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!

70s easy to wear clothing

I was checking out Kara Janx's (from Project Runway Season 2) designs. I think her clothing is great, but it looked very familiar. Check out her convertible skirt. She able to convert a 70's fashion into something new. I'm thinking if you took this skirt pattern and widened the belt - you would have something pretty close to what she designed.

Butterick 4843

Here is another fashion from 1976 that is making a comeback- Lydia Silvesty's Infinite dress. I think it is a great concept - but my body is just not built to wear something like this, at least not in a stretch knit, and I can't see it working in anything other then a knit.

McCall's 5360

I recently went to Montreal and poked around at the American Apparel store. I never saw one of these stores before! Much to my surprise, they have them in my own state. They have a Bandeau dress that is the same concept as the Infinite dress. They shortened the hem - but you can you the directions for both of them. The one thing you can do with this dress that you can't do with the Infinite dress is wear it as a halter. The Bandeau dress is a little more flared at the hem.

Here is another 70s fashion that might work like the infinite dress.

Simplicity 8086

If you don't want infinite choices - you could choose only 7 ways with the Seven Way Wonder Dress! This dress completely wraps around - where the other three are tube dresses - or flared tube dresses.

Butterick 5230

In 2000 another version of the 7 Way Wonder - or Infinite dress shows up as a pattern. Debra Moises wrap dress for McCall's.

McCall's 2781

You can probably combine all the instructions from all of them and end up with lots of ways to wrap the patterns. This pattern has more gathers then the original 70s one and the American Apparel Bandeau dress.

I'm going to have to play around with my Bandeau dress to see if I can make it work for me. I may not be built for such garments.

Happy Fathers Day!

It is that time again, time show our love for our Dad's. Let's look a typical Dad present.

Is he a Father's Knows Best kinda guy from the 1950s?

Or where you one of My Three Sons from the 60s?

Or where you just one of the Brady Bunch in the 70s? Look at the WIDE tie!

To get a better look at the tie patterns and some more information on how to layout your tie fabric - check out my website. http://www.oldpatterns.com/men4.html

My kids know their Daddy is a bow tie kinda guy, but would probably stick with chocolate. :)

Any One for Tennis?

Have we come a long way in tennis fashion? The rules haven't changed since the 1890's but the outfits have.

Here is how to dress for the court in an 1890's design from Ageless Patterns.


Past Patterns has a men's tennis or yachting shirt from the 1900s. That will turn eyes on the court!

Here we are with a Norfolk Suit again - this time on a man - rather then a Girl Scout leader. The scene is Spring- Summer 1913. I think they are a cute set!


By the 1920s - you see a middy blouse and skirt.
Eva Dress can help you with the blouse.


Patterns from the Past has some sports outfits like this one from the 1940s on up.

Mail Order 3360

Let's look at the sport in the 1957s. This dress by the Vogue pattern company comes with it's own panties. This dress can be sewn in 2 different lengths.

Vogue 9152

I think this 1960's design combines elements from the 1920s (the drop waist) and the 1950s bodice style. You wear a smart pair of shorts under this dress.

Simplicity 7092

Can we forget the 1970s and Chrissie Evert? She had her own line of sewing patterns for Butterick - some included a pattern for a visor. At least the dress is shorter. This pattern also included a panties pattern.

Butterick 4341

Are you read for today's court of fashion?

The Girl Scouts - the old way

I have been working on a personal research project to re-create an early 1920s Girl Scout uniform. The town I live in had a troop dating back to 1918. We have an original uniform from a member of this troop, along with images of the wearer. I would like to wear this kind of uniform to honor the Girl Scouts in my town, and hey, I think it's a cool uniform! (O.K. I wouldn't wear it to my troop meetings, or hiking in the woods, but for parades it would be fun!)

This is Elanor Parkhurst, a member of Troop 1 - Chelmsford, MA

This is not a scout from my town - but it is a great image of the uniform

I have a problem, though. This is a rare piece of clothing and there presently isn't a good pattern of it. Since I like to research sewing patterns, I've been working on a solution. I have found a pattern that will help me produce this uniform! The pattern is complete, but it is missing the instructions. This is the "Official Yeowomen's Costume of the US Navy" circa, World War 1. I'd say it is a close match to the Girl Scout uniform pictured above.


Can you help me in my quest? Do you have the instructions to this pattern (Butterick 1101) in your private vintage pattern stash? Where would you wear this uniform?

The pattern shown above is owned by Past Patterns. Please go to their website to inquire when copies of this pattern will be available.

For more information about this uniform, I found the Blue Book of Rules for Girl Scout Captains. Published 1924. This is a scan of Elanors Parkshust's book. That woman saved everything! My council has her two of her uniforms, her membership cards, scrapbook, handbooks, and hats. What a wonderful snapshot of the Girl Scouts in the 1920s!


It contains detailed information on the official Girl Scout Uniform for the year 1924.



To see more pages from that handbook. Please visit my flickr site.


To kick this suit into today - I found this jacket by Walter on bluefly.com Maybe I'll wear my suit for more then parades. :)


Finally an update to this project!  Please check out Pattern 126 at Past Patterns website.

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!