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 I had some suits for job interviews, but even those I've decided are out of date.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

The Diane Von Furstenberg wrap dress

In 1973 Diane Von Furstenberg introduced her wrap dress. She created some patterns of her designs for the Vogue pattern company around the same time.

Vogue 1548

Vogue 1549

Vogue 1610

Vogue 2517

The dresses where a big hit in the 70's died out in the 80s, and seem to be having a come back now. You can find these patterns: Vogue 1548 (the cow print), Vogue 1549 (the small red one), Vogue 1610 (the green one), Vogue 2517 (the 2 color one) on ebay. These patterns end up in a bidding war. I've run into Vogue 1549 few times. I've had it for sale on my companies website several times. My guess is that was the popular pattern in the 70s. It makes sense. If everyone went out and bought the pattern, you would have some of them left over in the sewing pattern collections, later on. I've seen these patterns sell for around $70 on ebay. If you are lucky, you might find it at a thrift store.

I have been looking in the clothing stores and these stretch knit dresses are all over the place. If you want a modern version of this dress, and don't want the original DVF pattern- try Kwik Sews 3408. You can also find similar patterns like these from the 70s. Here is an pattern from 1971. This is Simplicity 9799: a wrap dress for knit or woven fabric. This pattern was produced 2 years BEFORE the DVF wrap dress - you can see that wrap dresses where already in style, before she did her version of it.

The knit dresses we have in the stores today are our own spin on the similar fashion. Either take an original 70s pattern, or work with a new one that is out in the stores. Have fun with them now - make them your own!

Simplicity 9799

Apron dresses - a dress, a jumper, an apron?

What is an apron dress? Simplicity and McCall's have taken a stab at this. Here is Simplicity's take on this dress. This is Simplicity 8869 from 1994.


Simplicity 8869


I happen to like the McCall's 1970s version of an apron dress. This is a freebie pattern that McCall's gave out in 1975. They use it as an apron, a jumper and a summer dress. It reminds me of the $200 + halter apron dress by Inhabit - though theirs doesn't wrap around, and I'm sure the Inhabit a stretch knit. My problem with all of these dress is, what do you do if you have the figure of a woman? How do any of these support you? Only the DKNY takes into account a cup size.


McCall's Sample B

Or maybe we should just keep the two ideas apart. Use the apron to cover us up and a dress to wear.

Please click on the images or links- they will take you to my website if, I have them for sale!

Jumpsuits and Rompers

I have been getting a bunch of requests for jumpsuit patterns. I talked to some of my customers to find out why they wanted these patterns. They are performers, people traveling, some who see it as an upcoming fashion. I looked at the big 4 sewing pattern companies online - sure enough, they have a few jumpsuit sewing patterns - but mostly for kids.

Butterick 6231, Butterick 6618

What are people seeing out there? With a quick search I found a few jumpsuits for sale at Nordstroms and Spiegel.

So.. if you want to sew a jumpsuit for spring or summer - you will probably have to use a vintage patterns, unless the big 4 can produce a few more options soon. I know that Butterick, Vogue, Simplicity and McCall's all have produced a variety of jumpsuit and romper patterns for adults. If they get enough requests for them, maybe they will start producing patterns for them again...

What is Three Armhole Dress?

I have found several of these pattern from the 1960s. They are jiffy dresses all dating from 1966-69. They look like they could be good beach dresses to me. I've have found several designs of them for women and girls. I found references to people making them as their first Home Ec. project. They are sometimes called a three armhole dress or a wrap-arounder dress. If you want to find one on ebay - you will have to search for a wrap arounder.

 

You see above: McCall's 9181, McCall's 9109, Simplicity 8080, Simplicity 7484 B or Simplicity 7484 A, Butterick 4699, Simplicity 7572

If you want your daughter to match you try Simplicity 7617, Simplicity 7518 and Butterick 4698.

I have a few for sale on my website Patterns from the Past Simplicity 60's dresses or Patterns from the Past McCall's 60's dresses. Maybe you can alter one into quick high fashion, or as a new beach dress!
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Additional information: according to the McCall's 9181 pattern. The term "wrap-arounder" is a trademark of the McCall corporation. I keep searching and finding more variations on this pattern, all from the late 1960s.

UPDATE:

The Simplicity pattern company has reprinted the Three Armhole pattern!  Simplicity 8049 get it while it is in print again!

How to find out of print or discontinued sewing patterns

The sewing pattern companies reuse their pattern numbers. So, when you are searching for an older pattern you need to know not only the pattern number you are searching for - but when it was printed, or a description of the item so that you can find it. Simplicity 1234 could be a dress one year and a few years later it could be a shirt pattern.

Using Google

One of the places I start my search is Google. I would type in Butterick 1234 skirt and see what it finds for me. 

For more information on how to do a Google search read:

Ten Tips for Smarter Google Searches

Another reader also suggests trying to do a Google image search.

Using Ebay

If that doesn't work, I try an advanced Ebay search. Google does search Ebay - but is sometimes misses a listing. There is a trick to search for sewing patterns on ebay. You have to enter the pattern company and number and then check the box labeled Search title and description. If the item is on ebay, you should be able to find it that way.

Ebay has saved search feature. You can put your wish list there. You can also contact your favorite vintage sewing pattern seller to see if they have it in their back stock. Make sure you give them all the information so that can search for the correct pattern you want.

Still can't find what you are looking for?

You might trying reading the following articles:

Locating Discontinued Patterns it contains information on how to contact the major sewing pattern companies. The "Big 4" (Butterick, Simplicity, McCall's, and Vogue) are selling their discontinued patterns on their websites.

Try searching Etsy, or Facebook Marketplace or the many Facebook groups that sell sewing patterns.

Happy Hunting!