You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown!

There are  a variety of things you can do with vintage sewing patterns.  One of the many uses of the sewing patterns is as a costumes for theatre.  Often the ones that make it onto the stage are not designed as costumes, but are clothing patterns.

I recently came across some dresses that reminded me of the musical You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, a musical  based on the cartoons of Charles M. Schulz.  The show premiered in 1967.  Which would account for the drop waist dresses in the show.    It looks more realistic to me when you use period sewing patterns rather then a costume sewing pattern.  Even if the period is the 1960s.

Lucy is the height of 1960's fashion in a drop waist dress

So is Sally Brown

These are the dresses that reminded me of the cartoons and the musical.

Vogue 2235

Simplicity 6783

Simplicity 7848

Simplicity 8523

This is a costume pattern inspired by the comic. 

Simplicity 7506

Simplicity 7516

British Sewing Patterns During WW2

Time: the late 1940's early 50's.  The world is at war.  How did it effect sewing patterns in England?

I had the opportunity to obtain several British WW2 era sewing patterns.  They reminded me of Pevensie kids in the recent Narnia Movies.

What did the pattern companies do to support the war effort?  They dropped color printing.

Vogue 2456

I have patterns that are printed in the US at the same time.  They are using color.

Butterick 4140

Vogue 2445

Vogue dropped diagrams, pattern sizing, and descriptions from the back for the pattern envelope.

Vogue children's pattern late 1940s early 1950s

McCall's, who had a patent on printing on their pattern tissue paper  used pre-cut pattern paper.  The printed tissue sewing pattern was fairly new at the time.  In the US - McCall's still printed on their tissue paper patterns, and so did Simplicity.  TheUS Butterick patterns I have from those years are still using pre-cut tissue paper patterns.

The patterns were taxed.

Vogue 2163

Butterick reminded people of the civilian clothing restriction orders.

Butterick 4630

The designed used limited fabric.  These patterns were present in both the US and British market.  Everyone was conserving fabric. 

The paper that the patterns are printed on (at least the patterns I have) are of good quality for the pattern tissue and the instruction paper, perhaps this is a difference between British paper and US paper. I have quite a few instructions sheets from that era printed in the US, who have seen better days.

I enjoy the images, history and stories that come to me with each package of patterns that come my way.  I  enjoyed going through the  wardrobe to see this different world.

Vintage Sewing Pattern Contest!

Simplicity Designer's Pattern 8283

Patternreview.com is hosting a Vintage Sewing Pattern Contest.  First prize is a $100 gift certificate to my store, Patterns from the Past. 2nd prize is a $50 gift certificate to my store.  If you were planning to work on a vintage sewing project between between April 1 - 31, you should consider entering it in the contest!  You must use a vintage sewing pattern printed between 1920  - 1976,  not one of the new reproduction patterns.

I will offer a 15% discount at Patterns the Past during the contest.  The discount coupon code is contest.

Good luck with your projects!

A Survey From the Past

I found this survey in a pattern from the 1930s.

Anne Adams 1755

Anne Adams Pattern Company is long gone. This pattern is in mint condition - never used. What would you do? Would you fill it out? Where would you mail it to? They wanted to know how the pattern worked for you!

A Vintage Sewing Pattern Sewing contest!

Patternreview.com http://sewing.patternreview.com is having a Vintage sewing pattern contest from August 1 – September 30, 2007 http://sewing.patternreview.com/cgi-bin/contestreport.pl?ContestID=53 You have to register to become a member of Patternreview.com – but registration is free. The 1st and 2nd prize for the contest is a $100 gift certification and a $50 gift certificate to www.oldpatterns.com Please see the discuss board for the rules right now. They want patterns that are from 1920 – 1980s. http://sewing.patternreview.com/cgi-bin/sewingclasses/board.pl?t=23967

I can't enter the contest because I'm a sponsor. But I hope to have a moment to sew soon! I can't wait to see what is going to be sewn!

Today was my daughter first day of "fashion design camp" at a local community college. Two weeks of half day classes on sewing and design. I was thrilled to send her off with my old Kenmore. We'll see what she completes by the end of the course. They will have a runway show at the end of the two week. Will she be a future "Project Runway" member? Who knows!

Well suited?

Do women wear suits anymore? I have been working on my own for so long, I have no idea what women wear to work. I see school teachers, Girl Scouts and other parents. When you work on the internet, you don't have to dress to impress. I had some suits for job interviews, but even those I've decided are out of date. From a quick search, it seems that women wear suits on Sundays, with amazing hats (If I am to believe the websites.) I remember a great episode of Desperate Housewives where Lynette buys a very expensive suit for work. I love the suits they wear on Boston Legal, but is TV the real world?

Advance 6365

I just acquired these great suit patterns. The styles blew me away. These patterns are just the tip of the iceberg. They came from a women who was a dressmaker from the 1940s until the 1960s. Of the 100 patterns I acquired from her estate, I had very few of these patterns before. I have been selling sewing patterns for over 10 years, and I had thought I'd reached a point where I would be finding a lot of duplicate patterns. I guess I'm wrong. I save all the images of the patterns I have sold, and I didn't have images for these patterns. Maybe patterns where more complex. The average sewer (whose patterns I usually find) didn't want to tackle them, or her customers did not want to wear what everyone else wore. What I do know about this seamstress is that she liked to write all over the covers of her patterns. She probably was a very good sewer, she didn't keep the simple skirt parts of a dress in with the rest of the pattern - so now some of them are incomplete. From looking at the pattern diagrams, they where large squares or rectangles, to a person who knew what they where doing, they could sew those skirts without a pattern. If I am lucky, I will be getting more patterns from this estate. Stay tuned - you don't know what will arrive in the mail!

Take a look at them and judge for yourself. If you want to see more of these patterns - check out my website.

Vogue 7490

McCall 8729