More Vintage Pattern Scans

I've had a couple of additional comments on specific vintage patterns from Linda and BjP. So, I thought it might be interesting to scan and post larger images so you could get a better look at them. I also included the backs of the envelopes.

McCall's 6761:

This pattern is copyright 1963 but the skirts are current looking. Skirt silhouettes do change, but this style is still going strong. And notice, even with the boxy tops, there are darts for shaping. There are a total of 4.

Here's the back of the envelope:

McCall's 5160:

And this pattern is dated 1959. Both views represent the grandest examples of robes that I've ever seen. Actually they are described as "housecoats" on the envelope. Is there a difference or has the terminology changed?

Can't you just envision the long one made up in silk satin?

This design is constructed with a bodice and skirt, and the skirt has 7 large, very flared gores, as shown on the back of the pattern envelope. I can't imagine wearing "foundation garments" (shapers in today's terms) under the robe to create the hourglass silhouette of the fashion illustration.

Advance 3031

This one is for Carolyn, who asked for a scan of this pant suit:

As near as I can tell, this one dates to the 1940s. Although I can't find a date anywhere on the pattern, I'm basing this on a couple of factors. First, the styling of the drawing. Those hairstyles just say "bobbysoxer" to me. Second, the fact that this pattern isn't printed. The tissue is marked with symbols, and I remember my mom (HS class of '49) telling me that patterns used to be done this way. If I'm right, then this is a pretty bold pattern for its time. Pants? Naw, that just wasn't done way back then, at least outside of the home.

No, there are no copyright dates on any part of the pattern, so I don't have that to rely on. So a guesstimate will have to do. I do love this little blurb on the instruction sheet:

All Advance Patterns are cut accurately for size and conform to the measurements recommended by the Bureau of Standards of the U. S. Department of Commerce.

Ah yes, another reason to think this is from the 1940's. Government agencies are a good thing.

I don't know if I'll ever make this up from the pattern itself. It's a little small for me, but I couldn't see it going to the prison or landfill. It's a little historical jewel, you know? I can see myself making a similar outfit as an homage, using a more current pattern, though. Carolyn is right, the basic lines are awesome!

New Vintage Patterns

I mentioned before that my ASG sewing sisters are a marvelous resource for vintage patterns. Last night's meeting proved me right, with a Trading Post haul of epic proportions. Advance, Butterick, McCall's, Simplicity, and Vogue from the 50s and early 60s! I'm looking forward to using these as inspiration pieces, for their interesting details, and (dare I say?) I might even sew one up!

I also got some cute patterns that are merely OOP. 2 Simplicity dress patterns and a McCall's sleepwear set.

Now and Layer

J.Jill isn't one of my most favorite catalogs. In general, its clothes are a little too "earth mother" relaxed for my taste. From time to time I do like individual pieces, and as a result, I'm on the catalog mailing list.

The new one came Tuesday and the new theme is "Now and Layer". I really like this because there are a lot of ideas for how to make transitional dressing work and extend the wearability of your wardrobe.

This theme could easily be carried into the sewing room--face it, you're ready to sew for fall aren't you? But you can't bear the thought of touching heavy fabric in this heat.

What do you think?

Selecting Buttons

I thought I'd share my process for choosing buttons, based on the process I went through with the cacti top. This is pretty much how it plays out everytime I make something with buttons. It's easy to amass a button stash, probably even easier than with fabric. Buttons are smaller after all.

Maybe you do something similar, but I found that taking pictures with the digital camera really added something to the process because the various choices can be compared side by side. The first picture above shows the green buttons I thought were a perfect choice at the fabric store because of their color. Well, yes, the green is a perfect match--such a perfect match that you can't even see them. Off to the stash with them.

The next set I tried was from my button stash. They're clear with a texture. Somehow, they're both too blendy and to detailed for this fabric. Back to the stash.

OK, plain white buttons. They go with everything, right? Well, yes, they're OK. But maybe too much contrast. At this point, I'm beginning to feel like Goldilocks.

At last, a winner! As an afterthought, I had picked up some watermelon pink buttons at the same time as the green ones. I figured that they wouldn't go but they could always be used for something or the other. That just goes to show you. They go with the print but don't overpower it.

I'll be using the digital camera for this sort of testing a lot more in the future, and it was such a good technique I just had to share.

New Look 6598 Version 1 is Complete!

I finished up the cacti top this morning before I left for work. I just had to put in that last line of topstitching around the neckline and front openings, ya know?

Anyway, here it is, in a not so great picture of me trying to figure out how to hold the camera so that I'll show up in the photo. Kind of a learning curve to this stuff!

Anyway, not bad for a first effort on what's essentially a prototype (or wearable muslin if you will). The FBA worked and I think the drape will be better in the poly fabric I'm planning to use for Version 2. The cacti fabric is essentially a quilt cotton. It's a little stiff at this point, but I expect it'll loosen up a bit with a few washings.

I really like this pattern. It's a basic that I hope will become a TNT now that I've gone through the effort of adjusting the pattern.

Vintage Musings

Marji posted about vintage projects July 23 and issued the following challenge:

So I'm going to challenge you, what do you still have hanging around that
you created years ago - pics, actual patterns, actual garments? Do you have
a fabulous collection of knitwear designs from decades ago? Show us.

I like vintage clothes and have since I was in grad school, during the first wave of vintage. Ahhh, to live in Florida when retirees moving south were getting rid of fabulous 1940s and 1950s wear! I had friends who made great money picking through South Florida thrift and charity shops for excellent swag, then turning around at selling it to the students at UF. Those were the days--good stuff could be had relatively cheaply. I wasn't doing a lot of sewing then but I had several cool beaded outfits that I liked to wear out clubbing.

But lately, I'm of 2 minds re: vintage. I love all the vintage garments I'm seeing on various blogs like Hungry Zombie Couture and Pins and Needles, not to mention Erin's inspirational pattern shots on A Dress a Day. But I'd feel like I was in a costume if I wore them myself. Maybe my time for full-out vintage looks is over.

Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of pictures of myself in outfits back in the day. I remember at least 3 dresses I made for high school dances in the mid 1970's:

• There was a chiffon and crepe print halter dress I made for the junior prom. The chiffon was white with purple flowers printed on it. The crepe was plain white. Both polyester of course. The chiffon was an overlayer that also formed a capelet attached to the halter's neckline.



• Homecoming senior year was a long sleeved black Qiana dress with large art deco flowers. I'm not sure, I think it was empire waisted but cut narrow and a bit low cut for high school.



• And the senior prom dress was a Gunne Sax knockoff--they were the rage! Mine was yellow cotton with yards of white crochet-look lace. I liked it so much better than the drab tea stained shaded of the real Gunne Sax dresses from the store. I remember I wore white patent leather platform sandals with that one, and my date wore a matching yellow and black tuxedo. Don't laugh, it was cool to dress that way back in 1976!

I know these photos must still exist someplace, probably at the 2 family houses in Louisville. I'll ask my sister and brother to take a look around for them sometime when they have a chance. David still lives at my parents' house (nothing has changed) and Ellen inherited my grandparents' house from my uncle when he passed away. Both places have been in the family a long long time. The actual patterns are probably long gone though, and my mom's notebooks from her sewing classes in the 1940s. Too bad.

Anyway, back to me and my early sewing days. I actually used 2 machines, my mom's White (a tank from the 1950s that had its own cabinet) and my grandma's Singer (a "portable" black enamel tank with a bentwood case). I still have the Singer.

I remember being pretty fearless in my sewing. Of course it helps that I could run up a pattern right out of the envelope. Plus I didn't know I was supposed to be intimidated by fabric and patterns. So I'd try almost anything. I'm sure there were a lot of mistakes, but I was oblivious. I wore my clothes and loved them--the jeans, the embroidered cowboy shirts, the tunic tops, halters, sundresses, "baggies" with cuffs, shirt dresses, and on and on. My parents would almost always finance my fabric purchases, more so than my RTW trips to Stewarts, Bacons, and Levy Brothers. There was a fabric shop (creatively named "The Fabric Shop") located within walking distance at the local shopping center, which made it easy to buy fabric in the afternoon, sew it that evening, and wear it to school the next day.


Actually, the 2 most vintage things I have at my house are quilts that were made by my mom's paternal grandmother, who worked as a professional seamstress for a time.

This one is a doll quilt. Based on the bubblegum pink color and my mom's birthdate, I'd peg it at mid-1930s. I'm planning to have it framed one of these days for display in the sewing room. I think the doilies are from around the same period. I don't know their provenance, but I know my maternal grandmother had them at her home. They're teeny tiny gauge crochet and I want to frame them up too.

This one is for a regular bed. It's handstitched and made from scraps of men's shirtings, but was meant to be a utility quilt, not a "company" quilt. That's Ghost checking things out. Basically there are squares of plain muslin crazy quilted with the shirtings, joined together and hand quilted with a fan stitch. According to an appraisal I had done, the fabrics date from the 1910's.

Strangely, I don't have any quilts from my paternal grandmother, who lived in Appalachia and quilted all of the time. This is probably because she made them to sell, like a lot of the mountain ladies did. She also had a lot of children (13) and grandchildren(?) and the family quilts probably all went to the daughters (My dad received a shotgun when she passed. No, I'm not kidding).

Like a lot of us, I've been acquiring vintage patterns. Most of them have come from my ASG sewing sisters (meaning free or near free). Maybe I'll sew some of them up in spite of my misgivings, maybe not, does it really matter? Anyway, I've already gone on and on about my early days of sewing so I'll post more about that collection another time.

Vacation, Day 5

Another day of taking things easy around the house.


I worked on a hemming project that's been underway for a while now. I had several skirts that went from looking ok to dowdy as a result of their length, so I've been shortening them. Most are now around 33" long vs. 36". A yard of skirt is very long when you're 5'4" even when most of your height is in your legs. I got 4 more done yesterday, all of which were narrow machine hems, so don't feel too bad for me.


I stopped by Hancock's and picked up more supplies for the cacti top. You know how green is. There are a zillion shades and of course I had nothing close. I'd fudged up till this point, but if the stitching's going to show I want a closer match than medium sage.

I also picked up some bias binding for the armscyes and picked out...hot pink. There were no premade tapes close enough, so I'm picking up the flower color instead. Of course, that change required thread too, but now I can do some accent stitching. After looking at the photo, I think the top needs a little something and maybe the pink thread will help that. Yes, I know I can make my own bias tape. It just isn't something I was in the mood to do. Oh yeah, I got some buttons too. And some notions for the brown and white version of the top.


And given my previous rant on Hancock's slow service, I'll mention that it was attentive and prompt this time. The sales clerk even called out to me as I headed for the register, saying that she'd be right with me as soon as she finished cutting for another customer. That was good.


Ross Dress for Less is located in the same shopping center as Hancock's so I stopped there too. This one usually has some good items if you can make it through the dreck. I found 2 acceptable work ensembles (ummm, both are black), a basic work skirt (black again), a casual skirt (Columbia! I love them!), and a super pair of Timberland clogs for the winter.


Off to the gym, followed by the grocery. I decided to make myself a steak dinner and some homemade peach daiquiri "ice cream" for dessert. Anyway, that's what the article from the Albuquerque Journal calls it, including the quotes. It was published in July 1988, which is a couple of months after I moved here from Florida. It's really frozen yogurt, but maybe that was too exotic back then! No credit was provided, but given the newspaper photo, my guess is Donvier. I got a Donvier ice cream maker as a wedding gift in 1987, and they were pretty popular back then. I still have it, and I used it to make my treat last night:

Peach Daiquiri "Ice Cream"

1 large fresh peach, pitted and quartered (about 1 1/2 cup)

1/2 cup light corn syrup

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon lime zest

1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice

2 teaspoons dark rum

1 pint plain low-fat yogurt

Combine first 6 ingredients in blender or food processor, whirl until smooth. Add yogurt and whirl just until mixed. Chill thoroughly. Pour into chilled cylinder of 1 quart ice cream maker. Freeze according to manufacturer's instructions. Serve at once or pack into freezing containers for storage. Makes 7 servings.

Per 1/2 cup serving size: 145 calories, 4 grams protein, 31 grams carbohydrate, 1 gram fat, 4 milligrams sodium, 188 milligrams potassium.

Changes I made: I had a beautiful white peach so that's what I used. The flavor is a little milder than traditional peaches. I bought white rum by accident instead of dark, so that's what I used. Also, I typically have non-fat plain yogurt on hand, so I used it instead of making a special purchase of low-fat.

In the past, I've made a strawberry margarita variation of this by substituting 1 1/2 cups sliced strawberries for the peach and 2 teaspoons of tequila for the rum. Using this basic recipe, you can probably come up with several variations with different fruits and liquors!