"It's Smart to Restyle" (McCall Style News, July 1945)

Now for another round of WWII restyling—courtesy, once again, of McCall's Patterns:

"MCCALL 1064—Printed Pattern for Making Over the Tops of Old Dresses...With this new "conservation pattern", turn an old dress into a smart makeover.  Cut any of the yokes or lower waist sections shown, from the two master patterns for blouse fronts and backs.  Results: the high-style, two-tone effect, achieved with contrasting fabric."

I have another version of the same pattern from 1944 posted here—re-using and "making-do" clearly applied to pattern companies as well as home dressmakers!  This illustration of the pattern includes ideas for making over sleeves and accessories as well as the bodices.

"Deux tailleurs d'ete" (Le Petit Echo de la Mode, 23 Mai 1937)

 For daytime glamour in the 1930s there was nothing quite like wearing a tailored suit.

These two examples depicted on the cover of Le Petit Echo de la Mode were available in the form of patterns—PATRONS-MODЀLES—from the magazine for 3 francs each. 

"Costume tailleur en tissu quadrillé blanc et noir, garni de drap bleu vif, composé de la veste T 82513 et de la jupe J 81069.  Veste cintrée, à double petite basque.  Col et boutons en drap bleu.  Jupe avec gros pils creux devant donnant l'ampleur du bas."

["Tailored suit in white and black checkered fabric, lined with bright blue cloth, consisted of jacket T 82512 and skirt J 81069.  Fitted jacket with double small basque.  Blue cloth collar and buttons.  Skirt with large box pleats in front giving fullness to the bottom."]

"Costume tailleur en serge rouge bordeaux, composé de la veste T 82514 et de la jupe J 80086.   Veste smoking, de forme classique, avec col et revers tailleur ouverts sur une blouse de voile blanc à pois rouges.  Jupe droite, ave pli soufflet dans la bas, devant et derriѐre."

["Tailored suit in burgundy red serge, consisting of jacket T82514 and skirt J 80086.  Tuxedo jacket, classic shape, with open collar and tailored lapels over a white voile blouse with red polka dots.  Straight skirt with accordion pleats at the bottom in front and behind."]

McCall's, November 1946

"SPRING STYLES FOR WOMEN", McCall's wrote in November 1946:

"may look somewhat different, depending on the ingenuity of designers, but skirts cannot be longer and additional amounts of materials cannot be consumed.  The Civilian Production Adminstration says that fabrics are still too scarce to permit any real changes the basic limitations on women's wartime styles.  It estimates that another inch on women's skirts would consume 50,000,000 yards of fabric within a year."

 Clearly the postwar years were hard on everybody!  However, whatever The Civilian Production Administration decreed, the women of 1946 were still trying to use "additional amounts of materials" in their dress.  It is obvious, even from the McCall's patterns advertised in this very magazine, that skirts and sleeves were widening, and that hemlines were stealthily creeping down.

"To lengthen or not to lengthen the skirt, is the moot question, and if to lengthen, how much?  After listening to the pros and cons of this controversial subject, we come to the conclusion that skirts will go down to midcalf eventually if not now."

"Then there are the sleeves—but you know about the new big sleeves."

"The hipline is now the spot where the trimming should be placed!  And in this connection old fashioned worlds like "pannier" and "bustle" have been creeping back into our vocabularies.  It all adds up to a very new look to a dress, a rather quaint look sometimes—and to a smaller waistline.  With broad shoulders to the north, and round hips to the south, the waistline can't help but shrink inwardly between them."

Smaller waistlines, rounder hips, longer skirts.  It all sounds a bit like Dior's "New Look", doesn't it? 

"A Blouse of Lace" (New Idea, October 17 1956)

 Would you like to wear a fifties-style lace blouse?  If you do, New Idea comes to the rescue with this simple pattern from 1956.

(For those only familiar with the metric system, one inch equals 2.54 centimetres.  There are 36 inches in a yard, so 1¼ yards equals 114.3 cm and ⅞ yard equals  80.01 cm)

FRAGILE and lovely as a peach blossom, this flattering little blouse would cut a big hole in your budget if you bought it in a shop.  As it is, you can produce it at a low cost that belies its expensive air!

You'll need ⅞ yard of 36-inch nylon lace, 1¼ yard of 3-inch nylon frilling and elastic thread in a matching color.

Take your lace measuring 36 inches by 31½ inches and fold over the 36 inch edge to measure one-quarter of your bust size plus one inch.  If your bust size is 36 inches, this means nine inches plus one inch equals 10 inches.  Cut away remaining piece, measuring in this case 16 inches by 31½ inches.  Mark the folded piece of lace as in diagram and cut out twice to make bodice front and back.

From the remaining piece mark and cut out two shoulder pieces—see smaller diagram.  Then cut out two straight pieces, 10 inches by one and a quarter inches each, for bows.

Join shoulder pieces to front and back bodice, keeping straight side nearest to your neck on either side.  Stitch back and front underarm seams.  Make narrow hem at bottom of blouse.  Work four rows of elastic thread all around, four and a half inches from the the hem.  Tack frilling round neckline, front and back, making small inverted pleat holes at each corner to turn smoothly.  Cut remaining lace into one and a half inches wide crossway pieces, join them together and use to bind neck and arm-holes.  Make narrow hem around strips.  Cut off lace you've cut for bows, tie and stitch to either side of neckline.

100 Years Ago (The Delineator, May 1922)

 And now for the latest in my "100 Years Ago" series.  I apologise for being a little bit late with this entry, but unfortunately Real Life™ got in my way.

The fashions of May 1922, with their dropped waists and tubular silhouettes, are starting to look forward into the mid-1920s, rather than back into the beginning of the decade.

Butterick pattern 3681 is a one piece dress, illustrated in gingham with collar and cuffs in organdy.  The skirt hangs in folds, but otherwise it is unornamented.

Pattern 3709 is also a fairly simple (if slightly more stylish) one-piece dress, with a triangular monogram embroidered on the front.  Suggested materials include everything from wool jersey to plain cotton.

The last figure illustrates a coat (pattern 3685) and a skirt (pattern 3520) put together to make a suit.  The Delineator advises that it can be worn "in town and out".  The silhouette is soft and un-tailored, with the coat slightly bloused and the waistline of the skirt slightly raised.  Wool crȇpe, soft twills, homespun silk crȇpes, sports silks, and crȇpe de Chine are suggested as suitable materials for making it up.