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.

Mad Men Maternity

Simplicity 3309

In the Spring of 2009 my company was contacted by the costuming department for the TV show Mad Men. Season 3 had several pregnant characters. The designers contacted me for sewing patterns for day and evening maternity wear, and outfits. I know from reading up on the show, that they use a lot of original vintage outfits for their costume department - but who in the world would save their maternity clothing from the 1960's?

Simplicity 2977

I'm sure they mixed and matched elements from various patterns to put together their outfits. I am sure they also looked at image of Jackie Kennedy from when she was pregnant. What you don't see from the sewing patterns is construction details of the maternity patterns. Modern patterns have a stretch panel to help with the changing body shape of a pregnant woman. The maternity sewing patterns that I have from the 1960's use a series of ties and overlapping sections.

Vogue 5228/ Advance 3323

Here are some images of the patterns they purchased from my company. See if you can match them up with the Season 3 costumes!

Are you tired of the same old maternity designs, or lack of sewing patterns for maternity clothes? Check out the vintage ones at Patterns from the Past!

Butterick 2781

Butterick 5394

Simplicity 4641