentary evidence to provide some context.

Tucked into the envelope was the page from Woman's Day magazine featuring this pattern.

Suddenly, we have a sense of materials, color use, wardrobe decisions, and an insight into the designer's vision.

"Black-raspberry" denim is much more interesting that the mid-gray of the black and white pattern envelope, and it's interesting to see the smock worn with "licorice" denim Wranglers (note the white top-stitching) and what are assuredly, the late (and much lamented, at least by me) Bass Weejuns.

Margaret Parker Gary writes that the smock is an "exact copy" of a Haitian field hand's vareuse.  Well, maybe.  I've been unable to find compelling visual evidence of an embroidered Haitian vareuse, although I've come across several text references to the vareuse in a general sense.  In his book Haiti, Her History and Her Detractors, published in 1907, Jacques Nicolas Leger describes the Haitian peasant: "On week days his costume consists of a "vareuse" and trousers made of blue denim..." and a footnote describes the vareuse as "a kind of loose jacket with two pockets in front. "  The web site for Haitian Enfance Education reports that for a recent celebration of Agriculture and Labor, parents were asked to dress their sons in the traditional vareuse.  The accompanying photographs don't provide enough detail to distinguish the vareuse.

The term vareuse is used today in France for the "traditional" Breton fisherman's smock.  (See the armorlux web site for an example.) (1)  Less frequently the term is used to describe a military garment somewhat similar to a sailor's middy blouse.

It is the French version of the fisherman's vareuse that Dior adapted for his 1957 "Free Line" collection, according to Daniel Delis Hill, in his book As Seen in Vogue, A Century of American Fashion in Advertising.  If this date is correct we have an interesting example of near simultaneous design, with both Gary (in the New World) and Dior (in the Old World) apparently picking up on the vibe of the larger aesthetic of the folk revival of the era.

Margaret Parker Gary started designing for Woman's Day around 1947-48.  In a 1952 newspaper interview about her work with Woman's Day, Gary states that "You don't have to be rich to be well-dressed."  Gary worked for Lord and Taylor for a number of years before making a big shift in demographics and joining Woman's Day.

While the Down-to-Earth smock is a relatively simple garment, it will take some time to make.   In addition to the machine embroidery and lots of top-stitching, tiny tucks fit both the front and the back into yokes, and the sleeves have rather tricky applied facings.

The photographer, Howell Conant, was a well-known fashion photographer of the day, shooting such icons as Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly.

This unprinted patterns does not appear to have been used.

(1) An English cousin of this garment is the Norfolk slop.

McCall 3363 - Men's Office Coat

Latter part of the 1920s.

Home sewing patterns for men's coats this early are sufficiently scarce that I almost always bid on them when they show up on eBay.  This one was described in the auction listing simply as a men's coat, and the photograph was so fuzzy that I couldn't read the description, so it wasn't until the pattern arrived that I realized I had something even a little more scarce: a pattern for white collar work wear.

It's easy to imagine this coat made up in white poplin or Indian Head for a doctor or dentist.  Indeed, we can get a sense of some earlier sartorial problems with dentist's coats, from the book Dental Office and Laboratory, 1906:

"The 'crying need' of the dentist who would be decently dressed in his office is an office coat.  This should be of linen, duck, or similar material; washable, and plain even to the absence of pockets.  Those now in general use, decorated as many of them are with four pockets, a belt and four sets of frogs make the wearer look like a ring-master just escaped from a dog-circus."

But it turns out that the term "office coat" is much richer.

From Good Housekeeping, 1888, we see that, much like the housewife's apron, the office coat was not meant to be seen on the street:

"...Mr. Willis came up to us, asking Mrs. Wheeler if the letters were ready for the post.  On being told they were not, he changed his office coat for another, and went out."

In the magazine Success, Volume 6, p. 313, in an article by Orison Swett Marden, 1903, the office coat appears to be defined only by use rather than any specific attributes. It's a little hard to parse out the rules, but note that a young man is expected to arrive at work dressed in a good suit, and then don an office coat that will take the brunt of attacks by fountain pen or stamp pad ink, dust, abrasion, and splintery desk corners.

"Young men on the floor, and in the office, should dress in plain worsted, serge, or cheviot suits, made up with single our double-breasted jackets, preferable of one material.  Extreme cuts, turn-up trousers, and other peculiarities should be avoided, and an office coat, which may be any that is at all presentable, should be worn during the day.  It is a rule that all men in the office must wear coats, and those who hope to get along in this world will not defy the conventionalities in order to be comfortable."

From A Dictionary of Men's Wear, by William Henry Baker, 1908, we get a tongue-in-cheek sense of humor, but also an interesting insight into how men abuse their clothing.  Remember that at this time alpaca is a relatively inexpensive suiting fabric:

"Office coat, usually an alpaca sack c., unlined, broadly any old c. not fit to be seen on the street, but good enough to wipe pens on."

From a periodical of the National Association of Letter Carriers, 1914, describing postal uniforms in other countries:

"Netherlands...The assistants receive...a linen office coat."

From Arnold Bennett's novel These Twain, published in 1915, in which a man's wife comes to his office to bring him an office coat which she has either made or modified:

"Edwin now tried on the new office-coat with the self-consciousness that none but an odious dandy can avoid on such occasions.

'It seems warmer than it used to be,' he said...

'Yes,' said she.  "I've put some wash-leather inside the lining at the back.

'Why?'

'Well, didn't you say you felt the cold from the window...?'"

By the 1920s the office coat has a distinctive social meaning.

Here is the recollection of how a promotion meant a change in dress, from the American Printer and Lithographer, Vol 73, 1921:

"The most proud experience was my first promotion from a 'jour' to a stock-man in the foreman's office, with the privilege of putting off the apron and wearing an office coat!" 

But there was bitterness as well.  In the story "With the Odds Against Him," in the Yale Literary Magazine in 1921, the office coat is used to illustrate the stalled career of a man no longer young:

"Mr. Audrey had not remembered his impending birthday until just as he was donning a linen office coat a few minutes before nine, and he stopped short in the middle of the operation.  Tomorrow he would be forty-six years old!"

Also in 1921, an intriguing insight into the social power of clothing from Munsey's Magazine.  This one is worth reading through, because the dress-suit in question actually belongs to the office-coat guy, who lost his self-confidence when he lent his suit.  (Spoiler alert: there is a happy ending.)

"He's a dress-suit gentleman and I'm an office-coat guy..."

And a year later in the1922 play "His Majesty Bunker Bean," we find that it is indeed the principle of the thing:

"BUNKER: (Ring, answers) Hello, oh, oh, yes, Mr. Breede, I'll come right over...Wage slave, that's what I am...Got to beat it across to Larabee's office.  More Letters.  (Takes office coat, as he gets to door L.)
BULGER: What's the idea of strippin'?
BUNKER: Don't like to wear an office coat crossing the street.  Principle of the thing, Max.  May be a wage slave now, but if I ever do rise, I won't be a misfit..."

This pattern is unused.

Patron-Modèle 100055 - Costume Sport

1950s

Translates to "Anorak and ski pants."

The rather laconic description on the back of the envelope can be translated as:

Front-opening jacket with an applied plastron; gathered hood; ski pants.

The jacket is gathered at the waist and wrists.  The ski pants have pockets, and the legs are darted and fitted to bands.  Woolen or worsted fabrics would have been used for both the anorak and the pants.

I assume that your hankie and the French equivalent of a Chapstick go in the little front pockets of the anorak.

And in case anybody was wondering, we now appear to have documentary evidence that the French wore mittens.

Patron-Modèle 400934 - Anorak et Pantalon fuseau en gabardine pour homme

1950s

Translates to "Man's jacket and gabardine ski pants."

Patron-Modèle seems to have been the "house brand" for the women's magazine Lé Petit Echo de la Mode.

The description on the back of the envelope translates to:

The anorak has patch pockets and is fitted to the waist with elastic.  Turned down collar; set-in sleeves.  Removable hood.  Ski pants.

"Pantalon fuseau" can also be translated as "pegged pants," but the intent is clear; these trousers have a narrow leg to help keep the snow out and to tuck into the ski boots, which would have looked about like this (I suspect that these laces are much later replacements.)

From www.vintageskiworld.com

It's interesting that the description indicates a fabric choice of gabardine, which is a sturdy twill fabric made of worsted yarn.  The anorak would have been made out of a woolen or worsted fabric as well, and I might add a silk lining for a little extra warmth, although the pattern doesn't call for a lining.

As was true for the earlier Patron Modèle that we saw, there is no separate instruction sheet.  The maker is expected to use the illustrations on the front and the description of the pattern pieces on the back of the envelope.

Note the crotch gusset for the pants, necessary for sportswear in the years before stretch fabrics were introduced.

Although there was no instruction sheet, this pattern included a one-sheet that mostly contained advertising geared to home sewing, but had a few general instructions, and a helpful sizing chart.   This size 44 is equivalent to about a 38" chest.

Pictorial Review 8017 - Santa Claus Suit

1930s.

The name "Kathryn Klahn" has been printed in pencil at the very top of the envelope.   The 1930 census lists a Kathryn Klahn, age 65,  as living in Clinton Iowa, so this may be one of her patterns.   Mrs. Klahn got a nice early start for Mr. Klahn's - er, Santa Claus's arrival on the fire truck for the Christmas parade on the day after Thanksgiving.

I like that Pictorial calls this a Santa Claus "suit," rather than "costume."

Merry Christmas, everybody!

McCall 3495 - Men's and Boys' Undershirts

Latter half of the 1920s.

Recent weather forecasts around here have featured "freezing fog," which for some reason sounds colder to me than "snow," so warm garments of all kinds seem like a really good idea just now, and an undershirt with an extra layer of material to keep the upper body warm is particularly attractive.

While patterns for men's undershirts are not uncommon, this is the first time I've seen this particular cold-weather design offered.  Oddly, I was able to obtain two copies of this pattern in less than six months.

Note that the hip gusset is visible in the illustration.  While these gussets were (and still are, in some cases) used in men's shirts and under shirts, it's a little unusual to see them shown in the illustration.  McCall wasn't taking any chances - they even provided a pattern piece for the gusset, which is quite unusual.  Typically only written instructions are given, sometimes indicating the size of the gusset, but sometimes just instructing the maker to cut a square of material.  Hip gussets are not just a nicety - the side seams will pull out without gussets to take the strain, particularly if the wearer is engaged in strenuous work.